Malta’s best-documented superstition cluster centres on l-għajn, the evil eye, with protective words, hand signs, amulets, blessed olive leaves, and the smoke ritual known as tbaħħir appearing in Maltese folklore records. Maltese and Gozitan sources also preserve pregnancy omens, animal weather signs, Christmas-Eve ghost lore, fossil charms, and older forms of love divination. The details vary by locality and period, and many belong to historical practice rather than everyday life today. Folklorist Ġużè Cassar Pullicino described Maltese folklore as a product of the islands’ history and cultural contacts, not as one fixed set of customs shared by every household.[1]
This collection documents approximately 47 distinct superstitions, omens, protective customs, and folk beliefs recorded in Malta and Gozo. Some are secular omens, some are magical practices preserved in old court records, and others sit at the boundary between popular devotion and folklore. They are presented as cultural beliefs, not as verified predictions or statements of religious doctrine.
L-Għajn, Amulets, and Protective Customs
Maltese accounts of l-għajn describe harm thought to pass through an envious or unusually powerful gaze. Recorded countermeasures range from spoken blessings and hand signs to amulets and tbaħħir, with noticeably different versions in Mellieħa, Naxxar, Birkirkara, and Xewkija.[2]
Some historical forms of tbaħħir involved burning plant material and wax indoors. They are recorded here as folklore rather than instructions; smoke from combustion can contain harmful fine particles, so reproducing smoke-heavy indoor rituals is not advisable.[3]
The Harmful Gaze of L-Għajn
In Maltese folklore, certain looks were said to transmit l-għajn, bringing illness, weakness, poor luck, or trouble to a person, animal, or valued possession. Some accounts stressed that the harm could be unintended, making praise itself something to handle carefully.
Saying “Alla Jbierek” After Praise
Compliments about health, beauty, strength, children, animals, or possessions were traditionally softened with Alla jbierek, “God bless.” The phrase was treated as a verbal safeguard against praise turning into an evil-eye incident, even when no malice was intended.
Blessing a Baby Before Admiring It
Infants were considered especially exposed to the evil eye. A visitor admiring a baby could be expected to add a blessing such as Ikun imbierek Alla, placing praise within a protective religious formula rather than leaving admiration unqualified.[4]
The Horned-Hand Sign
A hand gesture shaped like horns was used in some Maltese evil-eye traditions as an apotropaic sign. It could be made when a harmful look was feared or when someone wanted to turn away an unlucky influence.
Cattle Horns and Cobwebs as Wards
Older rural accounts mention fixed cattle horns and even undisturbed cobwebs among objects thought to help guard buildings or animals from the evil eye. Such protections belong to earlier country practice rather than a universal Maltese household custom.
The Baħbuħa Cowry Shell
A cowry shell, locally called a baħbuħa, could be worn as a small protective amulet. Its shape and long Mediterranean history as an amuletic object made it part of the material vocabulary used against feared looks and misfortune.
Cock Spurs as Protective Charms
Mounted cock spurs appear in Maltese lists of objects once carried for protection from the evil eye. The pointed form placed them among a wider family of sharp or horn-like amulets thought to repel harmful influence.
Turquoise and Diamonds for Protection
Mounted turquoise and diamonds were also recorded as anti-evil-eye objects. One Birkirkara account connected diamonds on babies with families displaced there from the Three Cities during the Second World War, showing how a protective fashion could travel between Maltese communities.
Carrying a Blessed Olive Leaf
A blessed olive leaf could be carried on the body as a small safeguard against l-għajn. Olive branches also entered household fumigation rites, so the same plant could serve as both a personal amulet and a ritual material.
Holy Week Candle Wax as an Amulet
Wax from candles associated with Holy Week was sometimes kept as protective material. Folklore records describe pieces being carried or placed on a child’s forehead, blending Catholic sacred objects with popular ideas about warding off the evil eye.
Reading Olive Leaves and Salt
In one Mellieħa-linked method, blessed olive leaves or twigs were burned with salt. White smoke, crackling salt, and even the practitioner’s sweating hands could be interpreted as signs that the evil eye was present. Other local versions read the remains differently.
