ellauri108.html on line 90: Rastafari use the terms Jah or sometimes Jah Jah as a term for the Lord God of Israel or Haile Selassie, who some Rastafari regard as the incarnation of the God of the Old Testament or as the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, who is also known by the Ethiopian title Janhoy.
ellauri108.html on line 98: From its origins, Rastafari was intrinsically linked with Haile Selassie, the Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He remains the central figure in Rastafari ideology, and although all Rastas hold him in esteem, precise interpretations of his identity differ. Understandings of how Haile Selassie relates to Jesus vary among Rastas. Many, although not all, believe that the Ethiopian monarch was the Second Coming of Jesus, legitimising this by reference to their interpretation of the nineteenth chapter of the Book of Revelation. By viewing Haile Selassie as Jesus, these Rastas also regard him as the messiah prophesied in the Old Testament, the manifestation of God in human form, and "the living God". Some perceive him as part of a Trinity, alongside God as Creator and the Holy Spirit, the latter referred to as "the Breath within the temple". Rastas who view Haile Selassie as Jesus argue that both were descendants from the royal line of the Biblical king David, while Rastas also emphasise the fact that the Makonnen dynasty, of which Haile Selassie was a member, claimed descent from the Biblical figures Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.
ellauri108.html on line 150: The largest groundings were known as "groundations" or "grounations" in the 1950s, although they were subsequently re-termed "Nyabinghi Issemblies". The term "Nyabinghi" is adopted from the name of a mythical African queen. Nyabinghi Issemblies are often held on dates associated with Ethiopia and Haile Selassie. These include Ethiopian Christmas (7 January), the day on which Haile Selassie visited Jamaica (21 April), Selassie's birthday (23 July), Ethiopian New Year (11 September), and Selassie's coronation day (2 November). Some Rastas also organise Nyabinghi Issemblies to mark Jamaica's Emancipation Day (1 August) and Marcus Garvey's birthday (17 August). A group of Rastas in Liberia celebrate Marcus Garvey's birthday.
ellauri108.html on line 173: Rastas regularly use the three colours of the Ethiopian flag for their movement, although they often add black to this tricolour, symbolising the black skin of the African people
ellauri108.html on line 177: Rastas often make use of the colours red, black, green, and gold. Red, gold, and green were used in the Ethiopian flag, while, prior to the development of Rastafari, the Jamaican black nationalist activist Marcus Garvey had used red, green, and black as the colours for the Pan-African flag representing his United Negro Improvement Association. According to Garvey, the red symbolised the blood of martyrs, the black symbolised the skin of Africans, and the green represented the vegetation of the land, an interpretation endorsed by some Rastas. The colour gold is often included alongside Garvey's three colours; it has been adopted from the Jamaican flag, and is often interpreted as symbolising the minerals and raw materials which constitute Africa's wealth. Rastas often paint these colours onto their buildings, vehicles, kiosks, and other items, or display them on their clothing, helping to distinguish Rastas from non-Rastas and allowing adherents to recognise their co-religionists. As well as being used by Rastas, the colour set has also been adopted by Pan-Africanists more broadly, who use it to display their identification with Afrocentricity; for this reason it was adopted on the flags of many post-independence African states. Rastas often accompany the use of these three or four colours with the image of the Lion of Judah, also adopted from the Ethiopian flag and symbolizing Haile Selassie.
ellauri108.html on line 189: Rastas differ on whether they regard dreadlocks as compulsory for practicing the religion. Some Rastas do not wear their hair in dreadlocks; within the religion they are often termed "cleanface" Rastas, with those wearing dreadlocked hair often called "locksmen". Some Rastas have also joined the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, the Christian organisation to which Haile Selassie belonged, and these individuals are forbidden from putting their hair in dreadlocks by the Church. In reference to Rasta hairstyles, Rastas often refer to non-Rastas as "baldheads", or "combsome", while those who are new to Rastafari and who have only just started to grow their hair into dreads are termed "nubbies". Members of the Bobo Ashanti sect of Rastas conceal their dreadlocks within turbans, while some Rastas tuck their dreads under a rastacap or tam headdress, usually coloured green, red, black, and yellow. Dreadlocks and Rastafari-inspired clothing have also been worn for aesthetic reasons by non-Rastas. For instance, many reggae musicians who do not adhere to the Rastafari religion wear their hair in dreads. A Rasta man wearing a rastacap has been sighted in Jamaica.
ellauri108.html on line 199: Further contributing significantly to Rastafari's development were Ethiopianism and the Back to Africa ethos, both traditions with 18th-century roots. In the 19th century, there were growing calls for the African diaspora located in Western Europe and the Americas to be resettled in Africa, with some of this diaspora establishing colonies in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Based in Liberia, the black Christian preacher Edward Wilmot Blyden began promoting African pride and the preservation of African tradition, customs, and institutions. Also spreading throughout Africa was Ethiopianism, a movement that accorded special status to the east African nation of Ethiopia because it was mentioned in various Biblical passages. For adherents of Ethiopianism, "Ethiopia" was regarded as a synonym of Africa as a whole.
