Solomon Islanders are renowned for their gentle ways and omnipresent smiles, so it’s hard to imagine the people of these so-called ‘Hapi Isles’ were once feared as the South Pacific’s fiercest head hunters.
Traditionally hunters and gatherers, head hunting and cannibalism were widespread throughout the Solomon Islands’ history until the arrival of missionaries in the mid-19th century, which the locals say “spoiled all the fun.”
Echoes of those headhunting days can still be found in skull shrines on the aptly named Skull Island near Munda in the Western Province’s Vonavona lagoon.
Those days may be long gone, but given this 992-island archipelago is still relatively untouched by mass tourism, the centuries-old cultural ways of the Solomon Islands remain among the richest in the South Pacific.
‘Kulture’ remains at the very centre of society.
Traditional singing, music and dance and craftsmanship, a mainstay of village life, is handed down from father to son and mother to daughter, in the process providing a reminder that even the most isolated cultures across this vast archipelago uphold deep and ancient reservoirs of unique and very rich creativity.
Busu Shell Money Festival
One of the Solomon Islands’ more curious and culturally significant annual events, the Busu Shell Money Festival in Malaita celebrates hand-crafted shell money, in use long before bank notes and coins arrived.
Taking place in Busu Cultural Village in the Langalanga Lagoon, the festival showcases every stage of shell‑money production — from the gathering and shaping shells to polishing and threading them into gleaming strands.
As much as the festival preserves Malaitan culture, shell money still plays an important role in Solomon Islands society. The shells are used as dowry payments, to settle disputes and also presented to visiting VIPs.
National Panpipe Festival
Malaita’s famous Panpipe music, first ‘recorded’ by Spanish explorers in the 16th century, is an icon of Solomon Islands culture and known around the world – and in outer space too! Recordings are carried on Voyager 2, the space probe launched in 1977, sitting cheek by jowl with Beethoven, Mozart, Stravinsky and other examples of traditional music from all over the globe as examples of human culture.
Celebrating this unique legacy, a National Panpipe Festival takes place biannually in Honiara, attracting bands from all over the Solomon Islands.
Much more than a musical event, the festival also presents a national showcase of interconnected cultural heritage — from shell money making, carving, weaving and canoe traditions to oral histories, food systems and indigenous knowledge.
The festival also reminds us that traditional music is not entertainment alone — it is memory, craftsmanship and the heartbeat of a nation.
‘Wogasia’ Spear Festival
Set to take place by harvest and moon cycle, usually around May, ‘Wogasia’, it means ‘to worship’ in local dialect, is practiced among the Atawa and Amoe tribes of Santa Catalina who come together to celebrate and offer prayers of thanksgiving to their God of providence for the unceasing supply of sea food, fruit and crops that these communities depend on for their daily survival.
While much of the three-day festival revolves around traditional poem reading and chanting, the event culminates with hundreds of spear fighters facing off in chest-deep water, where villagers have an opportunity to resolve any outstanding differences or disputes by throwing spears at each other
Amazingly, while a few injuries have been recorded, most of the fighters escape relatively unhurt, and thanks to their God having been given, the people can look forward to a year of peace and good fortune.
Roviana Lagoon Festival
Traditionally taking part every two years in December, the Roviana Lagoon Festival in Munda in the Western Province annually attracts hundreds of locals. But in more recent times, certainly post-COVID, the festival has begun to attract a steadily growing number of international visitors keen to see and join in the event.
Scheduled activities, as expected, are predominantly water-based and include rafting, dugout canoe ‘tug of war’ tussles and races, ’Kuku’ platform high diving, speech competitions, singing and dancing.
Without doubt the event’s highlight is the appearance of two giant ‘Tomoko’ war canoes
Originally used for head-hunting forays until the late 1800s, when missionaries put a stop to the activity, two ‘Tomoko’ canoes took part in the 2025 event: one from Rarumana village and the other from Bebea village, both of which are located on Nusa Roviana Island.
The Aleck Wickham Crawl swimming race celebrates the Solomon Islander who is attributed with having invented the Australian Crawl swimming stroke, today better known as freestyle.
Savo Megapode & Eco‑Cultural Festival
The unique eco-environment of volcanic Savo Island, just a short boat ride away from Honiara, will form the backdrop for the inaugural Savo Megapode & Eco‑Cultural Festival this year.
Home to one of the Solomon Islands’ most extraordinary creatures, the Melanesian Megapode, a bird that buries its eggs in volcanic sand, letting geothermal heat incubate them naturally, the festival will take place in Panueli Village where Savo islanders will showcase the music and dance that make them so uniquely different from anywhere else in the archipelago.
Savo is also well known for its dolphin nurseries, the mammals breeding in the thermally heated waters which fringe the island.
Tinakula Festival
Temotu Province, the Solomon Islands’ most far‑flung and remote region, is home to a unique blend of Melanesian and Polynesian peoples and as such boasts a unique cultural identity which its people celebrate every year in Honiara – the vibrant and much‑loved Tinakula Festival.
Named after the dramatic Tinakula volcano, the festival serves as a living showcase of the province’s rich traditions, with music, dance, storytelling, weaving, carving, and traditional cuisine all taking centre stage. The event offers visitors a rare opportunity to experience the cultural diversity of a province known for its many languages, customs and ancestral practices.
Guadalcanal Weaving Festival
Traditionally taking place in late July/early August, the Guadalcanal Weaving Festival highlights the importance of preserving the culture and the traditional weaving practices of the Guadalcanal people.
Seen as integral to celebrating and maintaining these people’s culture and traditions, the festival provides deep insight into the province’s traditional chants, music and dance.
