Traditional religions

Traditional religions are those religions that have remained in their original socio-cultural environment, although still developing or changing. There is no agreement on a single name to be used when referring to these religions. Whereas in Africa these religions are ordinarily referred to as "African Traditional Religions", in Asia they are called 'Tribal Religions and Folk Religions', in America 'Native Religions and Afro-American Religions', and in Oceania 'Indigenous Religions'.

Traditional religions generally have a clear belief in one God, in a Supreme Being who goes by such names as Great Spirit, Creator, the Great One, the Mighty Spirit, the Divine, the Transcendent, the One who lives above, Heaven etc. There is also a belief in other beings which are above humankind but are less than the Supreme Being. They may be called spirits. Deceased adult relatives, i.e. ancestors, are also objects of belief.

Cult or worship in traditional religions is directed generally to the spirits and the ancestors and sometimes to God. It takes the form of prayer especially in the family, worship at shrines and communal sacrifices. Fear of the evil spirits or ancestors motivates many acts of worship.

Traditional religions do not generally have revealed books. The riches of their contents, and their many values, are more often found in their celebrations, stories and proverbs, and conveyed through attitudes, customs and codes of conduct. It is rare that a traditional religion traces itself back to a founder.

Melanesian spirituality

Melanesian religions contained a multiplicity of gods, culture heroes and spirits with varied characters and roles. Particular powers were associated with creation, war, fertility, prosperity and welfare. A variety of rites and sacrifices were practised to ensure the group's success and well-being. Most important in terms of bringing success and blessing were the spirits of the dead. The dead whose names were remembered were usually still seen as part of the community and their hurt feelings could bring on trouble, for example, the coastal Roro of Papua one could easily expect difficulties from a family member killed unexpectedly (by a crocodile, a spear from behind).

Melanesians lived in close relationship with the natural environment of which they felt an integral part. Their lives were influenced by the:

·         Struggle for existence and the fear of attack

·         Important events of birth, marriage and death and by

·         Intricate systems of inheritance and land tenure, by

·         Great ceremonial gift exchanges and by

·         Bonds of kinship and obligation

In this closed universe the spirits of the living and dead existed side by side. Above it were the great deities which had created the forests, swamps, mountains, rivers, and crops, as well as the tools and implements by which the crops were tilled. In many societies each specific resource had a creator deity. Only the help of these deities could ensure that crops properly ripened, that enemies were confounded or that the lakatois safely reached their destination. In turn this help could only be enlisted by properly invoking it through the correct rituals and incantations taught to men by the deities in the far gone past. The spirits of the ancestors, unlike the deities, had created nothing but acted as guardians of the living, watching over their vital interests, warning them of dangers in war and peace, or aiding them in the search for forest foods.

The world was full of hostile forces, for even when all ritual had been faithfully observed there was the possibility that success might be denied through the sorcery of a nearby tribe or from an immediate personal enemy in one's own tribe. For this reason Melanesians carefully guarded the disposal of own personal effects. Locks of hair, finger or toenail clippings, bits of skin, in an enemy's possession, whether near or distant, could perhaps work mortally against them. There was great significance attached to the power of thoughts or dreams.

The working of sorcery and numerous other injuries, real or imagined, invariably led to the 'pay‑back' by which all injuries were precisely if impersonally avenged. Thus a man of one tribe whose wife was stolen by a man from another might not kill the actual offender, but just someone from the same tribe. More often than not his kinsmen under­took the task for him. For example, in the days of early European contact many whites killed natives in necessary or too hasty self‑defence. It has then happened that the first Europeans to return to the area some time afterwards were in turn killed in revenge although they themselves had behaved in exemplary fashion and were in no way responsible for the original killings.

The presence of missionaries in the 19th century led to the widespread abandonment of many aspects of traditional beliefs in favour of Christianity. Today Christianity is the dominant religion of the region. A degree of independence has, however, been established within Melanesian Christianity through the formation of indigenised churches and theologies.