The War canoes of the Huhu people in Milne Bay Province resurfaced over the weekend at Wagawaga village.
Last year, the canoes made an appearance at Maiwara, a few kilometres, up along the same bay.
But the intimidating appearance was not for fighting. It was for the Huhu War Canoe Festival.
The festival is an initiative of the Huhu cultural leaders, for the people of Huhu to safe guard their identity, to educate their people and to preserve their culture.
The history behind the war canoes is fascinating.
According to events coordinator, Michelle Benua, Maiwara and Wagawaga are actually the leading war canoe villages since history.
“Other villages along the bay in the Huhu area came under these two. They were rivals, competing in raiding other villages and islands nearby.
“Their rivalry continued through history. Until last year when both villages worked together to create the Huhu War Canoe festival.
“This was one of the goals of the festival, to unite the Huhu communities,” she said.
The Huhu War Canoe Festival Committee (HWCFC) is comprised of cultural leaders from West Tawala and Ealeba, representatives from the Huhu Local Level Government, and representatives from the Milne Bay Provincial Administration and business community within the Huhu areas.
The committee was established to assist the Huhu Cultural leaders to create an event that would showcase the unique culture of Huhu, much of which has been neglected by the younger generation of today.
The cultural leaders believed that a festival would reunite the two communities and strengthen their relationship.
The festival ran for two days on Friday 27th and Saturday 28th October 2017, with more than 60 stalls at the festival grounds.