Bank of Valletta has produced its third calendar in a series that captures times past... and judging by interest shown in these calendars, nostalgia is a powerful magnet.

BOV launched the nostalgia series two years ago when it focussed on old trades, many of which are dying out. It followed it up last year with a look at the musicians who used to play in Strait Street’s mecca of bars, taking them back to the old Splendid Guest House to recapture the glorious past.

This year’s calendar, brainchild of the bank’s marketing team who worked in collaboration with JP Advertising and photographer Joe P. Smith to take a look at the toys and games that formed part of childhood many years ago.

This simple concept plunged the team into a complex project, involving research into the subject matter, a large number of extras including elderly people from one of the residential homes, props from a toy museum, and of course, historical accuracy. Some of the toys came from private collections or from people who had been treasuring these toys since their childhood days.

BOV commissioned well-known historian Guido Lanfranco to provide details of the toys and games.

“The toys were very simple – pieces of rope, wooden slats, stones and beads – but there is a lot more to toys than just the item itself. For example, hopscotch represents the nine months of pregnancy,” Guido Lanfranco explained.

“In spite of the simplicity of the toys, we could not find everything we needed and had to improvise in some cases. For example, children used to blow bubbles through a length of macaroni but you don’t get long pasta tubes, so we used rolled up copybooks,” Mr Lanfranco added.

The calendar cleverly juxtaposes young children with elderly people who would have had first-hand memories of the toys. Photographer Joe P. Smith also staged the photos in locations that could easily have come out of post-war Malta – whether unspoiled alleys in village cores, or open air fields, all of which capture the times when children could play outdoors without the fear of traffic and without the distractions of computers.

“The photos were taken in September, that wonderful month when children are still enjoying the summer holidays, when friendships are forged for life, and the long days are filled with freedom and fun.

“For me, the look on the face of the elderly people we used for the photos say so much about the memories they had of those times...” Mr Smith said.

BOV has made two videos about the making of the calendar and brief information about each game narrated by Guido Lanfranco, which are both available on the bank’s YouTube channel, accessible via its website www.bov.com, or via its BOV Club Facebook page.

Zibeg

Various games could be played, where children would compete for beads dealt out by every individual player. The most common game involves making a shallow depression in the ground (hofra) into which beads are flicked using the fingers. In some games the colours of the beads have different values.

Location: Zejtun

Karretta u Skuter

Like most pre-war toys, these were home made. A set of three or four metal ball-bearing wheels were needed for the cart. The rider controlled the steering block with slim ropes. The scooter used two or three wheels, was pushed by one foot which also pressed on a wooden, hinged flap over the hind wheels to act as a brake.

Location: Birgu

Bocci

Several varieties and forms of games are possible with marbles. Before the advent of glass marbles, children made do with hazelnuts. Pre-war Codd-Stoppered ginger bottles had a plain glass marble as a stopper and children often broke bottles to get it out.

Location: Birgu

Habel

Girls play with skipping ropes individually or in groups. In one popular game a girl calls out a series of possible attributes of an imaginary future husband as she skips and, when the rope hits her legs, she stops on the word assumed to predict the type of husband she would have.

Location: Rabat, Gozo

Tajra

The traditional basic model is made from thin, light, coloured paper stretched over thin strips of cane disposed in a bow and arrow position. The paper used to be glued with starch or flour heated in a little water. The fancy tail is added for stability.   

Location: Marsascala

Taz-Ziemel

Two boys play at horse and rider, one acting as the horse the other as the rider, exchanging roles at intervals. Children enjoyed making the reins themselves, weaving odd, discarded, coloured  cotton-wool using pins on a wooden reel. Horse and rider couples often race each other.

Location: Dingli

Passju

The rough diagram with nine, numbered compartments scratched on the ground represents the nine months of pregnancy, with the ninth month section drawn with a bulge. Girls cast a stone from the starting point, hop towards it, to trip it on to the next number. Completing the set results in ‘having a baby’.

Location: Rabat

Cirku

Any hoop, of any size, free from spokes and hubs, used to be seen frequently trundled along the ground with the help of a piece of wire bent at one end to guide the rim of the hoop. Boys usually played on their own but sometimes hoop races were organised for the extra thrill.

Location: Birgu

Bziezaq tas-Sapun

These provided a pastime for all ages. A good mixture of soap in water blown slowly through a short length of cane tube produced beautiful, colourful bubbles. Commoner than the cane is a page from an old exercise book rolled, taped and trimmed into a tube.

Location: Kuncizzjoni

Zugraga

To spin a wooden top children wound a string several times around it and learned to throw it sharply while holding on to the end of the string. This made the top spin for a short while. Humming tops could be readily bought but others were home-made from wood, hollowed out and started with a string.

Location: Rabat, Gozo

Pupa

Mothers of most pre-war girls could not afford the luxury of buying dolls but made rag dolls from odd pieces of cloth and cotton-wool. Girls played ‘mother’ with rag dolls and often recruited a boy to join them as the ‘father’ normally to be ignored, uninvolved or scolded.  

Location: Kuncizzjoni

Bombos

This popular game could be played in several styles but all involve a boy at the front, well bent forward, whilst the other vaults over him, using his hands, in leap frog fashion. The game continues by alternating leaps and bends. Sometimes two groups run parallel to race each other.

Location: Dingli

Xixu

A small length of wood (formerly used to be an odd wooden bobbin or reel) is placed on a rigid edge on the ground and with a stick or rod is hit sharply on one end to make it fly as high as possible into the air.

Location: Birgu