Aorigi or Santa Catalina Attractions

Attractions on Aorigi

Wogasia is the main attraction to Santa Catalina or Aorigi in East Makira. It’s the most well known because it happens every May when the whole of the island celebrates the yam harvest.

But that is not the only attraction on the island. Aorigi as it is well known locally is probably the only Island in the country that still very much practices its traditional customs one of which is the Wogasia celebration. 

There are so many others. For example, just a few metres east of where the Wogasia takes place annually, there is a little hut that contains the jaw bones of a famous warrior during the headhunting days. I was told by Gordon Raroinamae that although little – less than five metres high and just wide enough to fit one person – the hut is the ‘power house of Aorigi.

“If our priest asks for good harvests from the gardens, our fruit trees or good catches from the sea if we go fishing we will get them. No problems,” said Raroinamae.

“This little hut belongs to the ‘Gafe’ (Crab) tribe on this island. But only our priest gets to ask for us. It is our belief that without the blessings from this ancestor, we would not get the good harvests that we get year round,” added Raroinamae.

I met the elder or priest which Raroiname talked about after my visit to the small skull house. He is John Waapo, a tall wiry man past his 60s, and he confirmed what Raraoinamae had told me earlier in front of the little power house. Elder Waapo showed me two stone axes called ‘gira’ in the language which he said are the tools he uses every year to ensure the people of the island get bountiful harvests from the gardens and the bush as well as fish catches from the sea.

He said that he alone is the custodian of the powers that bring good fortune for the island. Elder Waapo also told me another person who challenged the ownership of those powers and the two stone axes took him to court but Mr Waapo won the case.

There is also another interesting little place on the island where stones said to be alive live. Matthew Sau told me that once the little leaf hut under which the stones live is broken or rots without any repairs, the stones will vanish. But as soon as a new house is built, the stones would return to live in it. 

“The stones are called Kou Kou in the language. And they are living things,” says Sau.

Sau added there are also many custom dances on the island. Some are for men only and others women only. Some of these custom dances are so sacred that you can only perform them after you have killed a pig! There are also many good carvers on Santa Catalina. And proof of this is outside nearly all the houses I visited there were these carvings of various sizes, types and lengths.

He also showed me the chains of a ship which sunk near the island in the 1920s. Mr Sau said it was purportedly carrying lepers to Hawaii. However, when it neared Santa Catalina in the 1800s, it met rough seas and sank on the eastern side of the island. The chains of that sunken ship still lie in knee deep reefs on the northeastern side of the island parts of which have been removed and kept by some people in their homes.

Aorigi is an ideal place for tourism but one of its main problems at the moment is a regular shipping service. It’s true there are not many resources to attract ships to Aorigi but there are many attractions which could bring visitors there to help improve the welfare of the more than 2000 people that live on the island.

Mr Sau also said good accommodation for visitors who flock to the island every May to see the Wogasia celebration is lacking. “There are a few there who are very keen in getting into that business but accessing resources to enable them move ahead with their plans is another hindrance.”

He himself too has already chopped down some coconut trees in his father’s plantation to build a good rest house which he hopes to build this year.

“I want to do something myself then seek support so people can say I am serious. There are others here who have already done what I’ve done but they want to get funds before starting. I don’t. I want to start and build and then hopefully along the way, someone can help,” he said.

Another of Mr Sau’s tales about his home island is phosphate. He claims some geologists who visited the island in the 60s drilled the only mountain there and confirmed the deposit.

“Today this has probably come up to the surface because the stuff is falling into the sea on the other side of the island sometimes,” he said.

For Aorigi though, the Wogasia is pulling in overseas visitors and Mr Sau says more than 10visitors visited the island last week.