RASTAFARIANISM

What do you think of when you hear the word "Rastafarian?" Dreadlocks? Bob Marley? Reggae Music? Marijuana? Since the Rastafarians don't have a pope or supreme prelate, it comes across to the public in many ways. And while Marcus Garvey may not have consciously founded this religion, he raised the consciousness which led to its founding. For, in 1929 in his last address to the UNIA, in Jamaica, Marcus Garvey said, "Look to Africa where a king would be crowned, for the day of deliverance is near."

Did you know that it was Marcus Garvey who was the foundation?
His prophecy for an African King was the seed for Jamaican Rastafari.
Marcus Garvey, was born in St. Ann in 1887 founded the United Negro Improvement Association. In 1929, Garvey upon speaking to an audience at Madison Square Garden in New York made reference to "Ethiopia, land of our fathers," and proclaimed that Negroes believed in "the God of Ethiopia, the everlasting God."

Garvey is often credited as the first to announce "Look to Africa for the crowning of a Black King; He shall be the Redeemer." This statement is customarily cited as the spark that ignited the so called Garveyites into founding the sect that came to be known as Rastafarianism (so called because "Ras Tafari" was Selassie's given name.)

The following year on November 2, 1930 Haile Salassie was crowned Emperor of Ethiopia. In Jamaica this was seen as no ordinary event because of Marcus Garvey's prophetic vision the previous year.

It didn't take too much biblical research to find passages like Revelations 5:5 which proved that Haille Salassie was God, "And one of the elders saith unto me, weep not, behold the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David hath prevailed to open the book and loose the seven seals thereof."

By now you should know that Rastafarianism is a religion not an ethnicity. The word Rastafarian is most often used inaccurately today. As it is often time used to describe persons who wear the long kinky hair style known as dreadlocks. Rastafarianism is a religion that has had a profound influence on reggae music. Reggae music itself described by the Jamaican educator, George Beckford as "originating in Africa, but distilled in Jamaica. It has now become synonymous with the Rastafarian movement and is its chief medium of communication with Blacks around the world. Bob Marley is without argument the best known pioneer of the music, but there are others like Peter Tosh, Burning Spear, Toot and the Maytlas, Big Youth, Inner Circle and Third World, and the list goes on.

Rastafarians used red, gold, and green rather than red, black and green. And because of Marcus Garvey's influence Ghana, Mozambique, Kenya and the ANC of South Africa use the colors officially.

I have often heard it said that there is hardly a Rasta gathering where marijuana is not used. They believe that references for its use can be found in such Biblical passages as Genesis 1:12 "And the earth brought forth grass and herb yielding seed after this kind, and tree yielding fruit whose seed was itself, after his kind and God saw that it was good." Much like in other religion the breaking of bread is symbolically used in ceremony for to represent a spiritual enrichment. The use of Marijuana amongst Rastafarians symbolizes a spiritual undertaking. It is believed to lift its user to a higher spiritual elevation, bringing him one step closer to his creator. The use of Marijuana in this religion is most often used in groups for fellowship much like the Native American made use of the ceremonial peace pipe. There are several types of Marijuana used for different ceremonial practices. Rastafarians strongly believe in passing their heritage to the next generation. Each generation must know the lessons of the last, to eliminate a repetitive history. It is for this reason elders are highly respected for their wisdom, unlike in other cultures where they are treated harshly. Because of the belief that one does not need material wealth to enter the Kingdom of GOD, most Rastafarians seek the most honorable choice over the most profitable one. This belief comes directly from the the biblical passage which reads "Seek Ye First the Kingdom of GOD, and All Things Will Be Rewarded Unto You." In 1947 a scroll was found and believe to be the only Gospel actually written in the words of Jesus Christ. The scroll written in Old World Aramaic, a language not spoken for over 2000 years and also believed to be the language spoken by Christ, started with the inscription "The Kingdom of GOD is inside of you, not in Mansions made of wood and stone. Lift a rock and I am there. Split a log and I am there." While many Christian based religions discounted the authenticity of these writings for various reasons. It served to reemphasize the biblical reference to the Kingdom of GOD and the lack of need for skyscraping temples to serve GOD. It is for this reason Rastafarians do not erect large expensive structures for worship.

In the Rastafarian religion it is believed that GOD visited the earth in the presence of three Deities the first of which was Moses who spoke of the coming of Jesus Christ. The second was Jesus Christ who spoke of the coming of another visit from GOD. The final time was in the presence of King Haile Selassie, I. Who was believed to be sent to deliver Ethiopia and it's people from the oppressors.

