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| John Raymond Died 27th June 1902 © Godric Godricson |
Showing posts with label Malta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Malta. Show all posts
Monday 8 October 2012
Sunday 7 October 2012
Saturday 6 October 2012
Friday 5 October 2012
Full of life
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| God in the sacraments in Malta © Godric Godricson |
The ‘God of hope’ seen in Jesus is one and the same as that same God seen in the Book of Exodus. We can see that instead of a new idea born out of nothingness He is "the absolute future" (Karl Rahner) or, figuratively, the Lord of the future, who says, "Behold, I make all things new."
It may be deduced that the Revelation of God to mankind contained within the Hebrew Bible must be understood to be able to understand subsequent developments in terms of hope and the development of hope for mankind.
In the debate, we can see that the idea of ‘hope’ was always contained within God’s relationship with mankind as portrayed both within the Hebrew Bible and in God’s message to the people of Israel
In the Resurrection of Jesus we have a fulfilment of the earlier messages contained within the Hebrew Bible and so strongly is that message of Resurrection hope portrayed; that Saint Athanasius, writing in the 9th Century AD, can evoke the story of Lazarus in such terms.
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| God in the sacraments in Malta © Godric Godricson |
Humanity has been given hope in Jesus and the suicidal God becomes the store for all that is good. It is hardly surprising that death is vanquished and burial becomes associated with religion. Churches become the focus for burials and the horrors of overcrowded burial sites become understandable
Wednesday 3 October 2012
Mrs Woods - Died Senglea January 1917
Away
I cannot say and I will not say
That she is dead, she is just away.
With a cheery smile and a wave of hand
She has wandered into an unknown land;
And left us dreaming how very fair
Its needs must be, since she lingers there.
That she is dead, she is just away.
With a cheery smile and a wave of hand
She has wandered into an unknown land;
And left us dreaming how very fair
Its needs must be, since she lingers there.
And you-oh you, who the wildest yearn
From the old-time step and the glad return-
Think of her faring on, as dear
In the love of there, as the love of here
Think of her still the same way, I say;
She is not dead, she is just away.
From the old-time step and the glad return-
Think of her faring on, as dear
In the love of there, as the love of here
Think of her still the same way, I say;
She is not dead, she is just away.
James Whitcomb Riley, American poet (1849 - 1916)
Tuesday 2 October 2012
Hope and Justice
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| Giving the best of human work to God in Malta © Godric Godricson |
An Israelite belief in the afterlife is evident over time and amplified in II Maccabees and I Enoch. In effect, it could be argued that in the centuries immediately preceding Jesus, the idea of a bodily resurrection was well understood and would not have needed a detailed explanation. The association of death, religion and burial was already made and understood.
The question seems to be "What was it in the conceptualisation of the Resurrection of Jesus that unified earlier Jewish beliefs in a physical resurrection?" What was contained within post exilic and apocalyptic traditions which had the power to inspire gentiles with no knowledge of such religious traditions? It seems that a new facet gained prominence in Jewish beliefs surrounding resurrection as a concept and specifically in the Resurrection of Jesus. This new facet departed from the emphasis of the earlier Hebrew Bible and this new facet was the idea of ‘Hope’. The dark, vague and forbidding Sheol of the earlier Hebrew Bible was sometimes ameliorated by positive, or hopeful, images although the most optimistic post exilic and apocalyptic imagery surrounding resurrection did not contain such ideas of hope as made manifest in the Resurrection of Jesus. In this Christian death we see something better than life on earth and something to be desired,
The success of The Resurrection as an idea is that it unites ‘hope’ with ‘justice’ and ideas of theodicy. It may be that an early belief in God; without hope of reward is subsequently seasoned by ideas of ‘justice’. This development in theology evidences a change in the way that the relationship between mankind and God is perceived by humanity. We now have a positive carrot to encourage humanity and to balance the stick.
Saturday 29 September 2012
Mourning clothes
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| Maltese Death, Mourning, and Funeral Customs A. Cremona "Folklore" Vol. 34, No. 4 (Dec. 31, 1923)
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"The wearing of special mourning clothes was general in the fourteenth century, but became less marked by the year 1700. Women used to wear woollen trailing skirts and dark shawls over their heads. Some better-class people wore one black transparent veil over the head and another veil of black silk taffeta over the gown, reaching to the waist. A sort of Majorca woollen cloth is prescribed for mourning wear to the heirs under a will of A.D. 1543.
The Grand Master's suite wore a special garment called Scoto, of thin light serge. Although it is nowadays customary with some families to put on as little mourning as possible and to shorten its period, a full mourning dress is worn by others for two full years after the death of parents. The simplest style of mourning, a black necktie and a crape arm band, is in general use after the death of a distant relative".
