ABSTRACT
This chapter serves as a bridge to the analysis and, looking ahead, prepares the way for an investigation of the semantics of the aetiology of empongo by describing the systematic relationship which exists in Safwa thought among the elements empongo, the ancestor spirits. It discusses the concept of empongo, revealing how the disparate ideas of disease and death in English coalesce into one concept in Safwa thought. The chapter devotes to an exposition of the moral implications of empongo, as revealed in ancestor rituals. In Safwa ontology every living being and every object possesses an inzyongoni, the power or force of existence. In humans the inzyongoni, which is conceived as akin to heat, receives the male semen and female vaginal secretions at the time of conception. The significatum of empongo is a weakening or withdrawal of the inzyongoni, ranging in duration from temporary to permanent. Empongo is one of the primary themes of the ancestor rites.
