ABSTRACT

After the elaborate exposition and analysis of the Tikopia concepts of spirit given in the last chapters, I now present a much more empirical account of the acts Tikopia customarily performed to invoke these spirits and worship them. These acts were integrated by and largely embodied in a basic rite known as the kava. Such an account of Tikopia behaviour, from personal observation and participation, gives an important dimension of their religion, if only because ritual in most cases requires collective action by a number of people, and therefore implies a possible adjustment of individual belief to common practice.