ellauri108.html on line 205: Howell has been described as the "leading figure" in the early Rastafari movement. He preached that black Africans were superior to white Europeans and that Afro-Jamaicans should owe their allegiance to Haile Selassie rather than to George V, King of Great Britain and Ireland. The island's British authorities arrested him and charged him with sedition in 1934, resulting in his two-year imprisonment. Following his release, Howell established the Ethiopian Salvation Society and in 1939 established a Rasta community, known as Pinnacle, in Saint Catherine Parish. Police feared that Howell was training his followers for an armed rebellion and were angered that it was producing cannabis for sale. They raided the community on several occasions and Howell was imprisoned for a further two years. Upon his release he returned to Pinnacle, but the police continued with their raids and shut down the community in 1954; Howell himself was committed to a mental hospital.
ellauri108.html on line 207: In 1936, Italy invaded and occupied Ethiopia, and Haile Selassie went into exile. The invasion brought international condemnation and led to growing sympathy for the Ethiopian cause. In 1937, Selassie created the Ethiopian World Federation, which established a branch in Jamaica later that decade. In 1941, the British drove the Italians out of Ethiopia and Selassie returned to reclaim his throne. Many Rastas interpreted this as the fulfilment of a prophecy made in the Book of Revelation.
ellauri108.html on line 229: Enthusiasm for Rastafari was dampened by the unexpected death of Haile Selassie in 1975 and that of Marley in 1981. During the 1980s, the number of Rastas in Jamaica declined, with Pentecostal and other Charismatic Christian groups proving more successful at attracting young recruits. Several publicly prominent Rastas converted to Christianity, and two of those who did so—Judy Mowatt and Tommy Cowan—maintained that Marley had converted from Rastafari to Christianity, in the form of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, during his final days. The significance of Rastafari messages in reggae also declined with the growing popularity of dancehall, a Jamaican musical genre that typically foregrounded lyrical themes of hyper-masculinity, violence, and sexual activity rather than religious symbolism.
ellauri108.html on line 231: The mid-1990s saw a revival of Rastafari-focused reggae associated with musicians like Anthony B, Buju Banton, Luciano, Sizzla, and Capleton. From the 1990s, Jamaica also witnessed the growth of organised political activity within the Rasta community, seen for instance through campaigns for the legalisation of cannabis and the creation of political parties like the Jamaican Alliance Movement and the Imperial Ethiopian World Federation Incorporated Political Party, none of which attained more than minimal electoral support. In 1995, the Rastafari Centralization Organization was established in Jamaica as an attempt to organise the Rastafari community.
ellauri108.html on line 258: Some Rastas have left the religion. Clarke noted that among British Rastas, some returned to Pentecostalism and other forms of Christianity, while others embraced Islam or no religion. Some English ex-Rastas described disillusionment when the societal transformation promised by Rastafari failed to appear, while others felt that while Rastafari would be appropriate for agrarian communities in Africa and the Caribbean, it was not suited to industrialised British society. Others experienced disillusionment after developing the view that Haile Selassie had been an oppressive leader of the Ethiopian people. Cashmore found that some British Rastas who had more militant views left the religion after finding its focus on reasoning and music insufficient for the struggle against white domination and racism.
ellauri108.html on line 272: In the 1960s, a Rasta settlement was established in Shashamane, Ethiopia, on land made available by Haile Selassie's Ethiopian World Federation. The community faced many problems; 500 acres were confiscated by the Marxist government of Mengistu Haile Mariam. There were also conflicts with local Ethiopians, who largely regarded the incoming Rastas, and their Ethiopian-born children, as foreigners. The Shashamane community peaked at a population of 2,000, although subsequently declined to around 200.
ellauri108.html on line 379: Solomons hubris, his tragic flaw, is the meat and bone of the Ethiopian bible, the Kebra Nagast, which, translated, is the glory of the kings. In this work, unlike the King James' bible, we see King Solomon struggling with his own mortality. Bayna-Lehkem, or David, as he is called by Solomon because of likeness to the boy's grandfather, King David, is a man of virtue who will extend his glory to Ethiopia. So, Solomon's weakness for women, which brings about his dissolution, gives him the thing he is truly seeking: a son to walk his own footsteps, like Shakespeare's Hamnet, a son wiser, by dint of his virtue, than himself. A son wiser than himself, that sounds rather like a stone too big to both create and throw. Solomon is disinherited by the lord when he marries the daughter of the Pharaoh and worships her golden insect idols. A hairy spider on its back. For this he is punished severely. We discern his absolute nihilism. His ultimate disillusionment. Knowledge is nothing but sorrow. He that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. In the bitter nutmeat of the Ecclesiastes. Who was the mother? Of course, Queen Sheba. She was, by all reports, black.
