Dare it be said, at a great risk to the writer's good reputation, that the prickly pear known fondly in Malta as "Bajtar Tax-Xewk" is not native to the island or even the entire Mediterranean region. No indeed, the cactus with fruit shaped somewhat like a pear or fig originated in dry parts of the southernmost United States and northwestern Mexico. American settlers borrowed the semi-desert territory in 1850, when California was declared the 31st state on September 9th. and never returned the land to its original owners. That there should be such a historic connection between Malta and the USA because of the prickly pear strains a fanciful imagination.
So familiar have the Maltese become with this adopted thorny bush and its edible fruit, that grows sharp spikes around its leafy edges, that they took a clue from the early American pioneers, and shamelessly claimed it as their own!! Beautiful to look at but painful to touch, like a woman, the prickly morsel is symptomatic of Malta's tenuous love/hate affairs with great powers that occupied it over many centuries through sheer military weight. This advantage notwithstanding, they were in the end unable to pacify or control its restive people. Quick tempered and argumentative, the Maltese possess a hot Mediterranean temperament which makes them ungovernable, and near impossible to harness under a foreign yoke. When not battling a real or perceived external demon, the islanders turn gladiators and wage verbal battles against one another. Endless debates are rarely predicated on cool logic or substantive evidence, but are more focused on emotion, and pre-conceived ideologies, which earmark a fiery Latin mindset.
Like Bajtar Tax-Xewk, two opposite traits of the indelible Maltese character emerge. One is of benevolent folks who passionately love their extended family, particularly children, and who are world-renowned for their warm cordiality extended towards people from abroad. The other is a paranoid fear of foreign influence, which is seen to threaten the parochial Catholic culture and social fabric of a small indigenous population, long isolated and sheltered from perceived evils and excess liberal behaviors, emanating from the nearby colossus of anarchical Europe. The greatest fear that troubles Malta is the eventual demise of Malti, its native language, to be replaced by American English, more so should the tiny island nation become part and parcel of a colossal E.U. Here again using the prickly pear as an analogy, Malti is not native to the island. It was transplanted from abroad, is of Semitic construction with roots in Phoenicia and Carthage. To make matters even more complicated, it is written in Roman characters in lieu of Arab script from whence it originated.
The lowly Bajtar Tax-Xewk reminds the Maltese of their prickly ties with Britain and other naval powers throughout the centuries, which set foot on the island and conquered it. Never a people to submit readily to foreign imposition, the islanders learned how to survive, indeed thrive under conditions of military occupation and hardship, without ever compromising their unique identity as a strong willed people and a Mediterranean nation. Unfortunately located in a most strategic position in the center of a large enclosed sea, where ships of many expansionist nations plied trade and commerce, Malta became prey to succeeding countries that sought control of the sea-lanes, which converged near its territorial waters. As early as 800-480 BC Malta fell under Phoenician rule, followed by Greek (700-600 BC), Carthaginian (480-218 BC),
Roman (218 BC-395 AD), Byzantine (395-870), Arab (870-1090), Norman (1090-1194), Genoese (1154-1205), Swabian (1194-1266), Aragonese (1283-1412), Knights Of Saint John (1530- 1798), French (1799-1800), and British (1800-1974) domination. No other country in Europe has so much history encapsulated in so small a place. Any nation that could build a rowing boat did, and used it to rampage the island. Maltese artifacts of historic value were removed from Malta as late as the French occupation by Napoleon Bonaparte, and allegedly by Lord Gerald Strickland, on behalf of his British colonial masters. Malta is thankful they left behind their beloved Bajtar Ta-Xewk.
Yet as often happens, the symbolic prickly fruit emerges yet again to remind all fair minded people that out of sharp needles emerges an edible fruit, out of evil comes virtue. Each invading foreign power brought to Malta a measure of its civility and culture, which the Maltese were quick to absorb and assimilate. Such phenomenon explains the establishment of Christianity on a pagan island, the emergence of Malti as a native tongue, the westernization of Malta as Europe's southernmost port of call, the multi-lingual genius of its people, and last but not least the formation of a distinct Maltese identity with blood roots extending throughout the Mediterranean littoral.
So interwoven is the Bajtar Tax-Xewk plant, with Malta's rich history, that its image should be given a place of honor and be made part of its national red and white flag!! The decent thing to do is have it replace the controversial George Cross, which now shows as a quadrant on its upper left corner of its banner. The welcome change will serve to bury a reminder of a shameful British colonial past, while adorning the flag with a pretty picture of red and yellow prickly pears in bloom, symbolic of Malta's ability to chop off the hand of those who might wish to subdue it. All those in favor please stand up and be counted J.
E-mail to Joseph Vella: vellajoseph@msn.net
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