ABSTRACT
The Ambo believes in the existence of a Supreme Being, whom they call Lesa. He is the creator, Mulenga, of everything, and master of atmospheric phenomena, particularly those connected with rain. Hence he is the lifegiver, since food cultivation and growth in general are made possible only by rain. In speech Lesa is identified with these phenomena. The Ambo says that their knowledge of the world hereafter was brought by an intrepid and very fortunate antbear hunter, who crept down into the antbear's burrow and reached the abode of the departed. He saw there a big village and gardens, where these underground dwellers who marry like people on earth live in great bliss. The Ambo differentiates between various shades, mipashi. The 'nearest' in which they are interested are the shades of the dead members of one's minor matrilineage and guardian shades, who may be from either one's matri- or patrikin.
