q._

The offerings to these deities consisted chiefly of cooked food,[85]
which was apparently deemed as essential to the sustenance of gods as of
men, and that even when the gods were not animals but stones. For
example, two oblong smooth stones, which stood on a platform of loose
stones near a village, were regarded as the parents of the rain-god, and
when the people were making ready to go off to the woods for the
favourite sport of pigeon-catching, they used to lay offerings of cooked
taro and fish on the stones, accompanied by prayers for fine weather and
no rain. These stone gods were also believed to cause yams to grow;
hence in time of dearth a man would present them with a yam in hope of
securing their favour.[86]

[85] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 20.

[86] G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 24 _sq._

At the feasts the first cup of kava was dedicated to the god, the
presiding chief either pouring it out on the ground or waving it towards
the sky. Afterwards all the chiefs drank from the same cup according to
their rank; then the food brought as an offering was divided and eaten
there before the god.[87] Even within the circle of the family it was
customary to pour out on the ground a little kava as an offering to the
family god before any one else drank of it.[88]

[87] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 20; W. T. Pritchard,
_Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp. 121 _sqq._

[88] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 229.

Annual feasts were held in honour of the gods, and the season of the
feast was often in May, but sometimes in April or June.[89] In some
cases the feasts were regulated by the appearance of the bird which was
believed to be the incarnation of the god. Whenever the bird was seen,
the priest would say that the god had come, and he would fix upon a day
for the entertainment of the deity.[90] At these festivals all the
people met in the place of public assembly, where they had collected
heaps of cooked food. First, they made their offerings to the god and
prayed to him to avert calamity and grant prosperity; then they feasted
with and before their god, and after that any strangers present might
eat. Some of the festivals included games, such as wrestling,
spear-throwing, club exercises, sham-fights, and nocturnal dances; and
they lasted for days.[91] At one of these annual festivals held in the
month of June, the exercise with clubs assumed a serious and indeed
sanguinary form. All the people, old