2017 Hiri Moale festival

This promise was delivered by Governor Chris Haiveta at the closing of the 2017 HMF on Saturday.

The festival is hosted yearly by the Motu-Koita Assembly to celebrate the famous Hiri Trade.

As Haiveta said, the trade built long-lasting friendships and marriages between the people of these two provinces – Gulf and Motu-Koitabu.

“The trade has an intrinsic and cultural value of our people which must never be forgotten and allowed to change with time and progress,” he said.

This quest is one highlight of the annual Hiri Moale Festival held by the Motu and Koitabu people in Port Moresby.

More importantly, it focuses on the female ancestors who played a special role in the history, as Nou Pipi, 2017 HMF coordinator, explains.

Pipi says the Hanenamos were the newly-married women or those just about to get married to a young man on board the Lagatoi (traditional Motuan voyage canoe).

“They kept their fingers crossed the entire process,” he says.

The season was open with the launch last week at the Laguna hotel, witnessed by hundreds of Motu-Koitabuans.

Following the launch, the call has been made for contestants into the annual Hiri Queen competition, normally held as part of the festival.

The contesting female has to be between the ages of 15 - 21, and nominated to represent one of the 14 Motu-Koita villages.

A tentative program is yet to be released but event coordinator Nou Pipi has confirmed that the venue of the event will be moved to the further end of Ela Beach, nearer to the ring road.