Hundreds of years ago, the Motu people who live around what is now Port Moresby noticed something. To the west, along the Gulf of Papua, lived communities with lots of sago palms but no clay pots. The Motu had brilliant clay pots but no sago palms. So they decided to trade.
Each year, in October and November, dozens of giant lakatoi were built. A lakatoi is two huge canoes lashed together with a deck on top, and two enormous sails shaped like crab claws. The boats could carry tonnes of clay pots in their bellies. Crews of 30 or 40 men sailed them out, traded all their pots for sago, and came back home in early January.
Today, the Hiri trading voyages no longer happen in the old way - but the memory is celebrated every year. At the festival in Port Moresby, beautiful lakatoi are built and sailed again. There are canoe races, traditional dances, drumming, food stalls and a 'Hiri Queen' competition where young women wear traditional Motuan dress.
The festival reminds everyone how connected PNG's villages were even hundreds of years ago. Long before phones or planes, sailors were criss-crossing the seas, sharing goods, languages and ideas. The Hiri is one of the great trading stories of the Pacific.