Friday 21 September 2012
Old Maltese practices
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| Maltese Death, Mourning, and Funeral Customs A. Cremona "Folklore" Vol. 34, No. 4 (Dec. 31, 1923)
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"The following are the most characteristic features of existing Maltese practices, many of which are comparable to those of Sicily, while a few show some Eastern influence :-
(a) The washing of the dead body before shrouding. This is not a religious rite, and has no connection with that of Islam.
(b) The shutting of the eyelids, if open, and the raising of the chin by means of a band, usually a white kerchief, tied on the head.
(c) The removal of door knockers and knobs; house doors are kept closed for several days; neighbours half-shut their own".
Sunday 16 September 2012
Lamps and lights
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| Maltese Death, Mourning, and Funeral Customs A. Cremona "Folklore" Vol. 34, No. 4 (Dec. 31, 1923) © Godric Godricson |
"An oil lamp is often lit and left for forty days before the Crucifix or image of the Madonna in the death chamber. This is supposed to please the soul of the departed, whose ghost is in this way prevented from haunting the house. In some of the Gozo villages the persons attending the corpse to the burial- ground return in procession after the funeral mass to the room of the deceased, where they kneel down and say the rosary before the Crucifix, placed on a chest covered with white cloth, and between two lighted candles which are afterwards replaced by the devotional oil lamps".
Friday 14 September 2012
Monday 10 September 2012
Borma tal-Fqdr
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| Maltese Death, Mourning, and Funeral Customs A. Cremona "Folklore" Vol. 34, No. 4 (Dec. 31, 1923)
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"Some families give the poor bread. The love-feasts of the primitive Christians were in mediaeval times replaced in both Malta and Sicily by the distribution of cakes and of boiled wheat mixed with sesame. Distributions of meat and bread to the poor came also to be a custom at some festas, but were continued in Sicily mainly by the giving of beans and bread on All Souls' Day. In Malta on that day, however, the old custom has been replaced by the free kitchens or the "Potage for the Poor" (Borma tal-Fqdr)".
Sunday 9 September 2012
Vistu
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| Maltese Death, Mourning, and Funeral Customs A. Cremona "Folklore" Vol. 34, No. 4 (Dec. 31, 1923)
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"Mourning customs in Malta have during the last century passed through wide changes and, as in other European coun- tries, have reverted to a more simple type. Some are purely mediaeval, and are influenced by the prolonged intercourse with Sicily and Italy during the rule of the Grand Masters. The vernacular term for mourning is vistu, corresponding to the Sicilian visitusu (" to be in mourning ")".
Saturday 1 September 2012
Mourning dinners
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| Maltese Death, Mourning, and Funeral Customs A. Cremona "Folklore" Vol. 34, No. 4 (Dec. 31, 1923)
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"Old custom prohibited cooking for three days, and the family of the deceased was provided with meals by friends or distant relatives. This rule was, and perhaps is still, followed in some districts of Sicily and amongst Arab tribes of Northern Africa. While meals were being served the bereaved family sat with folded legs on the floor, which was covered with a straw mat. The historian Ciantar relates in 1772 that these mourning dinners still took place in his early days. This custom has now been discontinued, and our village people merely abstain from having their pastry and other food prepared in a public oven for a period of some months after the death of a member of the family".
Friday 31 August 2012
God as a novelist
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| The faith of the Maltese people © Godric Godricson |
The idea of God writing individual human activity like a novelist writing a role has its attractions and from this image we doubtless gain a real idea of a personal relationship to a God who is with us and we also develop, manifest and maintain the concept of a God who is with us over time. The author of our lives is there and we have a directing force as others also have a directing force.
Julian of Norwich doubtless had that idea of a directing and personal God when she wrote down her ‘shewings’ and she described her experience as being ‘enfolded in love’. For Julian, there is God who is a reality and God who can be known and who intervenes in our lives.
In a contemporary sense, the novel is a comforting and acceptable genre; although there is a problem in the idea of the novel in that we are sometimes left with the idea that the novel must have a good ending. If we are in the novel then perhaps we must have a positive outcome? Regrettably, if we hold to the idea of a novel (and with God as the writer) perhaps hard issues and adverse circumstances are harder to bear? if we believed that we would have a positive ending then a bad outcome is perceived with greater pain and sentiment. In believing that God is ultimately good then we believe that we will have a good ending. We believe that God directs and leads us and in this there is a temptation to give up free will and expect certainty rather than surprises.
