OCEANIA

A deified ancestor with a pearl shell in its left eye that gives him the power to kill his enemies in Hawai’i.

With his four eyes and clawed extremities, he is the deity of the folk of the Solomons Islands, Melanesia.

Played a major part in the creation of the world for the people of Nauru, a small island in Micronesia.

The wood statues have protective powers and are revered by the people of the Marquesas Islands.

Its noise wards off evil spirits when whirled in the air. Employed by the Indigenous People of Australia.

A mythological Fijian god, half-human, half-shark, he helped the Fijian fisherman with their catch.

Possibly the world's oldest musical instrument, used in secret ceremonies by the Indigenous People of Australia.

The goanna, a large lizard, is the Creator Being of the Bundjalung Indigenous People of Australia.

Served as a priest to leprosy victims on the quarantined settlement on Moloka’i Island in Hawai’i.

The ancient squid-god from the island of Samoa was so large that its tentacles reached over the world. Divers swam under the sea to make him offerings of pearls.

Crewed by two, one of them Death, from Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” set in Antarctica.

Three birds depicting ancestor spirits are carved on the mask’s nose extension. From Papua New Guinea.

The myth of the Cargo Cult began when Vanuatu islanders saw soldiers unloading goods.

A Hawai'ian god who existed before the world was created, and associated with agriculture.

From Timor-Leste, once part of Indonesia, the Lulik deters evil spirits and is often in the shape of a tree.

A magic charm of the fisherfolk of the Torres Strait Islands that lie between Australia and New Guinea.

The magic helmet worn by the Makini, the military group protecting the high chief and priests of Hawai’i.

The lizard deity who created humans is painted on boomerangs by Indigenous People of eastern Australia.

Represents ancestors and deities. Treated with great reverence by the Maoris of New Zealand.

Recognized as a holy dwelling place for ancestral spirits in the legends of the Maoris of New Zealand.

The monolithic human figures were carved by the Rapa Nui people on Easter Island in eastern Polynesia.

The sacred hibiscus is an integral part of the traditional religion of the inhabitants of Palau, an island in the western Pacific.

Carved in wood, it represents the ancestral spirits of the inhabitants of New Caledonia, an island group northeast of Australia.

The creator god or the Wagyl and a common motif in the art and religion of the Indigenous People of Australia.

One of the world’s oldest animals, it is sacred to many Oceanic cultures, this one from the Mariana Islands.

The Sepik River folk of Papua New Guinea add bones and teeth to their masks for extra protection.

From Vanuatu, Oceania, it is among the largest freestanding musical instruments on earth.

From Tahiti, French Polynesia, but seen throughout Polynesia, the Ti'i are revered for their protective powers.

Some statues date back to ancient Polynesia, including New Zealand, Tonga, Tuvalu, and the Cook Islands.

From Papua New Guinea, decorated with cowrie shells, it comes to life when worn by the possessor.