Related names for the same gods appear across islands separated by enormous distances, which is one of the clearest signs of common origin. Tangaroa (Kanaloa in Hawaii, Ta'aroa in Tahiti) is associated with the sea, Tane (Kane) with forests and often with the making of the first human, Tu (Ku) with war, and Rongo (Lono) with cultivated food and peace. Rank varies by island group: Tangaroa is the creator in Tahitian accounts, while in Maori tradition the primary act is the separation of Rangi the sky and Papa the earth by their children. The trickster demigod Maui, who fishes up islands and slows the sun, is known from Hawaii to Aotearoa.
Below the great gods, and in daily life often above them in importance, are ancestors. Genealogy, whakapapa in Maori, is itself a religious matter: it establishes descent from gods and ancestral beings, and with it rights to land, titles and knowledge. Recited genealogies were memorised to great depth and are still central in formal speech.
Ritual centred on precincts rather than roofed buildings. The marae of central and eastern Polynesia, and the heiau of Hawaii, were walled or paved open enclosures with uprights and platforms, where priests presented offerings and conducted rites of war, harvest, and the installation of chiefs. The largest were state institutions; smaller ones served families. In parts of Polynesia, including Tahiti and Hawaii, the most important rites at the highest-ranking sites included human sacrifice, generally of war captives or offenders.
Priests were trained specialists, in some islands taught in formal houses of learning, and their knowledge covered navigation, genealogy, chant, carving and healing as well as ritual. In New Zealand the word marae shifted meaning and now denotes the community meeting ground and its buildings, which remains the central institution of Maori life.