Crossword Genius

Spirit of the people there moving east (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

ethos

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'spirit' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'of the people there moving east' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is found within the answer.
an anagram of 'the' is 'eth' which is located in the answer.
A single letter 's' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for ethos that I've seen before include "Moral character" , "Characteristic attitudes" , "Distinctive attitudes of a people" , "Spirit (of an age/culture)" , "General feeling" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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