Hiri trade cycle

[1][2] The Motu live in a comparative rain shadow[3] – the dry season is unusually harsh, and there are not enough suitable areas for the growing of sago (rabia).

He returned Edai to the surface of the sea, after instructing him to build a great lagatoi, to fill it with cooking pots, and to sail westward, following the south-east trade wind called the laurabada in the Motu language.

Before Edai left, he had instructed her to stay within a corner of her house, not to bathe in the sea, to keep a tally of the days the Bogebada had been gone, to keep her fire burning, and to have her skin tattooed by an old woman.

His wife jumped into the sea and washed away her accumulated dirt, put on her finest costume, walked out onto the verandah of the house, hit it with a stick, shouted, ‘Hedihoroha Bogebada!’ and began dancing in joy.

Every year at the end of September or the start of October,[9] Motu men prepared their Lakatoi or lagatoi (a large, multi-hulled sailing canoe) for the hiri, while the women shaped and fired the uro (pots).

The festival[11] coincides with the national independence day celebrations, and features traditional dances, the Hiri Queen contest (a beauty pageant), the arrival of the lagatoi, canoe racing, musical presentations, and an arts and crafts exhibition.

In recent years, there has been some controversy about Hiri Moale being held in Port Moresby, rather than at nearby Boera, traditionally regarded as the birthplace of Edai Siabo.