Tbaħħir Against the Evil Eye
Tbaħħir was a fumigation rite in which blessed plant material was burned while prayers or protective words were spoken. It could be performed for a person, carried through rooms, or adapted for a sick farm animal believed to be suffering from l-għajn.
Local Rules for Disposing of Ritual Ashes
The end of tbaħħir differed by locality. Recorded Naxxar and Xewkija versions placed importance on removing the ashes from the home, while one Gozitan account associated disposal with a pavement or crossroads rather than ordinary household waste.
Pregnancy, Birth, and Family Omens
Paul Cassar’s study of pregnancy and birth traditions records beliefs from Malta and Gozo about fertility, cravings, the moon, predicting a baby’s sex, and protective objects used around labour. These are historical and folkloric practices, not clinical methods or reliable ways to predict pregnancy outcomes.[5]
The Sansuna Stone and Safe Delivery
An oral tradition from Xagħra, Gozo, said that pregnant women once sat or squatted on a large stone associated with Sansuna in the hope of securing a safe delivery. The belief is local to Gozitan folklore and should not be generalized across Malta.
Maltese Fungus as a Fertility Charm
Cynomorium coccineum, historically called the Maltese Fungus, was once worn between the breasts as a charm against barrenness. Cassar notes that church opposition helped the practice disappear by the seventeenth century.
The Full Moon and Conception
One older Maltese belief advised childless couples to have intercourse on the night of a full moon, when lunar influence was thought to favour conception. The moon’s phase has no established predictive role of this kind.
Pregnancy Cravings and Birthmarks
If a pregnant woman strongly wanted a food, flower, drink, or other object and could not obtain it, folklore said the child might be born with a mark resembling the desired thing in shape or colour. Families therefore tried to satisfy cravings when possible.
Refusing a Craving Could Bring a Sty
A related belief shifted the consequence to the person who denied the pregnant woman’s request: the refuser was said to risk developing a sty on the eyelid. This belongs to folk causation, not medical explanation.
Crossing the Abdomen After an Unwanted Sight
Older “maternal impression” folklore claimed that a disturbing sight seen during pregnancy might mark the unborn child. One Maltese counteraction was to make the sign of the cross over the abdomen. The idea reflects historical belief, not fetal medicine.
Appearance-Based Predictions of a Baby’s Sex
Traditional guesses linked the pregnant woman’s appearance to the baby’s sex. Facial pigmentation or speckling could be read as pointing to a girl, while a markedly projecting abdomen was taken by some as a sign of a boy.
Moon Quarters and a Baby’s Sex
Another prediction used the lunar cycle: conception or pregnancy associated with one quarter of the moon could be read as favouring a boy, while another quarter pointed to a girl. The exact scheme belongs to traditional divination rather than biology.
The Wedding-Ring Pendulum Test
A wedding ring suspended on a thread could be held as a pendulum to guess a baby’s sex. Side-to-side motion and forward-and-back motion were assigned different meanings in the recorded Maltese version.
The Rose of Jericho and Labour
The so-called Rose of Jericho, or warda tal-passjoni, was placed in water during labour. As its dry branches opened, the birth was expected to progress safely; one version even said removing the plant would interrupt the pains.
St Victor’s Relic at Naxxar
At Naxxar, an older folk-devotional custom centred on material associated with a relic of St Victor when a woman was in labour. The object was thought to favour an easier delivery; it is a devotional folk record, not a medical treatment.
St Peter’s Blessed Ring at Żejtun
A ring blessed in connection with the feast of St Peter at Żejtun was recorded as a protective object for childbirth. Wearing it was believed to guard against difficult labour, showing how church-blessed objects could acquire an added layer of household folk meaning.
St Raymond Nonnatus Candle During Labour
Another folk-devotional practice involved lighting a candle linked with St Raymond Nonnatus during labour. The saint’s association with childbirth made the candle a protective focus for some families, without making the custom a medical guarantee or a universal Catholic requirement.
