Which religion was practiced in Oceania before the arrival of Europeans?
1 Answer
No specific religion really. The aboriginals practiced animism which is a common term for various pre-religious nature-based spiritual beliefs.
Explanation:
Understanding religion as an organised system of worship with defined creed, god image(s), codes, and cultic practices, Oceania had no defined religion before the arrival of European missionaries and colonisers.
Similar to most pre-religion tribal practices, the aboriginals of Oceania were animists, that is, they understood all of nature - its whole as well as its components - as being imbued with spiritual or divine qualities.
In animism, not only does a spiritual power or essence pervade all created things, every component of nature - animate and inanimate, tangible and intangible (forces of nature) - is considered divine or divinely animated.
