Contemporary Rapa Nui keep their rites, ceremonies and ancestral beliefs.
Some of their practices vary depending on this people's different stages since their prehistory. However, old concepts as Mana and Tapu prevailed.
Mana is the supernatural power or magic. It is in hands of the spirits and of some initiated.
This magic can be transmitted to any object, and so can be to those people living close to powerful men.
In what is known as the expansive stage, an unusual religious fervor toward the ancestors took place: 300 ceremonial altars and almost 600 moai were built. Priests were endowed with special power. Political crisis and starvation followed in what is known as the decline phase. The Rapa Nui were bound praying for food. Such is the origin of the fertility cult of the god Make Make.