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.