Animals, Weather, and Household Signs
Animal folklore collected in Malta includes weather predictions, marriage tests, household luck, and protective interpretations of reptiles. Some sayings came from rural observation; others are clearly supernatural or symbolic readings rather than dependable forecasts.[6]
A Sneezing Cat Foretells Bad Weather
One Maltese weather saying held that a cat coughing or sneezing meant bad weather was approaching. Some versions even read the direction of the animal’s head or tail as a clue to where the weather would come from.
A Rolling Cat Means Heavy Rain
When a cat rolled about on the ground, Maltese weather lore could interpret the behaviour as a warning of heavy rain. It is a folk forecast, not evidence that a cat can predict a particular storm.
A Cat on the Balcony Promises Sun
A cat choosing the balcony was associated with fine or sunny weather in one Maltese saying. Like many animal-weather beliefs, it turns an ordinary behaviour into a household sign about conditions to come.
The Lija Mare Marriage Test
Folk memory from Lija recalled unmarried girls riding a particular mare associated with Ġanni “Paxxi.” A rider who slipped off was teased as unfit for marriage, while a quiet ride was read as the opposite result.
The First Guest and the Aniseed Drink
One household belief said the first visitor to a gathering should receive an aniseed drink known as iambur. Failing to offer it supposedly invited a mouse to enter a chest of drawers and gnaw the mistress’s petticoats.
The Newt as an Unlucky Sight
Seeing a newt could be treated as a bad omen. One counter-formula called for saying Ġimgħa u Sibt! three times while making the horn sign. The same folklore warned of misfortune for harming the animal, so it offers no reason to injure wildlife.
The Black House Serpent as Guardian
A black serpent living near a house could be imagined as a guardian spirit that brought luck or wealth to children born there. Killing it was considered extremely unlucky in the recorded tradition. Snakes should be left unharmed and observed from a safe distance.
Keeping a Tortoise for Good Luck
Some well-to-do Maltese families were said to keep a tortoise at home as a luck-bearing animal. One older custom included oiling its shell on feast days, giving the household pet a ceremonial place in domestic folklore.
Overflowing Coffee as a Bad Omen
Coffee spilling over during preparation appears in Maltese folk material as an unlucky sign. The omen belongs to domestic superstition, where a small kitchen mishap could be read as a warning rather than an ordinary accident.
The Rat as a Sign of an Evil Spirit
In one strand of Maltese animal folklore, a rat could be interpreted as an embodiment or sign of an evil spirit. This supernatural reading existed alongside the animal’s ordinary place as a household pest and should not be treated as a factual description of rats.
Cork in the Pot to Tenderize Octopus
A culinary folk belief said that adding a clean piece of cork while cooking octopus or tough meat would help make it tender. The cork was replaced for each cooking, suggesting that its effect was understood as part of the preparation rather than a reusable kitchen tool.
Christmas-Eve Ghost Lore and St Paul’s Protective Objects
A Christmas-Eve Birth and the Gawgaw
An old Maltese belief said that a person born on Christmas Eve could become a Gawgaw once each year while asleep, wandering at night as a frightening ghostlike being and returning before dawn. The motif was recorded as old folklore, not as a living certainty.[7]
Fossil Shark Teeth as St Paul’s Tongues
Fossil shark teeth found in Malta entered folklore as “St Paul’s tongues” or serpent-like tongues. Their unusual shape encouraged interpretations tied to the island’s Pauline traditions, turning a fossil into an object with sacred and protective associations.[8]
St Paul’s Tongues as Protective Charms
Historical Maltese lore gave some fossil shark teeth protective or healing reputations, especially in stories about snakebite and wounds. Such uses belong to premodern folk medicine and amulet culture; a fossil is not a treatment for poisoning, bites, or injury.
Tongue Masks on Buildings Against the Evil Eye
Grotesque faces and protruding-tongue motifs in Maltese architecture have been studied as apotropaic devices intended to repel the evil eye. Their placement made protection part of the building itself rather than something carried on the body.[9]
Love Divination and Seventeenth-Century Magical Beliefs
Malta’s Inquisition records preserve a separate layer of superstition: love divination, written charms, and magical acts reported in seventeenth-century cases. These records show what people were accused of, admitted to, or described to inquisitors; they should not be presented as habits of Maltese society today.[10]
Bean Divination for a Lover’s Feelings
One seventeenth-century record describes beans being used in a divinatory act to learn whether a desired person returned the user’s affection. A prayer to St Helen was drawn into the procedure, illustrating the mixing of devotional language with prohibited folk magic.
