POLYNESIAN RELIGION 



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Pantheism of Oceanica. Atua indicates 

 the spiritual in its widest sense. The 

 word may be used more generically, as 

 Mana is used by Solomon Islanders. In 

 this lower sense it is a power or influence 

 expressing itself in any kind of force or 

 superiority which a man may possess. 

 It can be transferred to anything. Spirits 

 possess this coveted influence, whether 

 they be the souls of dead people or of 

 some beings of a higher grade. Tutelary 

 spirits (or deities) have an important 

 place; their inspiration is desired because 

 they are supposed to have learnt much 

 from the gods of the upper regions. 

 Should they not come willingly to 

 man's assistance, they must be con- 

 strained by prayers, sacrifices, and 

 incantations. But Animism often de- 

 generates into pure beast-worship. Thus 

 in the Mortlock Islands the bastard 

 mackerel caranx is reverenced as the 

 god of war. 



The souls of old departed chiefs 

 take rank as gods, to be invoked by 

 prayer and sacrifice. As living men on 

 earth are divided into different grades, 

 so are spirits. A chief's spirit at once 

 takes a higher place than that of an 

 ordinary person. Some say chiefs go to 

 the stars, while others wait about on 

 the earth. Thus we see how gods originate. Heroic men are deified. The chief god of the 

 Gilbert Islanders was formerly a chief; now he is Hai, living above the clouds. The 

 legends that relate to the origin of the gods show that they were once men, and that 

 all religion originated by a slow evolution from the worship of ghosts. This is the view 

 generally held by anthropologists, but it has been ably controverted by Mr. Andrew Lang 

 in his recent work on "The Making of Religion." Some spirits never were human, and so 

 take at once a higher rank. With spiritual beings abounding everywhere, every aspect of 

 nature meets with a ready explanation, and thus thousands of nature-gods who are merely 

 localised spirits come into existence. A score or so of them rule the sea; others employ 

 great blue sharks to execute vengeance. In certain places sharks are fed on fish and pigs, 

 until they get into the habit of approaching the shore at certain times; and then the deluded 

 natives maintain that the fish come at a priest's bidding. Hiro, a famous sea-god, was 

 originally a bold and ingenious native of Raiatea, Society Islands, and until Christianity 

 replaced paganism his skull was on view. 



In the Gilbert Islands sacrifices are offered on one stone in a stone circle. Upright 

 stones are worshipped as in India. The megalithic monuments of Europe date from a distant 

 time, when our ancestors were no further advanced in culture. (See " Prehistoric Man 

 and Beast.") 



In some parts of Polynesia the priest adds to his other duties that of the healer, or 

 "medicine man." But in the most populous districts, as in New Zealand, a separate class of 

 priests is created for this business, which is chiefly based on pure sorcery. One of the chief 



Photo by Mr. J. J. Lister, St. John's College, Cambridge. 

 A WOMAN OF THE TONGA ISLANDS. 



