THE LEGEND OF ĦAMMUNA
Father Emmanuel Magri was a man of many talents: a folklorist, an archaeologist, a linguist, and a priest. In the 1890s, he began collecting local stories—legends and tales passed down by word of mouth for generations. While some of his ideas, like his theory about the Maltese language’s origins or that the ancient Neolithic sites he helped excavate were Phoenician have since been disproved, much of what he uncovered about Maltese mythology is still fascinating today. After all, legends aren’t meant to be facts—they’re windows into how people explained the world around them.
Many myths and legends are rooted in reality, often as ways to explain social customs, natural events, or morals, though they may grow more fantastic over time. One such Maltese legend centres on the goddess Astarte, also known as Ashtoreth, the goddess of love and war. You could say she was the equivalent of the Greek goddess Aphrodite, and in ancient Babylon, she was known as Ishtar. At the Tas-Silg sanctuary in Marsaxlokk, there was a temple dedicated to her. Later, during Roman times, Astarte was replaced by (or rather morphed into) the Roman goddess Juno.
Father Emmanuel Magri
Figurine of Astarte
In 1536, a French priest, writer and Knight of the Order of St John, Quintin D’Autun, described another temple on the peninsula of Birgu. According to local lore, this enormous complex, which supposedly extended into the sea, was believed to be dedicated to a goddess called Ħammuna. The name likely came from a female-shaped artefact found there, possibly a statue of Astarte or Juno. This could be why it is thought in medieval times, Maltese referred to this area as Ta’ Ħammuna. Today’s Church of St Lawrence in Birgu was built on the site of an older Medieval church known to the Maltese as San Lawrence ta’ Ħammuna. Other locations in Malta also carry the name Ħammuna, such as L-Gholja ta’ Ħammuna near Siġġiewi.
St Lawrence Church Birgu. Source: Mboesch
Father Magri collected many names for Astarte from Maltese oral traditions, including Attart l-Imlejka, Zahra, and Ħammuna. The name Ħammuna might come from the words ħami (heated strongly) or ħema (to bake). Interestingly, in the Bible’s Book of Jeremiah, women kneaded dough and baked cakes as offerings to the ‘Queen of Heaven,’ a title Magri believed referred to Astarte. He also noticed similarities between Maltese bread-baking customs and ancient Canaanite traditions.
Another theory connects Hammuna to Ba’al Hammon, ‘lord of the brazier’, a Carthaginian god associated with fire and infamous myths about children being burnt in ovens as a sacrifice. In Gozitan folklore, the goddess Astarte was demonised into the hag Ħammuna. Like the ancient Greek gods, Ħammuna was said to live on a high hill. She would demand bread from local bakers and, if refused, would burn their bread in anger.
Ba’al Hammon, Bardo National Museum. Source: AlexanderVanLoon
Il-Qolla l-Bajda. Source: Warren Bugeja
One well-known legend tells how Ħammuna met three beautiful girls wearing skirts of white, yellow, and red. The girls laughed at her when she bragged about her past beauty. Furious, Ħammuna turned them into hills: the girl in yellow became Il-Qolla s-Safra, near Marsalforn; the girl in white became Il-Qolla l-Bajda, near Xwejni Bay; and the girl in red became Qolla l-Hamra, near Żebbuġ. Later, a young man, the boyfriend of the girl with the red skirt, was out trapping birds when he surprised Ħammuna, causing her to fall and injure her leg. The young man, who did not know who she was, came to her assistance and bandaged her leg. In gratitude, Ħammuna transformed the red hillock back into her fiancée, and both girl and boy were married.
Under Christianity, Mary, the Mother of Jesus, became known as the ‘Queen of Heaven.’ Rituals such as eating ‘the body of Christ’ in the form of bread or a thin wafer called a ‘host’ in the Catholic Holy Mass may also echo ancient practices linked to Astarte. Legends like Ħammuna’s remind us how old gods and goddesses were often turned into witches or villains as new religions spread. Yet, through myths and stories, they live on in our imagination.
Written with reference to:
‘Maltese Mythology – Volume 1’ by Stephen D. Mifsud. Merlin Publishers Ltd. Blata l-Bajda, 2024