Solomon Islands: Wogasia (3-Day Rental)

PLEASE NOTE: THIS PRODUCT IS ONLY AVAILABLE TO CUSTOMERS RESIDING IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND. ANY ORDERS FOR THIS PRODUCT THAT ARE PLACED FROM OUTSIDE AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND WILL BE CANCELLED AND REFUNDED.

PLEASE NOTE: If paying via purchase order, your 3-day rental period will begin when we approve your order. (Approvals are usually processed regularly during trading hours, but please allow up to two business days.) If paying up-front via credit card or PayPal, you will have access to stream the file in a matter of minutes, and your 3-day rental period will begin straight away.

You will receive an email (separate to your tax invoice) with a link to watch this video once your payment is received (or when we approve your purchase order).

An annual renewal rite, the Wogasia festival is held in late May or early June on the island of Santa Catalina (Aorigi) in the Solomon Islands to celebrate the beginning of the New Year. Usually lasting three of four days, it involves a ritual cleansing and purification of the island and its people and a petition to supernatural deities to bless the gardens. Celebratory feasting, symbolic spear fighting and fertility rituals, the blowing of conch shells, and traditional song and dance all play a part in the washing away of the old and a welcoming in of the new.

(1980, 53 mins)  A Film Australia Production. Produced for Solomon Islands with Australian Development Assistance Bureau.

© National Film and Sound Archive of Australia.