Saturday as a Bad Time for Magic
A recorded belief held that certain spells or sortilegi would not work on Saturday. In one reconciliation attempt, the magical act was replaced with a candle before St Anthony and familiar prayers, again blurring folk magic and personal devotion.
Salt-and-Fire Love Magic
Inquisition testimony records salt being burned or combined with other substances in rites intended to draw back a lover or stir affection. The details varied between cases; the surviving evidence documents magical intention, not proof that the ritual produced the desired result.
Beating a Wall to Call a Lover Back
One historical account instructed a woman who woke during the night to strike a wall while reciting a formula intended to make a lover’s heart beat and bring him back. The practice survives only as evidence in an old superstition case.
Names and Written Charms for Love
Seventeenth-century Maltese records mention names, symbols, and short written charms being worn or marked on the body in attempts to influence affection or gain protection. Their meaning came from the supposed magical force of the writing rather than from ordinary correspondence.
A Disordered Locked Bed as a Supernatural Sign
Another Inquisition-era account involved making a bed, locking the room, and later reading a disturbed bed as evidence that supernatural beings had entered. The sign was connected with a love-working ritual and belongs to historical magical belief rather than modern household custom.
📚 Roots of Belief
- Maltese Folklore Now — Ġużè Cassar Pullicino’s University of Malta publication discusses Maltese folklore in relation to the islands’ historical environment and cultural contacts. (Preserved by the University of Malta institutional repository and published in the Journal of Maltese Studies.)
- The Evil Eye: Prevention, Detection, Removal — George Zammit Maempel records Maltese evil-eye safeguards, amulets, diagnostic signs, tbaħħir, and regional variants in localities including Mellieħa, Naxxar, Birkirkara, and Xewkija. (A specialist Maltese folklore study preserved in the University of Malta institutional repository.)
- World Health Organization: Household Air Pollution — Supports the safety note that smoke from combustion can expose people to health-damaging fine particles and other pollutants indoors. (WHO is the United Nations specialized agency for international public health.)
- Birth and the Evil Eye — Tarcisio Zarb records the special vulnerability assigned to mothers and infants and the use of a blessing formula when admiring a baby. (A Maltese folklore article preserved in the University of Malta institutional repository.)
- Pregnancy and Birth in Maltese Tradition — Paul Cassar documents Maltese and Gozitan fertility charms, pregnancy cravings, sex-prediction methods, the Rose of Jericho, and folk-devotional childbirth protections. (Published by the Malta Medical Students Association and preserved by the University of Malta.)
- Ethno-Linguistic Aspects of Animals in Malta — Ġużè Cassar Pullicino records animal omens, weather sayings, household luck beliefs, and locality-specific traditions involving cats, reptiles, a mare, and domestic customs. (A University of Malta scholarly publication in the Journal of Maltese Studies.)
- Reflections About the Old Maltese Folk Belief in the Transformation of a Person into a Gawgaw Ghost on Christmas Eve — Samia Al-Azharia Jahn examines the Maltese belief connecting Christmas-Eve birth with the annual transformation into a Gawgaw. (Published in the University of Malta’s Journal of Maltese Studies.)
- The Folklore of Maltese Fossils — George Zammit Maempel surveys beliefs and uses attached to fossils in Malta, including their role as amuletic and culturally interpreted objects. (A specialist monograph held in the University of Malta institutional repository.)
- The Tongue Symbol in Maltese Architecture to Ward Off the Evil Eye — Paul Cassar examines protruding-tongue motifs and masks in Maltese architecture as protective symbols against the evil eye. (Published by the Malta Historical Society and preserved by the University of Malta.)
- Superstitions in Malta — Alexander Bonnici uses seventeenth-century Inquisition material to document love divination, magical writing, protective rites, and other reported superstitions in Malta. (Published in Melita Historica by the Malta Historical Society and preserved by the University of Malta.)