Micronesian Folk Religions

Micronesian traditions varied from island to island. On Kosrae, stories named Sinlaka as a goddess of breadfruit and Nalik as a patron of canoe building; on Guam, Chamorro beliefs included the spirits of ancestral people known as Taotao Mona.

Guam also had ritual specialists known as makhanas and healers called suruhanus. In 1668 Jesuit missionaries led by Diego Luis de San Vitores arrived on Guam to introduce Christianity, and the Catholic Church became a centre of village life.