Discuss the ways in which the various cultures of the Pacific and the Americas believed that they could interact with the spirit world. Describe how these beliefs manifested in art from these cultures. What commonalities do you find? 

What will be an ideal response?

The Pacific culture connected with the religious belief known as Dreamtime, which includes the distant past when ancestral beings emerged from the earth. Polynesian people believed certain materials were sacred to the gods, among them feathers. Names were invoked while weaving garments, imbuing them with protective spiritual power. The architecture of the meetinghouses of the Maori people embodies the continuing presence of ancestors and the protective power of the gods. Mayan bloodletting and the visions it produced seem to have been the ruler's way to communicate with the spirits and gods. North American Indians made Kachina dolls, which were believed to contain some of the power of the spirit they represented. The Navajo adapted aspects of Pueblo religious beliefs, including the practice of making spirit beings manifest through masks.