Re: More Big Days

On 2025-02-09 09:04:18 +0000, Ross Clark said:

10 February - Feast of St Paul's Shipwreck (Malta)
 Why? Because it's Malta's only appearance in the Bible (Acts 28:1ff.). And he's the patron saint of Malta. The text says "Melita", but scholars don't seem to have a problem with the identification. The Maltese of the time (?59 AD) were Roman citizens, and treated Paul (also a Roman citizen) well. They are described as _barbaroi_, meaning they didn't speak Greek. (Fr McKenzie thinks probably Punic.)
Paul was on his way to Rome to appeal to Caesar against charges of making trouble.
Why 10 February? Don't have any information on that.

I've been labouring under a delusion for 60 years, as I thought that happened at Matala in Crete, not Malta. Matala has a linguistic signifcance for me. As one of a group of five in 1964, we rented a car in Heraklion in order to go to Phaestos. For some reason I wanted to see Matala, but the road deteriorated until it was little more than a cart track. Worrying that we might get lost we asked a shepherd that we passed which was the way to Ματάλα (getting the stress wrong). He looked totally blank until I tried Μάταλα, when his face lit up and he told us to continue in the way we were going. It was then that I became conscious that getting the stress right could be absolutely crucial, even more than in English or Russian.
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Athel cb