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| An account of lives lived in faith © Godric Godricson |
I hear about past relationships and past pains and in all of this I hear questions. Why did that happen? The problem is asking God about that point in time. We have the concept of theodicy and I could discuss that with people. However, it seems that at some fundamental problem people do not have the words to simply ask God about issues and questions. If we are used to a directing and magisterial God how do we work up the courage to ask questions. Understanding about theodicy is not enough to people who cannot conceptualise asking God a question. I have friends in the Reformed Jewish tradition who can ask questions of God and they ask “What were you thinking God?”. They “qvetch” and “plotz” about issues and in many ways this is healthy and is engaging with God. My Jewish friends have perhaps moved beyond being simple characters in the novel of their own lives and they have become more like interactive characters who want explanations.
God is the glue that holds the world together but we have an increasing duty on us to interact with God as we move towards maturity. I know that metaphors are ultimately bound to failure but if I push this metaphor a little further; we must increasingly learn to co-author the novel as we understand more about God and His world.
Boundaries and parish
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| The Graveyard as a sign of community Saint Mark's New Lakenham, Norwich [Link] © Godric Godricson |
Oh dear! The idea of boundaries and parish have come to mind as I visit parishes. Boundaries are fascinating although not always helpful in forming a community of the living or for the departed. People can be geographically ruled into communities and they can be ruled out of communities. Inclusion and exclusion are the words to be used in this debate. We have a lot of sociological material available as analytical tools and the work of social anthropologists is always helpful in looking at groups and ‘norming, forming and storming’ or whatever the phrase.
Churches, parishes and graveyards are not always easy to categorise when it comes to an explanation of how they actually are, how they came to be or how they are perceived. I use as an example a [nameless] Roman Catholic parish that I knew as a young person. It was always a strange mix of local pride in itself and a long and colourful history; Polish/Czech/Hungarian Post-War immigration and the problems of having a priest who was himself a convert to the faith from a Reformed tradition. Throw in an occasional Latin Mass and a scandal or two and the Parish was often dysfunctional although on the surface it seemed to work in perfect harmony. The graveyard was a poor little thing crammed in against the walls and without care and attention.
Membership of the parish and the graveyard should have been wonderfully multi-cultural although it wasn’t because the Czechs, Poles and Hungarians who had settled circa 1940’s to 1953 (ish) had assimilated (although not totally) and they wanted to retain some solidarity with each other and separateness to others. English parishioners retained a romantic idea of being the descendants of rosy cheeked English men although it was clear from the surnames in the graveyard that they were more likely to descend from Irish immigrants circa 1840’s onwards. The priest’s own history made him more right wing, punitive and reactionary as he tried to prove his devotion to the Church he had joined.
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| Gan Falaris Décédé 1915 Buried - Kalkara, Malta [Link]
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In effect, the parish had what are sociologically referred to as deep ‘social cleavages’. The effect of such division was that whilst the descendants of the central Europeans played together quite happily at the same school with their ‘English’ counterparts; they sat separately at Church and the apparently English boys were implausibly sometimes called “Sean”, “Francis Xavier” and even “Eoin”. Confusing! Well it was when the children from the traveller community started to attend the same school sometime in the mid 1970’s and brought in the minority use of the Irish language just as the bombings on mainland Britain made Irish people the source of suspicion. The Scottish families whose fathers came to work nearby gave a slightly different and industrial mix to the parish. A friend at school had a father from Quebec and that brought even more spice to the mix.
The English in the local community could often not tell Scots and Irish apart based on accent and mannerism and so there was always a sort of ‘white racism’ being played out as local people tried to separate out the ‘Gastarbeiter’ Scots who were really “One of us!” and the Irish/Travellers where there was a perception of mistrust and even fear.
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| Ettore Barbara Buried - Kalkara, Malta [Link]
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In a manner of speaking; membership of the parish was less based on nationality, class, social origins or income and more about religious allegiance as this was a common point which to share. Less about Englishness and class and more about religious and cultural association and a willingness to be seen as “Catholic”. Good standing was through overt obedience to the Pope. As long as this was the case then membership was achieved and maintained. The problem came when the Church hierarchy started to actively (deliberately?) loose adherents as it started to preach about the 3 great moral sins for the Church - homosexuality, divorce and abortion.
The Graveyard became a place where we were all integrated into the communal unity of the living and the dead even if the hierarchy drove people away. The Maltese understand these matters better and the Cemeteries of Addolorata and Ta’Braixa have beauty and practicality combined in equal measure. The Maltese are another overlay in British culture but that’s another story for another day.
Friday 24 August 2012
Wednesday 15 August 2012
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