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EveryParampara

Traditions of Honiara

The capital of Solomon Islands, where shell money, panpipe music and wantok ties matter.

Honiara is on the island of Guadalcanal and is a mix of the many peoples of the Solomon Islands. The relation called wantok, one talk, means that people of the same language group look after each other. Shell money, carved canoes and panpipe ensembles are part of island custom.

Honiara: Looking towards downtown
Photo: Kahunapule Michael Johnson, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Custom and exchange

Bride price and feasts involve the exchange of shell money, made of thousands of tiny discs, and pigs. Malaita people are well known for their shell currency. Panpipe groups, such as those from the Are'are, play polyphonic music, and canoes are decorated with inlaid shell.

At the table

Meals are built from sweet potato, taro, cassava and fish with coconut milk. Poi-like pudding, known as puddings, is cooked in a leaf in the earth oven, with nuts. Festivals include feasts with pigs. Betel nut is chewed socially, and is offered as a greeting in many places.

Signature traditions of Honiara

Shell moneyTraditional currency.

Also part of it, and being written: Solomon Islands (The nation and its customs.), Panpipe (Solomon panpipe music.).

A trail idea for Honiara

  1. Central Market Buy fruit and carvings.
  2. National Museum See shell money and canoes.
  3. Bloody Ridge A memorial to a battle in 1942.
About this page

Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Opening hours, markets and festival dates change; check locally before travelling. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.

KindSpiritualFestivalRite of passageTable customSeasonalDressPerformanceEtiquetteCraftGameFolkloreHomeCeremony
MealBreakfastLunchDinnerSupperTea-time and snacking customsTea, coffee and drinking ceremoniesSweets given and sharedFeasts and festival mealsFasting and breaking the fast
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreKing's Official Birthday A day when Commonwealth realms mark the monarch's birthday, seldom the real dateCeremony

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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