Maltese customs and beliefs in 1575

Abstract

The contents of this article are based upon the report of Mgr. Pietro Dusina, who came to Malta as Apostolic Visitor in 1575. This report forms a milestone in Maltese History on account of its far-reaching effects on the social and religious life of the Maltese people. As a result of Dusina's recommendations we find a greater discipline among the clergy, while old beliefs, practices and superstitions were discarded. But the change was gradual and for centuries traces of the old life and beliefs remained; cases of witchcraft, which the Church tried in vain to suppress, were not unusual and to this day we come across practices which were very common in Dusina's day. These sixteenth-century survivals have now passed into the realm of folklore, but it is worth while to record them here for the study of ancient folk-life in Malta. [excerpt]