The Djaletti Festivals

It is clearly documented that the Maltese language dates back hundreds of years. During the thorough research on the origins of the Kantilena - the oldest Maltese poem - by Professors Fsadni and Wettinger, mention is made of the language of the people of Malta; and how this spoken language was different from all the official languges in use at that time.

In fact documents show that in 1453, the Gozitans Judiacary made their case by sending a letter to King Alphonse of Naples, to keep notary Andrea de Bongeminu in office for an indefinite period, and the reason being that he could understand and communicate with the Maltese in their own language.

Then, about a hundred and twenty years later, in 1575, when Malta was under the rulers of the Order of St.John, we get a better picture through the first population survey for the Maltese islands.x
Besides the population of Gozo as a whole and the cities of Mdina, Rabat and Birgu, 10 parishes were on record to have been functioning with all the basic services offered to the locals. These parishes were Birkirkara, Bir Miftuh (Gudja), Santa Dminka (Had-Dingli), Santa Katarina (iz-Zejtun); il-Mellieha; Hal Qormi; in-Naxxar; is-Siggiewi; Haz-Zebbug and iz-Zurrieq.

For some linguists, a word in dialect is that word which for one meaning a different word is used. A case in point is the word ‘tajra tal-karti’ (kite) which in the Zejtuni dialect is called ‘manocca’, in the Mosti dialect it’s called ‘hamiema’, while for the people of Zurrieq, kite is ‘fjamma’.
But, for the common people, dialect equals the different nuances and the different pronounciation which people coming from different towns and villages use. For the common people, this is what makes up our linguistic diversity and which translates into our linguistic heritage.

During these festivals we want to publicly showcase our language as its been handed down by our forefathers. The Gozo Djaletti Festival, marks the third Djaletti festival for this year.Our motto is that of being proud of our linguistic heritage; be it dialects; literature and Maltese music. The Gozo festival will be held at l-Gharb Folklor Museum in l-Gharb Gozo, on Sunday 6th September at 11.00am. Entrance to these festivals is always free of charge and Maltese songs and Ghana make an essential part during each activity. We are also in the process of recording our dialects for posterity.

Should you wish to contact us please send to Miriam Cassar on marla@onvol.net or 9922 6186