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4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 12 NOVEMBER 2023 NEWS Patron saints and football stadia: Malta's JAMES DEBONO AT least 240 houses in 10 ma- jor Maltese localities are named after St Joseph, the patron saint of the working class and also the secondary patron saint in a number of Maltese towns. For the man revered as the father of Jesus Christ, it makes his the most popular name chosen for house in these par- ticular localities, where 10% of houses are named after reli- gious figures. But this very Maltese of traits is now down from 16% of hous- es back in 1977, a study based on over 19,600 houses names in 10 villages shows. Two- thirds of these houses have a name – rather than just a number denoting their address – with the use of anglophone names still predominant, and now less likely to use religious monikers. The study, published in sci- ence journal Xjenza was con- ducted by a team of Universi- ty of Malta sociologists led by Prof. Godfrey Baldacchino, on the house names in Għaxaq, Gżira, Marsaskala, Msida (in- cluding Swatar), Mosta, Mtar- fa, Qormi, Żejtun and Żurrieq. A substantial 66.1% of these homes had a house name, the typical stamp of Maltese uniqueness when compared to other European countries where most houses are simply numbered. One main reason for this is that until the late 20th century, Maltese houses were not assigned with num- bers, and residents would identify newly built houses by assigning them a name, a prac- tice which continues right to this day. The prevalence of house-nam- ing is particularly high in local- ities where homes are primarily owned and occupied by their residents, such as Għaxaq, Marsaskala, and Mosta, with rates as high as 82.1%. In con- trast, in localities like Senglea, characterised by a substantial stock of social housing, only 8% of houses have a name. The study suggests that the high frequency of naming houses in Malta partly serves as a means for individuals and communities to express their identities and affiliations through their choice of house names. "Many Maltese collec- tively still use house names as a way to express, maintain and affirm traditional local paro- chial allegiances, as manifest in other cultural practices such as festas and fireworks." Mixing languages in naming houses English remains the most commonly used language for house names, followed by Mal- tese. This is not so surprising in a country where English re- mains the preferred medium in writing. For example, in Marsaskala while 710 houses are named in English, only 219 houses are named in Maltese. The only ex- ception to this trend was Msida where among post-1977 hous- es, Italian comes in as a dis- tant second. But the study also hints at an increased tendency to mix languages when nam- ing houses. This is particularly the case in Marsaskala and Że- jtun. In the pre-1977 era, there were already some noteworthy mixed-language house names, such as 'Razzett Bella Vista', 'Dar Frate Jacoba,' and 'Aqua Gem'. Since 1977, Marsaskala has witnessed the emergence of at least 11 more mixed-lan- guage house names, including 'El Kantaoui Flats,' 'Tal-Bidni Farmhouse,' 'Monte Carmelo Flats,' 'Quċċa Garage,' 'Farm- house Sqaq il-Ħrejba,' 'Casa Abela,' 'Gandoffla Court,' 'Ca- rina Tower Estate,' 'Tal-Farm- house,' and 'Sea La Vie.' This proliferation of mixed-lan- guage house names in Marsas- kala could be a reflection of the more cosmopolitan nature of this coastal community. But the largest number of mixed-language hous- es is found in Żejtun: before 1977, the town already had 30 mixed-language house names, including the evocative 'Mam- ma Mia Lodge' combining Ital- ian and English. Since 1977, an additional 38 mixed-language house names have emerged, with examples like 'Mater Grazzja' blending Latin and Maltese. Secularisation of house names House names with strong re- ligious or sacred connotations showed a decline, dropping from 16% in 1977 to 10% in the period between 1977 to 2022. The decrease was more pro- nounced in some localities like Żurrieq where the percentage of houses which have a reli- gious name has decreased from 36% among pre-1977 houses, to 14.3% for post-1977 homes. But this trend was reversed in Gżira and Msida, which have seen a slight increase in religious house names. In Gżira, these names rose from 12.9% to 13.8%, and in Msi- da, from 10.4% to 11.2%. This shift might be attributed to the construction of new apartment buildings, maintaining a link to faith even in modern urban settings. Indeed, while noting that the recourse to religious house names has declined, the study asks whether the Maltese are still resorting to religiously in- spired house names, particu- larly those referring to patron saints, as a "counterfoil to sec- ularization and globalisation." For many are the homes still named for the patron saint of the town or village, as is the case with St Catherine in Że- jtun, St Mary in Mosta, and St George and St Sebastian (and derivatives) in Qormi. Why St Joseph is so popular The study found 240 houses named 'St Joseph' in the ten lo- calities under study, account- ing for approximately one out of every 82 house names. This prevalence of 'St Joseph' and its linguistic derivatives like 'San Ġużepp' in Maltese or 'San Gi- useppe' in Italian reflects his- torical factors. This is because St Joseph became the rallying point for the development of most secondary feasts in Malta, often borne of working-class factions inside towns as a rival to the primary feast preferred by the local elite. Moreover apart from being a religious figure he is also the patron saint of workers, align- Sociological study finds house names associated with the religious or the sacred in 10 Maltese villages have declined from around 16% to 10% since 1977, but in spite of secularisation 'St Joseph' still rules the house name game