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Archive-name: cultures/malta/faq
Posting-Frequency: monthly
Last-modified: December 17, 2003
Version: 3.80 (text)
Summary: This posting contains a list of Frequently Asked
  Questions (and their answers) about alt.culture.malta and of course
  Malta. It should be read by anyone who wishes to post to the
  alt.culture.malta newsgroup
URL: http://cwebdesign.com/altmalta/
Disclaimer: Approval for *.answers is based on form, not content.

Welcome to alt.culture.malta. This FAQ is regularly posted to the
alt.culture.malta,alt.answers and news.answers newsgroups approximately once
a month, and the most up-to-date version is also available at the
alt.culture.malta web site
  (http://cwebdesign.com/altmalta/). Many FAQs, including this one, are
available at http://www.faqs.org. Additions have been made, new information
has been collated from newsgroup threads which can be found in the newsgroup
archive (http://www.maltanetworkresources.com/newsgroup/alt.culture.malta),
as well as reworded and edited.

The Maltese newsgroup alt.culture.malta was set up for the discussion of
anything related to  Malta, or the Maltese islands. It may be used by web
page creators as a springboard for URL announcements of Maltese websites.
Created on the 25th October 1996, this is now another good place where to
submit a message describing your new Maltese web page; to discuss your site
updates, or simply to discuss anything to do with Malta or Maltese.
The newsgroup is robomoderated.
The alt.culture.malta web page can be found at the URL
   http://cwebdesign.com/altmalta/.

To get more information and search for Maltese WWW sites, other resources such
as mailing lists, and more general information on Malta, you might visit
Malta Network Resources (http://www.maltanetworkresources.com). You can
access searchable archives for Maltese newsgroups from MNR. MNR originally
as a directory had a 'delegation' (official link) from (the now defunct)
original 'Virtual Tourist' (the world list of web servers).


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


 Somebody wrote ng - what does ng mean?

 'ng' simply means (USENET) 'newsgroup' (informally called just group).

 What is the point of the group?

 The description of alt.culture.malta is 'Discussion on Malta and the
Maltese',
 which includes Malta, Gozo and Comino, the Maltese abroad.
 The point of a newsgroup is given by its name. 'Alt' is a series of groups
 all about different topics, 'culture' means that the newsgroup discusses
 things pertaining to particular cultures, 'malta' means that this is a
 newsgroup for discussion of anything connected to Malta and the Maltese. For
 more details on what one can post about, check the Charter or read on below.

 I cannot connect to alt.culture.malta. HELP!

 The list of newsgroups carried by your service provider (ISP) is
 generally the responsibility of the news administrator. Since this
 group is relatively quite  new, not all news administrators will
 have added it to their lists. If the newsgroup is still
 unavailable at your site, please contact your news administrator
 (e.g. by sending an email message) and request that it be carried.
 Regular booster messages will be sent out to help the group get the
 widest possible coverage. 
 You might access it by using a web site which 
 allows access to alt.culture.malta - examples
 include Malta Network Resources, Dejanews (http://www.dejanews.com) and 
 Newsguy (http://www.newsguy.com). Note that Newsguy does not archive
 old postings, Google Groups only stores posts from a few years and does not
archive the first two years of this newsgroup completely. Only Malta Network
Resources
 (http://www.maltanetworkresources.com) has a complete archive of the group.
 NEW: You now may read alt.culture.malta using Malta Network Resources,
 using your browser (the url is given above). You also can read new postings
 and post  to  alt.culture.malta by joining scmalta-l which is the public
 Malta mailing list (http://www.cis.um.edu.mt/staff/cmeli/lists/scmalta.html),
 and send email to the moderated list. There are some other lists but they
 are private. Email to scmalta-l is gatewayed (two way) into the
 alt.culture.malta newsgroup. To subscribe, send 
 "subscribe scmalta-l" to majordomo AT cis DOT um DOT edu DOT mt (without the
quotes),
 leaving the subject line empty. In other words, you can read the group
 by subscribing to the mailing list (using email) and vice versa
 you can read the mailing list by subscribing to the newsgroup, or
 through the web using Malta Network Resources.


