Papua New Guinea National Capital District (NCD) Governor Powes Parkop says Port Moresby is ready to receive people from Melanesian countries for their 5th Festival of Art and Culture.
“The festival is a celebration of Melanesian arts, culture and music and I am looking forward to a successful celebration,” said Parkop.
Parkop who opened the festival village on Saturday said the festival “reminds us of our history and past, our culture and values as Melanesians”.
“We must remind ourselves that values are important,” he said.
“They are what make us who we are. If we forget them, abandon them, it will be lost in the global community.”
The opening ceremony of the village was to formalise the occupation of traditional houses and stalls.
“As your host, I want to ensure all of us, especially our visitors, that Port Moresby is ready to host you,” he said.
Parkop said the festival village would be an asset for the city. The NCD will take over the facility or partner with the National Cultural Commission to manage it.
Meanwhile, Maprik MP John Simon says ourtradition and culture hold our society together.
Simon has been supporting men from his home district in East Sepik to build the Maprik House of the Abelam Society in the festival village in Port Moresby. It will be used during the Melanesian Festival of Arts beginning this week.
He was proud to have a house from the society built in the festival village which “represents the Maprik people of Sepik”.
Simon talked about his childhood experience of “stories about the wonderful cultures and traditions.”
And he noticed as he was growing up how the same cultures and traditions had been “falling apart”.
“When these things are falling apart, we have problems in our society,” he said.
He said the Abelam Society house would be “fully completed” when the long yams from Maprik arrived this week to “complement the house”
PORT MORESBY, (POST COURIER)
