Malta
The Maltese language is a Semitic language along with Arabic, Hebrew and Amharic. It's thought to be a descendant of the language spoken by Phoenicians. To the ear, it has some of the guttural harsher Arabic sounds. It is the only Semitic language written in Latin script which makes it a bit easier to follow road signs then in Tunisia. There are few odd accents and many x's pronounced as a harsher "sh". Luckily for us, English is another official language making communication easy.
One of our hiking destinations took us to the fishing town of Marsaxlokk. The large harbour was packed with small, traditional, brightly painted and well-tended, wooden fishing boats. On the bow are the "Eyes of Osiris" to ward of evil spirits.
Now, the meaning of these eyes, believed to be good luck, is confusing. Osiris was the Egyptian god of death and the underworld. So having a good luck charm on a boat in his honour seems odd. But research is also conflicting. According to one author, it should be called the Eye of Huros as it is in many eastern Med countries. Huros, the son of Osiris, fought with his brother Seth or maybe with his father Osiris. In any case, Huros got his eye poked out in the fight. When his mother, the goddess Isis, saw this, she picked up the eye and put it back in place on Huros. She declared that whoever is behind the eye will have her protection. A little more sense for a small, rowed fishing boat.
Another version: According to an old Maltese fisherman who "claimed that the primary function of the eyes is to scare-off and intimidate great-white sharks - are they even in the Med? another google search required - contemplating surfacing beneath the boat to overturn it! According to this particular explanation, nothing scares a lumbering great-white more than a pair of eyes peering hypnotically and nonchalantly at it from above!" Yikes!
Whatever the lore, seems like a good accessory for Milly. I'm on the hunt for one.
No comments:
Post a Comment