Revival Movements Rooted in Specific Islands

Traditional Polynesian religious practice was substantially disrupted across the islands by nineteenth-century Christian missionary activity, which achieved widespread conversion in most Polynesian societies within a relatively short historical period, though this did not eliminate traditional practice entirely, and various forms of traditional Hawaiian, Maori and other Polynesian spiritual practice persisted, sometimes blended with Christianity and sometimes maintained more separately within specific families and communities.

More recent decades have seen significant, community-led revival movements, particularly the Hawaiian cultural renaissance from the 1970s onward and comparable Maori cultural revitalization efforts in New Zealand, which have included renewed public and educational engagement with traditional prayer, chant and ceremonial knowledge led by Native Hawaiian and Maori cultural practitioners and institutions themselves. Because these revival efforts are actively led and governed by the specific island communities and cultural authorities concerned, and because Hawaiian, Maori and other specific Polynesian traditions differ significantly from one another, this entry treats deferring to those specific community-led efforts, rather than offering a generalized outside summary under the broad heading of Polynesian religion, as the more responsible approach for a reference source of this kind.