 What is the malta.* hierarchy?

 The malta.* hierarchy is the national hierarchy of Maltese newsgroups. New
 newsgroups have been added recently.
 Please find the most up to date information on the malta.* hierarchy and the
"Adding malta.* hierarchy to a news server FAQ" from
    http://www.malta.news-admin.org



 Why has alt.culture.malta been set up? What is its purpose?

 It was originally set up as a Maltese newsgroup since
 there is a demand for a newsgroup where to discuss Maltese topics.
 Anything related to Malta, Gozo, the Maltese Islands, Maltese
 culture, tradition, history, future, current events in Malta,
 whatever is Malta-related can be discussed. It was favourably discussed
 in the alt.config newsgroup before it was created, unlike the older
 alt.malta which was not and was always rmgrouped. The alt.malta newsgroup
 is obsolete. Please don't post to it, so the rest of us won't miss anything.
 Even discussion of Maltese WWW sites and announcements of Maltese
 Web resources physically located in Malta and abroad may take place
 on the newsgroup. alt.malta is technically "defunct" (a rmgrouped
 newsgroup) and still exists only in a few isolated pocket locations, 
 it does not generally propagate any more (if at all) since most sites have
 now dropped it replacing it with alt.culture.malta. Yes, discussing 
 Maltese dogs is allowed. The newsgroup was upon general consensus and
 after an informal voting successfully changed to a moderated one 
 due to spammers attempting to overrun the group. It is preferred that you
 post in English, it will be understood by most people on the group. Don't
 let this stop you from posting in Maltese however. Using Maltese fonts
 in usenet posts might not be a good idea as there is no way to specify
 the font apart from using html which is not recommended as usenet is an
 ascii medium.

 How many people will see my post?

 It is not known for sure how many people view USENET or any individual
 group. But trust me, many people, possibly tens of thousands every day
 will see it so please try to be professional.

 Where is the newsgroup located or hosted?

 The answer is nowhere, or everywhere. This is how Usenet works, messages
 get duplicated (propagated) from server to server. It is not like a
 website.

 Is the newsgroup archived?

 Yes, go to http://www.maltanetworkresources.com/newsgroup/alt.culture.malta
 for the only authorised (and the most complete) archive. It is also
searchable from
 the main page.


 What is the connection with soc.culture.malta? Does soc.culture.malta exist?
 Was it voted for? Where can we discuss the RFD again?

 soc.culture.malta was proposed and discussed some years ago, as a 
 robomoderated newsgroup (i.e. software approves postings basically).
 A vote was held but due to lack of support, the vote failed. If you were
 in favour, or against, this newsgroup, you are encouraged by the author of
 this FAQ to use alt.culture.malta instead.
 
 Any hints on group behaviour we should know about?

 Well, one should make factual statements without adding colour to inflame
 anyone. If one adds a few pejorative adjectives to a factual statement
 then it becomes caustic and serves no purpose other than to inflame. The
 outcome is people will lose respect for one's writings and ignore them.
 Which one would think would not be what the writer wishes. The other
 possible outcome is that people will complain to the moderator. Then the
 moderator has a problem, which the moderator does not want. So a good
 critical article on a subject will be read and discussed.

 
 What is the alt.culture.malta charter?

 The charter of alt.culture.malta describes what the Maltese newsgroup is
 to be used for. The topic is anything related to Malta, anything Maltese, 
 or the Maltese islands. It may be used for URL announcements of Maltese 
 websites. So this is another good place where to submit a message 
 describing your new Maltese web page. The newsgroup is (robo)moderated. The
 charter also explains the moderation policy. The charter can be found
 at http://cwebdesign.com/altmalta/charter.html.

 What is the moderation policy?

