P.O., Notary and Library

I started my day with a trip to the Post Office to pick up two packages. The first was a package from the Rennpferds sending me some Vitamin C and a daily vitamin. Unfortunately the PO wouldn’t let me have it until it gets cleared by the local Dr. so I can’t pick it up until Monday. D’oh. The second package I wasn’t expecting and was totally excited to find it was from some of my friends from UWM! Thank you so much to Jim, Michele, Alexis and Marcus! It was great to get something from home – and yes, even the rock from Marcus was a welcome gift.

After the P.O. I went to the Malta Registry and Notary office. They keep records of all births, deaths, and marriages there just like any notary office I guess. I asked how far back their records go and the man working there said 1863. Before that the records would’ve been kept by the church. I asked how long he’d worked there and he said he thought it was 1993. The woman standing next to him at the counter confirmed it and when I asked how long she’d been there she said 1992. I said, “ah so you would remember when this guy showed up, huh?” They both laughed. I had told them I was a student and the man remarked that there had been some other American students in there last summer asking questions – I wondered if they were any of my friends or not. I asked them if I could come back if I had more questions and they said yes, of course. They were both very friendly which was the opposite of what I’d expected as it’s a “government institution” and I expected a hassle about my student visa (or lack of one.)

Next I went to the lending library to see what they had about Maltese Funerals. I walked down Repubblika and up the street by the buses and unfortunately saw Joe, the creepster from Marsalforn. He recognized me so I said hello. He said “you’re still here?” I said yes and kept walking. He said “wait wait where you going?” I turned and said I have to go, I’m on my way somewhere.” I turned back to the direction of the library and kept going. I was totally worried that he was going to follow me.

The lending library is on the same block as Tapie’s and directly across from St. Francis church. It’s small – only three rooms. The first room houses mostly children’s books and has two round tables for study space. The second has mostly non-fiction and the beginnings of a literature/fiction section. There are also a few computers in the second room with the same reminder I saw at the reference library about how you should limit time on them to an hour. There are also several large round tables in this room for studying as well. The room at the back houses fiction. I should also point out that they use no coding system for the books though I think some of the sections are organized alpha by author.

In speaking with the two librarians, it turns out that I met another person related to George the undertaker. The older woman (probably in her mid-40s) I was speaking with said “if you are studying funerals I should send you to my brothers. They make coffins.” I asked if she was related to George and she said yes – George and Mario. George and Mario are George the undertaker’s cousins and have the shop G&M just down the street from George. This means that Anna from Moments is her sister-in-law as well, as she is Anna’s husband’s sister! I asked if she has been in Gozo her whole life and she said yes and then I asked if she had a family here and she said no, she’s single – the only one of 7. I remembered Anna saying that there were 7 in Frankie’s family and that only one of the women was single. She seemed like a very friendly affable sort so I said “atta girl” and put my fist out to “pound” her in camaraderie. I did it before I even realized she might not know what I was doing. After only a moment of hesitation she pounded me back and I felt relieved! She asked me how I knew her brothers and so I told her how I’d been introduced to George through Fr. Debrincart last year.

In the meantime the other librarian found me a book to take a look at. “Folklore of an Island: Maltese Threshold Customs” by Tarcisio Zarb. The librarian said there wasn’t really anything on funerals in it other than a small section on the taboo of “black” but as she flipped the pages I saw a section on Death so I asked if I could take a look. I spent the better part of an hour there reading the text and taking notes. What I found in the text was disturbing at first as it really seemed to lend credence to the Cremona findings in 1923 which laid out a lot of old death practices from the late 1800’s that are really no longer practiced. I must’ve checked the publishing date twice. I kept thinking there was no way it could’ve been published in 1998 – my findings regarding people’s practices and sentiments of death were just not agreeing with this book. It wasn’t until I realized that Zorb did most of his work in the mid 70’s and that he was drawing on interviews with 70 year old people regarding much older practices that I breathed a sigh of relief. The book itself seems helpful though and so I’m going to have to try to locate a copy. I did take some pretty thorough notes but you just never know what you’re going to need. I also spent a minute touring the bibliography and writing down other works that might be of interest.

Not sure yet what’s on the horizon for the weekend. Or as my mom would’ve said, “what’s on the agenda.” In case y’all haven’t noticed, I make most of this up as I go along.