My childhood

 I come from Malta, actually from Gozo another smaller island which is under Malta. We speak the same language, slightly slang, written the same. We have the same traditions. One of the traditions is that in each village we celebrate our patron saints. I am not sure if in each village there are more then one patron saint but in mine there were actually three. Saint Peter and St Paul and  St Coronato which we celebrated in November. St Peter and Paul we celebrated it in June 29th. We will have nine days where the festivities starts but the biggest is on the actual day. During these days there will be band which goes around some main streets. People from different towns would come in our town and we would go to theirs. It is good for young girls and boys to meet and drink and have fun. It is a big deal for the people living there or that they have been abroad and went there for a holiday. When I was young about eight years, I didn't want to go to this feast and I asked my mother if I could stay home. I used  to hate it walking with the band and stay late as the band would take till about 11:30 or midnight to finish. It wasn't fun for me. So my younger sister and two smaller brothers stayed with me. I was the oldest then on that day while everyone left to have fun. My mother told me if I was scared to yell out for my neighbour. She was outside as it is another tradition where there would stay infront of their house watching people passing by. We had a big house and we had a section where we had animals. We had three doors that you could use to go in our house from outside. We had three doors to get in our house from the backyard, plus a garage door. So we get back to the story after a short while when everyone left we heard someone trying to open the backyard doors. We were scared stiff we couldn't move from our beds. We thought they will come and get us. My sister and I were talking together what we will do if they came upstairs where we were. I told her we will tie the sheets together and climb outside the balcony. I suppose we saw that on the television. Anyway I couldn't wait till someone came home but it took forever. The boys slept and my sister did too. I stayed awake waiting and very scared. After some hours, my father finally came when he opened the door I called him crying and he came up to see what is the matter. I told him there was someone trying to open the doors from the backyard and he said that was him, he thought we were all asleep so he left us be. He got me a drink I guess he was sorry about it. One very special thing about my father is that we all feel we were his favourite, and we are eleven siblings. How did he do that I still don't know.

Traditions

Traditions is what I'm talking about today. A girl had nice henna tattooed on her hand. I asked her why she had it on and she said she had done it for a celebration that her friend had. We didn't have time to talk more. Another tradition that I met was a boy with long her. I asked him if he could cut it when he is bored with it, he said yes when ever he wants to he can. As far as I know I can't remember any traditions but there was one when I was young I will tell you what I know about it. I remember a couple of women still wearing them. It was hard in church if you were behind them you couldn't see a thing.

The għonnella is pronounced "awe-nel-la" , sometimes referred to as  Faldetta, was a form of women's head dress and shawl, or hooded cloak, unique to the Mediterranean islands of Malta and Gozo. It was generally made of cotton or silk, and usually black or some other dark colour, although from the sixteenth century onwards, noble women and women from wealthier households frequently wore white or brightly coloured għenienel plural for one. The għonnella covered the head,  but did not cover the face. The upper part of the għonnella was starched quite stiffly, and given a broad, rounded frame, formed by means of a board, cane, or whalebone. This gave the għonnella a mysterious but alluring, sail-like appearance. From a practical perspective, this broad bonnet captured much needed cooling breezes during the hot Maltese summer. On cooler days, the wearer could wrap the għonnella around her face more tightly, by making a slight adjustment. The lower part of the għonnella could be worn loosely draped around the wearer's bodice and hips, or more tightly wrapped in the case of inclement weather. It would typically fall to mid-calf length. While walking, the wearer would hold one or both sides of the għonnella clasped in her right hand.