It is stressed at the outset that posts to alt.culture.malta are not
moderated according to their content. The group is moderated by a
robomoderation program under the control of the human moderator and
program maintainer. People may post with "unreplyable" or "munged"
email addresses e.g. "john@xyz.mt.NOSPAM". Messages posted to
alt.culture.malta should be related to Malta or the
Maltese in some way. Some civil and informal unrelated discussion is
allowed among regular or new posters, otherwise messages must be on
topic and courteous to the regular and new posters. Authors of rejected
posts are notified via email by the robomoderator. As soon as one posts,
the robomoderator notifies the poster that the posting has been received.
This can be turned off by following the robomoderator's instructions.

Off topic messages as specified above, should be introduced "Off
topic:" in the subject header. ECP/EMP and binaries, Make money fast
schedules, sex advertisements are explicitly not allowed. Maltese URL
announcements are allowed.
Personals should be sent to a different newsgroup, soc.personals which exists
for that purpose, with the exception of penpals or people looking for their
relatives in Malta and Gozo (genealogical requests) which are welcome.



One copy of all messages will be posted to alt.culture.malta only
after being approved by the robomoderator at the submission address
alt-culture-malta AT cis DOT um DOT edu DOT mt, and will be also be posted on
the SCMALTA-L mailing list. First-time posters will, upon having their
initial post approved, be placed on auto-approve, so their subsequent
postings will be automatically preapproved. The robomoderation does
not focus on content. Of course, should an approved poster start
spamming for instance, he/she will be removed from the autoapproval list.
The preapproval list is only used for pre-approving posts to
alt.culture.malta and for verifying voters for group votes. It may not
be sold, given away, or used as a mailing list. It started as empty and
was added only as above. Every poster may request to be removed from
the preapproval list. List entries may be aged out after a term determined
by the space available on the moderating host, to be not less after a year.
In rare cases a person who reponds abusively to the robomoderator's
auto-replies, will be put on the robomoderator's ignore list. 


Therefore no crossposting will be allowed except for on-topic
RFD/CVF's.

It is HIGHLY ADVISED (but usually not necessary) that posters send their
message directly by email to alt-culture-malta AT cis DOT um DOT edu DOT mt,
for moderation, rather than posting directly from USENET to this newsgroup.
This will speed up the time your message will appear in this newsgroup.

After submission,if the article has not been posted yet,you may
contact the moderator (see below for details) and request a STOP POST
on your article, hoping you reached me on time. Once posted the only
thing that can be done is the issuing of a cancellation. I cannot
guarantee that it has not been posted on servers, or added to any
archive servers on the Internet. Everything will be done as time
permits, and no guarantees are made. After all not all sites will honour
cancel
messages.



Messages that are not approved will be returned to the sender as far
as possible, with an automatic response as far as possible,
occasionally noting why it did not meet with approval, and offering
suggestions. Postings should not be identically duplicated within
reasonable time, of at least a week. If one is posting about an
upcoming event, it is legitimate to repost a slightly modified
announcement.

Once returned to the sender, the moderator's decisions are final, but
you may resubmit your messages for reconsideration, with appropriate 
changes made. The moderator is not responsible for any articles
lost while being transmitted over the Internet, therefore you should
keep a copy of any submitted messages. Copyrighted material submitted
that is keeping with fair use provisions of copyright laws is
permissible so long as it is informative, educational and related to
Malta or Maltese.

Posting Delays:
When posting to alt.culture.malta your article will not appear in
the group immediately. Posts to alt.culture.malta are forwarded
to the robomoderator that checks that you are on the auto-approval
list (see above). If not (i.e. you have posted for the first time) the human
moderator has to approve your posting.

Subsequently your next posts will be auto-approved by the robomoderator.

It then sends the post to the Usenet gateway (and to SCMALTA-L).
From the news gateway the article must make its way back to your news server.
                     

   If you would like to be certain that your posts are reaching the
   group, you may subscribe to the SCMALTA-L mailing list. To do so
   send an e-mail message to majordomo AT cis DOT um DOT edu DOT mt
   that reads
   subscribe scmalta-l 
                     
   If getting timely and complete information is important to you,
   you may want to consider following via the mailing list.
   E-mail is much faster and more reliable than news propagation.
   The mailing list SCMALTA-L and the newsgroup alt.culture.malta
   mirror each other (except for some other Maltese mailing list
   digests which are posted to the newsgroup only - to get those
   by email you can subscribe to those lists).
                     
