-Did not have any one God, it was a polytheistic religion by default.
-They did NOT worship idols, though they might have had what seemed to be idols in their homes, they are the representations of the gods, not holy objects by any means.
-The family elders usually performed most of the religious rituals within the family unit and tribal unit. There was no set priestly class, but the elder who performed the rituals for the tribe was called the Matai.
-The Matai is like a living archive, responsible for remembering the ancient folklore, family genealogies, and the stories of the old gods, and passing them onto his successor.
-The family played a huge part in the religion of ancient Samoa. Usually, the eldest of the members would perform all rituals, because it was thought that they possessed the most knowledge about life in general.
-As the oldest son grew older, the family elder would pass on all of the family history and stories to him. He in turn would pass them onto his oldest son and the cycle would continue in that fashion.
-With the knowledge of these stories, the elder would pray to the old gods for guidance and wisdom that could be gained from these past experiences.
-There were many Gods and Goddesses in the early Samoan religion, here are some that I could find information on:
The god Saveasi'uleo, who was a lord of Pulotu.
His daughter, Nafanua, who was the goddess of war.
The evil god Nifoloa, who was a two legged demon-like creature with long fangs whose bite killed.
Mafui'e, was the god responsible for giving humanity fire, cooking tips.
The original gods, the most important, whose names have been lost in time, were called the atua.