In old Pohnpeian and Chuukese legends, Yap is a prominent source of island founders, men of wisdom, and powerful magicians. Yap thus loomed larger than life in Micronesian spirituality. Certainly part of the reason for this arose from the sawei, an exchange system between Waʻab and the atolls to the east. For over 1,300 years, Waʻab has traded goods and prestige items with its eastern Chuukic-speaking neighbors, especially Ulithi.

The material exchange in turn was fortified by reports of the superior magic of the Yap priests and magicians that threatened the atolls with typhoon and doom, evidence for the long arm of Yapese power. Whatever its practical relationship with the rest of Micronesia, this influence became legitimized by religion and strengthened by the mythology that attributed great mystic power to Yap. The historic Waʻab was elevated to the status of one of those Micronesian places that is at once real, legendary, and mystical.

The body of knowledge that is veiled in the historical religious context of the culture and society of Yap State and its neighbors is called rong. Such knowledge may be perceived as sacred knowledge, but divine knowledge, esoteric knowledge, and specialized knowledge involving magical rites also have currency as definitions. Across Lamotrek, Chuuk, Ulithi, and Elato, rong can be variously thought of as traditional religion, incorporeal property, magical rites, architectural knowledge, and medicine.