   If your posts do appear on the group immediately, it's likely
   your provider doesn't have the group set as moderated
   at your site. In that case your posts are not being distributed
   to the full group. You should ask your news administrator to
   set the group as moderated. Another way around this problem is
   to send your posts as an e-mail message to
        SCMALTA-L AT CIS DOT UM DOT EDU DOT MT
  Everything sent to that address is automatically distributed to
  the group, through the robomoderator and with the same rules.

 What is the Moderator direct contact address?
 
 The official moderator address is cmeli AT cis DOT  um DOT edu DOT mt,
 but being the author of this document also, I can be contacted also
 as specified at the end of the FAQ.

 Where is Malta?

 Malta is a small country, an island in the Mediterranean sea, south
 of Sicily (Italy), actually more than one island, but the larger ones
 are Malta and Gozo besides the other ones Filfla and Kemmuna (Comino).

 Where can one find Internet cafes in Malta?

 The following were mentioned by posters: [W] there are public PC
 terminals in the Eden Super Bowl, YMCA Cafe in Valletta,
 [MDS] Saddles in St Julians (on  the first floor).
 [CM] There are also now some internetcafes along the Sliema
 promenade/seafront (e.g. Waves Internet C@fe);before it joins Manwel Dimech
 Street; another one exists in Mosta in front of the Mosta Church dome,
 there is a bookshop with a restaurant on top. In the restaurant there is
 a single PC public terminal. There is another one in Sliema in Bisazza
Street.
Some of them have websites and can be found
 a new MNR category or just search for them. Maltacom has said it will be
 setting up free Internet Terminals around Malta and Gozo.

 Where can one get public domain Maltese fonts?

 You may download public domain Maltese fonts in TrueType format
 from the new download section at Malta Network Resources
 ( http://www.maltanetworkresources.com/download.php ).  These fonts are
 ISO-8859-3 standard public domain SudEuro fonts (used also for Esperanto).
 I know of other fonts which are non-standard and cause trouble under win95.
 These fonts work under windows 2000 also. The Government, according to a
 press release, has developed its own non-ISO standard font for use with the
 MAGNET network. Unfortunately this means having to have more fonts and
 IMHO should be discouraged (and phased out with ISO standard
implementations).

 What is the weather in Malta like? Does it snow?

 It is hot in summer, over 30 degrees Celsius. It never snows in Malta.
 Sometimes we have hail or small ice, but that's about it.


 How could I find an email address in Malta?

 My suggestion - first try through ICQ (www.icq.com), then use the many
 people searches available on any portal. It is not guaranteed. Try searching
 usenet, if that person has posted you may find an email address. Please do
 not spam persons. 


 Is there a Maltese dictionary one can buy?

 A poster [TV] suggested Kelmet il-Malti by  Kaptan (Captain) Pawlu Bugeja, a
 Maltese-English-Maltese dictionary which is an Associated News book.
 [MS and others] There is a larger dictionary in two volumes called
 Maltese-English Dictionary fairly enough, by the late Professor Joseph
 Aquilina (the latter is the one usually recommended in schools for the
 last decade AFAIK).
 It was published by Midsea Books of Valletta.

 Is it true that there are no verbs in the Maltese Language?

 Not exactly. There is no need to write "to be" in Maltese. For
 instance "jien" or "jiena" (female) means "I" but it also can mean
 "I am". Maltese has no infinitive like in Arabic and unlike Italian
 and other languages (as in Italian leggere - to read). The verbal
 main entry in dictionaries is always the 3rd person masculine
 singular (rikeb meaning 'he rode' for 'to ride'). In the spoken
 language and in Busuttil's Maltese-English language the convention
 used is that of the 2nd person singular of the Imperfect (eg. tirkeb
 'you ride' instead of rikeb).

 What is the Maltese language derived from? How many letters does the
 Maltese alphabet have?

