...The culture of prehistoric Malta...
 
The culture of Malta is a reflection of various cultures that have come into contact with the Maltese Islands throughout the centuries, including neighbouring Mediterranean cultures, and the cultures of the nations that ruled Malta for long periods of time prior to its independence in 1964.
 
 
The temple complex at
Mnajdra (3600 -3200 BCE)
 
 
The earliest inhabitants of the Maltese Islands are believed to have been farmers who crossed over from nearby Sicily sometime before 5000 BCE.
 
They grew cereals and raised domestic livestock and, in keeping with many other ancient Mediterranean cultures, worshipped a mother goddess, represented in Malta by statuettes of unusually large proportions.

Pottery from the earliest period of Maltese civilization (known as the Għar Dalam phase) is similar to that found in Agrigento, Sicily.

These people were either supplanted by, or gave rise to a mysterious culture of megalithic temple builders, whose surviving monuments on Malta and Gozo are now believed to be the oldest standing stone structures in the world.

The temples date from 4000 - 2500 BCE, and typically consist of a complex trefoil (cloverleaf) design.
 
Little is known about the temple builders of Malta and Gozo; however, there is some evidence that their rituals included animal sacrifice. This culture disappeared from the Maltese Islands around 2500 BCE. The reasons for the disappearance are shrouded in mystery, although historians and archeologists have speculated that the temple builders fell victim to famine and disease. War is unlikely to have been the cause of their disappearance, since archeological digs on Malta have yielded little or no evidence of weapons.
 
The Maltese Islands were depopulated for several decades, until the arrival of a new influx of Bronze Age immigrants, a culture that is known to have cremated its dead, and introduced smaller megalithic structures called dolmens to Malta.
 
...The modern Maltese culture...
 
The culture of modern Malta has been described as a "rich pattern of traditions, beliefs and practices," which is the result of "a long process of adaptation, assimilation and cross fertilization of beliefs and usages drawn from various conflicting sources." It has been subjected to the same complex, historic processes that gave rise to the linguistic and ethnic admixture that defines who the people of Malta and Gozo are today.
 
...The Origins...
 
Maltese culture has both Semitic and Romance origins; however, the Romance element is more readily apparent in modern Malta for several key reasons: political and cultural affinities between the Maltese and their northern Mediterranean neighbours; the fact that Romance cultures have had more recent, and virtually continuous impact on Malta over the past eight centuries; and the religious beliefs, traditions and ceremonies that Malta shares in common with its Sicilian neighbour. The ascendancy of Romance influences over the Semitic origins of Maltese culture and folklore in latter centuries may also be an innate response to frequent national calamities - including loss of property, forced labour and enslavement - suffered by the Maltese from the 9th century through to the early 16th century due to piracy and raids of their islands, primarily at the hands of the Hafsids of North Africa and Turkish corsairs. The most recent, and arguably, most devastating such incidents occurred in 1551, when the Saracens, led by Dragut Reis, raided Gozo, taking almost the entire population of that island, some 5,000 inhabitants, away into slavery, and in 1565, when the Ottoman Empire again, led by Dragut, invaded and besieged Malta. Although the Knights and the Maltese were ultimately victorious against the Ottoman forces, victory came at a high cost: one third of the population of Malta is said to have perished in battle.
 
These dramatic incidents remain etched in the collective memory of the Maltese, and are reflected in some Maltese superstitions, beliefs, sayings and proverbs.