Want to learn more, please email Jamcnblood@URSCENE.com

Terminology

Amharic One of the many languages of Ethiopia; the language of the royal Ethiopian dynasty since the 13th century.

Babylon From a Rastafari perspective, Babylon is the historically white-European colonial and imperialist power structure which has oppressed Blacks and other peoples of color.

Diaspora (dispersion; a migration; the dispersion of an originally homogeneous people). The mass dispersion of peoples of a common culture or national origin is commonly referred to as a diaspora. Historically, these movements tend to be forced or involuntary. They may be the result military occupation, systematic persecution, servitude, enslavement, or laws by which the dominant society defines an ethnic group as marginal, undesirable, or subordinate. These movements also tend to reflect pervasive regional or global forces that separate peoples of common origin form their homeland (real or imagined), leaving them to think of themselves as exiles. Such is the case of the African diaspora which began in the early 16th century and displaced tens of millions of Africans from their ancestral continent to various sites in the New World.

East Indian (Indo-Jamaican, Indo-Trinidadian, etc.): In the Caribbean context, this term is used to refer to individuals who came to the Caribbean (mostly Trinidad, Jamaica, and Guyana) during the late 19th century as indentured laborers

Elders The term given to individuals of longstanding commitment in the Rasta Movement. In everyday speech, the status of male individuals as elders is often acknowledged by use of the term "Bongo" as an honorific (e.g., addressing someone as "Bongo Hill" or "Bongo Ketu").

Ital The Rastafari term for a saltless and vegetarian diet. Although not all Rastafari adhere strictly to such a diet, it serves as a model for idealized lifeways of practitioners. During Nyabinghi ceremonies (which last for up to a week), an Ital diet is part of the ritual protocol observed by communicants.

Jah In Rasta speech, this term is used as a synonym for Emperor Haile Selassie as the manifestation of the Godhead. The term derives from the Old Testament where it appears as an archaic form of "Jehovah" (see Psalm 68:4).

Maroons A term derived from the Spanish word cimarron, meaning wild or unruly, used to refer to runaway slaves in various parts of the Caribbean. In Jamaica, Maroon settlements formed in the island's mountainous interior as early as the mid-16th century. While small in number compared to the overall population in Jamaica, Maroons retained strong African-derived traditions and remained proud of their cultural heritage. In the 20th century, Rastafari culture has continued to carry forward this African pride in Jamaica and other parts of the Black Diaspora.

Nyabinghi (Ni-uh-bin-gee) This term has a series of overlapping meanings within the contemporary Rastafari Movement. It refers variously to the island-wide religious gatherings of Rasta brethren and sistren at which communicants "praise Jah" and "chant down Babylon," to the three-part drum ensemble on which chants are composed, to the African-derived dance-drumming style performed at these events, and to the corpus of chants themselves. It also refers to the most orthodox organization within the broader Rasta movement variously known as the House of Nyabinghi or the Theocratic Government of Emperor Haile Selassie I. The term Nyabinghi entered the movement in late 1935 during the Italian Invasion of Ethiopia and is actually derived from an African secret society which operated in the Congo and Ruwanda during the last quarter of the 19th century.

Ras Tafari the pre-coronation name of Emperor Haile Selassie I. Ras is an Amharic term equivalent to duke or lord. And Tafari Makonnen was the family name of Emperor Selassie. Rastafari is the same name taken by members of the Rastafari movement who regard the Ethiopian Emperor as the reincarnation of Christ as well as the embodiment of the Godhead.

Reggae Sometimes called "the King's music" or "roots music", reggae is the Rasta-inspired music of black protest which emerged in Jamaica during the late 1960s. Reggae reflects the basic rhythmic influences of Nyabinghi drumming as well as that of other African Jamaican musical traditions. During the 1970s, Rastafari-inspired reggae themes became central to the emergent national consciousness of Jamaicans, both Rastafari and non-Rastafari alike. During this same period, the music developed an international following in Europe, the United States, and on the African continent.

West Indian The term used to refer to the peoples and cultures of the Caribbean archipelago and parts of the Circum-Caribbean rimlands from present-day Belize to Jamaica in the Greater Antilles to Trinidad and Barbados in the Lesser Antilles. Hence, Jamaicans, Trinidadians, Antiguans, and others are often referred to collectively as West Indians. This is a problematic term since it does not refer to a single ethnic, linguistic, or national background. West Indian reflects the multicultural and migrant backgrounds of the populations that comprise the Caribbean as a cultural area.

Zion From a Rasta perspective, Zion refers broadly to Africa and more specifically to Ethiopia as the ancestral homeland of all black peoples. The symbols of Rastafari culture identify with this domain in its various spiritual, cultural, and political connotations.