 It contains elements of Arabic, Sicilian, Italian and English (more recent).
 There are words which have been Maltesized from the original English e.g.
 kardigan (Eng 'cardigan'); sometimes they are called English loan-words.
 The Maltese language has 29 letters. 


 What is the value / exchange rate for the Maltese Lira or Pound in terms of
 foreign currencies such as US$, CAN$, UK stg, EURO etc?

 To give an rough estimate, on 9th August 2002, according to the
 Central Bank of Malta on local newspapers, one Maltese Lira was equivalent
 to: 2.4184 Euros,  2.3581 US$, 3.7120 CAN$, 1.5316 UK stg and 4.3925 AUS$.


 Who is the President of Malta?

 The President of Malta is His Excellency Dr. Guido Demarco, who was appointed
 on Easter Sunday 1999.


 Are there any Maltese Satellite channels? Can I get TVM, Net TV or Super 1 on
 satellite?

 There was a channel, a general travel channel called WWW.travel 
 which broadcasted in digital MPEG-2 on the hotbird satellite (clear FTA
transmission  i.e. no cards are required). So far the Maltese tv stations
which broadcast  terrestrially in analogue have not begun broadcasting on
satellite even though   satellite owners in Malta and Gozo keep increasing
exponentially. Feel free to write to these stations so that they may start
broadcasting on digital satellite.
 

 Can you mention some places of interest in Valletta (capital) etc?

 There are a number of Museums - the War Museum, the Typewriter and Office
 Museum, the Toy Museum, St John's Museum, the National Museum of Fine Arts
 and the Manoel Theatre Museum. Apart from museums there are the popular
 visual multimedia shows - the Malta Experience, the War Experience, Sacred
 Island, The Great Siege of Malta & The Knights of St John.
 [MaM] There is also St John's Co-Cathedral which is a must. Do not forget
 to visit Mdina; Marsaxlokk (pronounced Marsashlock as x in Maltese is a
 sh), the Blue Grotto in Zurrieq, Dwejra in Gozo, Xewkija Church in Gozo,
 the Upper Barrakka in Valletta. The view from the Upper Barrakka is
 stupendous. You can see the grand harbour and the three cities from there.

 What can be seen in Mdina?

 [MaM] The 1st Capital on the Island, the walled city or the Silent City. In
 front of the Cathedral there is a large square called St Paul's Square.
 When you had a look at Mdina, follow the signs to either chadwick lakes
 -very picturesque in the winter- or to Buskett gardens also pretty in the
 winter.

 What is the Blue Grotto?

 [MaM] It is an absolute must see but only if the sea is calm as bowl of
water.
 Don't do the tour when the sea is rough. One can see the beautiful colours
 of the water and the shadows playing on the water surface in the caves,
 the corals... The boats leave as soon as they are full which is about
 every 5 minutes. The tour usually lasts about 1/2 an hour and costs a
 pound (Maltese Lira) a person.

 Any tips on what to do in Marsaxlokk?

 [MaM] This is somewhere where you have to go to buy fresh fish. Once on a
 Sunday go to the Market. Nothing much really other than the usual rummage
 market with fresh fruit and vegetable stalls but the thing to see here is
 the fish market in the morning. Here you have all kinds of fresh fish
 -some still alive and kicking- Then again this depends on the sea. If the
 previous night there was a storm or the sea was just too rough, obviously
 no fishermen went out hence no fish.  However, all is not lost, on Sunday
 at 12:00 noon, the church bells go wild! No electronics are involved, but
 many men ring the bells!

 What's the Cittadella?

 [MaM] It is a beautiful cathedral in Rabat, Gozo, surrounded by several
 little alleys. Very similar to that of Mdina. When facing the Cittadella,
 walk up the street going left past the Cittadella. There are lots of little
 souvenir shops. In some shops you can apparently order a glass of Gozo wine,
 a plate with tomatoes, capers, olives and cheese served with Maltese bread.
 Delicious and cheap.
 There is a hill with a beautiful statue of Jesus, it can be seen while
driving  in the area.

 Can you explain what you can see in Dwejra?

