Priests conducted a number of rituals in the spirit houses, and elsewhere, necessary for the well-being of the community whose health was also expressed in dance and games.
Sacred vesi wood was used for the manufacture of many ceremonial objects, particularly kava or yaqona bowls, handles of fly whisks, so-called cannibal forks, priests' oil dishes, head rests, and burau dishes used by priests for drinking kava in the old way. Sinnet, the fibre from coconut husks, was also used to make fly whisks and miniature spirit houses.