The 2016 Warwargira and Mask Festival began yesterday in Kokopo.
The four-day festival was opened at 6am by the traditional Kinavai dance.
The festival is one of the major tourist attractions for East New Britain province, attracting tourists from all over the world.
The Kinavai dance is a colorful event; to a larger extent it relies on community participation to make it happen.
Men, women and children from within Kokopo and other parts of East New Britain came as early as 5am to see this spectacular dance that happens once every year.
The dancers, that brought the tumbuans from the sea, mark the start of the Warwargira and Mask Festival that will continue over the next three days at the Ralum Showground in Kokopo.
The Warwargira and Mask Festival is a special cultural event in the East New Britain provincial events calendar that happens in July each year.
The four-day festival began in 1995 and seeks to showcase some of PNG’s unique forms of art and dance, found only in the New Guinea Islands region.
East New Britain has a long rich history apart from the relics of the war and its volcanoes, and those who will attend the festival will certainly remember this cultural event.