 [MaM] There are two things to do here, first there is the Blue Window.
 Very interesting,  a rock shaped in an arch form out in the sea. Then
 there is the inland sea. if the sea is not rough, there are little
 fishing boats that can take you out for a couple of liri. The boats
 have to go through a little opening in the cliffs out to the open sea
 and you have a beautiful view of the cliffs. Keep a look out for one
 of the cliffs that is in the form of a human face! The boat driver
 also shows you some little caves where you can see right down to the
 bottom of the sea and also admire the corals growing along the cave edges.

 How much time does it take to see Gozo? Does one have to go before sunrise?

 [MaM] Gozo can be covered in less than a day so don't break your neck getting
 to the ferry point thinking that you have to go before sunrise! The 10am
 ferry will give you plenty of time to see everything as well as
 allow ample time to just drive through the country roads of Gozo and you
 can always catch the 5pm boat back.
 Be careful when driving, some foreign drivers in rented sometimes drive like
 mad in Gozo.

 
 Any hints on renting a car etc?

 [MaM] Don't take a car from the airport as it possibly could cost double of
 what you would pay outside. Try renting a car from any souvenir shop or ask
the reception if the have any good offers. Or use the bus which runs all over
 the place and cost 11 cents for normal rides and 30 cents for the 'express
 buses' (this suggestion dates to 98/99) and head for Valletta. When walking
 through the gates, on the right hand side there is a Tourist Information
 Bureau and they have free leaflets of all the walking tours (Valletta,
 the 3 cities, Mdina, the Citadel in Gozo, etc).

 Where should one stay?

 [MaM] This depends on the individual's preferences. Bugibba/Qawra and
 Paceville might be places to avoid. Bugibba has plenty of promenades to 
 walk along but otherwise has many hotels next to one another and 
 many touristy restaurants  where you can get typical English meals 
 or expensive Maltese restaurants as an alternative. Paceville is cheap 
 as all the bars, discos and loud clubs are in Paceville, and unless you 
 are planning on discoing all night, you won't be getting any sleep until 
 the last one closes at around 5am.

 Is there a type of glass called Mdina?

 [BM] It's called Mdina Glass, a traditional form of glass blowing,
 which is still done in the Ta' Qali crafts village (not Mdina!).
 [WLC] There are actually two glassware outfits at Ta' Qali
 Crafts village. One is called Mdina Glass. I can't remember the name of the
 other one. [ Does anyone know the name? Please post to the group if you know
]
 There is also a glassware outfit in Gozo now called Gozo Glass, which is
 quite different from the other two. They tend to make products which include
 24K gold dust/leaf embedded in the glass and they have some very fine and
 unique pieces.


 How do you say Happy Christmas and Happy New Year in Maltese?

 Il-Milied it-tajjeb u s-Sena t-tajba. It's spelt incorrectly on many foreign
 websites, unfortunately. This is the actual spelling.

 What are the tourist figures for Malta?

 Last June 2000, 120703 tourists visited Malta, according to the 
 Tourism  Minister, and is an all-time record for Malta.

 What happened to the 17th Century village of "Matrice" in Gozo? 
 Was it  renamed? When?

 [WLC] This is a genealogical question whose reply as posted was 
 the following.
 Matrice does not stand for a place. The Church was called Matrice as an
 entity in Gozo many centuries ago. It was responsible for keeping records
 of marriages, births and deaths. Marriage certificates carried 
 the designation "Matrice" as the place where the marriage took place, 
 rather than the location.
 Once the state took over the task of maintaining records, this usage of
 "Matrice" or Matrice village was dropped in favour of the actual place.

 Another meaning of "matrice" is "mother church" to a new parish. For instance
 St George's parish became the "matrice" to the new parish to be established
 at Xewkija in 1678.

 Where can pastizzi and other Maltese food be purchased outside of the Maltese
 islands?

 [DLB] In Toronto there are many Maltese bakeries which sell pastizzi.
 Any more information?

 Do you have the recipe for pastizzi?

 [SJM] A pastizzi recipe is given in the book "Taste of Malta" by
 Claudia M. Caruana.  The ISBN is 0-7818-0524-4.
 The recipe is on page 59, note that the book calls them Maltese
 Cheesecakes which is the English translation of the word pastizzi.
 The book also states the recipe was adapted from Wilfred Camilleri.
 The recipe on Page 59 is for the cheese filling.  The recipe for the
 pastry is on page 276.
 [HCG] For the pastizzi request - a recipe can be found in our book
 "The Food and Cookery of Malta" by Anne and Helen Caruana Galizia.
 Published in 1999 by Pax Books and obtainable from most Maltese
 bookshops or from info AT sapienzas DOT com.

 Can anyone give the recipe for Pastizzotti tal-Qastan? I use Anne and
 Helen Caruna Galizia's (a bit vague, on the sugar) and they keep coming
 out very dry. Ma nafx x'qed naghmel (I don't know what I'm doing)

 [HCG] Please advise Dave re pastizzotti tal qastan - the recipe is 
 deliberately vague on sugar since not everyone likes things too sweet.  
 A little fruit juice can be added to make them less dry but if he is 
 using tinned sweetened chestnut puree he will find it moist enough.  Good 
 luck Dave.
 Helen Caruana Galizia

 Do you have other recipes?

 Try looking in Malta Network Resources, including under the Books
 section where you can find the above book through Amazon.com.
 Alternatively try looking in other sections of Malta Network Resources.

 Did Napoleon come to Malta?

 Yes, he stayed in Palazzo Parisio in Valletta for some days.

 I'm looking for information on musical instruments in Malta or in the
Mediterreanean. Can you help?

 [S] I've discovered an amazing site in musical instruments, specialised in
 Oriental instruments as well. The url is
http://members.tripod.com/~MEDITERRANEA_Co (broken link).

 Malta takes part on the Eurovision Song Festival. I can't get it on my
 local tv station, how could I get it on the net, or on Satellite tv?

 Aside from getting the official webcast or similar, you can view the German
 tv station ARD online at this URL:
 http://onlinetv.tvtoday.de/onlinetv/frameset_haupt.hbs?sender=ARD&rate=15.
 You can view ARD on the Hotbird satellite for free (FTA) through your digital
 satellite receiver. For more information see http://www.lyngsat.com.
 Alternatively if you subscribe to BBC PRIME (which is legal for us in Malta
 to do from the BBC Prime website), you can view it also (it was
 broadcast in 2001,2002 and 2003) with Terry Wogan's comments!

 A Maltese friend told me that they are celebrating the Feast of St Catherine
of
 Alexandria in Zejtun on the 20th June. I believed this Feast Day to be
 November 25th. Can anyone throw any light on this?

 The correct feast-day is November 25th, however at Zejtun they also celebrate
 it on the 20th June, and is a festa.
 [EF] It is celebrated in June due to weather reasons mainly. This was decided
 around 1993-1995.
 [CB] Many feasts in Malta were transferred to summer months for security of
 weather.
 The Ta' Xbiex feast is the only one which takes place within the Church only,
 and not outside i.e. only religious ceremonies including Masses are held.

 What are Malta's National Holidays?

 The National Holidays, or Festi Nazzjonali, are the following:

 Freedom Day - 31st March ; Sette Giugno - 7th June; 
 Victory Day - 8th September; Independence Day - 21st September; and 
 Republic Day - 13th December;

 When was the National Anthem composed and by whom?

 It was composed by Dr Robert Sammut (born 1869;died 26th May 1934 in Sliema)
 in 1922. He was a doctor who studied at the University of Malta and carried
 out his postgraduate studies in Edinburgh where he was appointed professor
 of pathology. The lyrics are a prayer and hymn and were composed in the same
 year or the following one by Dun Karm Psaila.
 It was first heard on 3rd February 1923 and adapted officially on 
 27th February 1945.
 These dates are not official. Any official info would be appreciated.

 Are there any Maltese outside of Malta who are in pop and rock bands?

 There probably are. We know of the lead singer (Spiteri) of the popular
 Texas pop group, as  well as [SS] Stephanie Sheri whose rock/pop band 

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