ellauri108.html on line 452: Contrary to scholarly understandings of how the Bible was compiled, Rastas commonly believe it was originally written on stone in the Ethiopian language of Amharic. They also regard it as cryptographic, meaning that it has many hidden meanings.
ellauri108.html on line 453: Because of what they regard as the corruption of the Bible, Rastas also turn to other sources that they believe shed light on black African history. Common texts used for this purpose include Leonard Howell's 1935 work The Promised Key, Robert Athlyi Rogers' 1924 book Holy Piby, and Fitz Balintine Pettersburg's 1920s work, the Royal Parchment Scroll of Black Supremacy. Many Rastas also treat the Kebra Nagast, a 14th-century Ethiopian text, as a source through which to interpret the Bible.
ellauri111.html on line 614: In Acts 8:26-39, you can read about the Ethiopian eunuch who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and was baptized by Philip in a certain water. We are only baptized one time and that is after we have truly repented and have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. If you were baptized as a baby or in a false church, and then got saved later on, you need to get rebaptized after salvation. The previous babtism will be null and void.
ellauri184.html on line 516: In Classical and Hellenistic civilization, Ancient Greeks and Romans posed great value on the beauty of nature, physical integrity, aesthetics, harmonious bodies and nudity, including the foreskin (see also Ancient Greek art), and were opposed to all forms of genital mutilation, including circumcision—an opposition inherited by the canon and secular legal systems of the Christian West and East that lasted at least through to the Middle Ages, according to Frederick Hodges. Traditional branches of Judaism, Islam, Coptic Christianity, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and the Eritrean Orthodox Church still advocate male circumcision as a religious obligation.
ellauri213.html on line 436: Sinedu Tadesse September 25, 1975 – May 28, 1995) was a junior at Harvard College who stabbed her roommate, Trang Phuong Ho, to death, then committed suicide. The incident may have resulted in a variety of changes to the administration of living conditions at Harvard. Tadesse is buried at the Ethiopian Orthodox Cemetery, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. When Tadesse entered Harvard, she earned below-average grades, and was told that this would prevent her from attending top-ranked medical schools in the U.S. She made no friends, remaining distant even from relatives she had in the area. Tadesse sent a form letter to dozens of strangers that she picked from the phone book, describing her unhappiness and pleading with them to be her friend. One woman responded to the letter but became alarmed by the bizarre writings and recordings Tadesse sent her in return; she had no further contact with Tadesse. Another woman found the letter obnoxious and sent it to a friend who worked at Harvard to review.
ellauri214.html on line 242: In his work Bibliotheca historica (Library of History), Diodorus Siculus wrote that the Amazons came from Libya in north Africa. Diodorus’s account is set in the time of myth. He wrote that the warriors’ most famous queen was Myrina, who lived before the hero Perseus saved the Ethiopian princess Andromeda from a sea monster. Myrina led her warriors to a great number of victories, including one against the mythical island of Atlantis. Myrina led a large army of 30,000 foot-soldiers and 3,000 cavalry against the Atlanteans. Diodorus claimed that the Amazon cavalry used tactics similar to those employed by the Parthians of west Asia, who fought the Roman general Crassus (c. 115— 53 BCE), firing arrows as they rode away from their enemies. The Atlanteans eventually surrendered to Myrina after she had captured and destroyed one of their cities, enslaving and carrying away the women and the children.
xxx/ellauri114.html on line 720: The Book of Jubilees, in describing how the world was divided between Noah's sons and grandsons, says that Lud received "the mountains of Asshur and all appertaining to them till it reaches the Great Sea, and till it reaches the east of Asshur his brother" (Charles translation). The Ethiopian version reads, more clearly "... until it reaches, toward the east, toward his brother Asshur's portion." Jubilees also says that Japheth's son Javan received islands in front of Lud's portion, and that Tubal received three large peninsulae, beginning with the first peninsula nearest Lud's portion. In all these cases, "Lud's portion" seems to refer to the entire Anatolian peninsula, west of Mesopotamia.
xxx/ellauri128.html on line 494: Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinov (16 April 1921 – 28 March 2004) was born at 45 Belsize Park, London, England. His father, Jona Freiherr von Ustinov, was of Russian, German, Polish, and Ethiopian Jewish descent. Peter´s paternal grandfather was Baron Plato von Ustinov, a Russian noble, and his grandmother was Magdalena Hall, of mixed German-Ethiopian-Jewish origin. Peter was a British actor, filmmaker and writer and a fixture on television talk shows and lecture circuits for much of his career. Peter oli kuraverinen äiskän puolelta.
xxx/ellauri292.html on line 111: Saint Tekla was an Ethiopian saint and monk mostly venerated as a hermit. He was the Abuna of Ethiopia who founded a major monastery in his native province of Shewa. He is significant for being the only Ethiopian saint popular both amongst Ethiopians and outside that country. Tekle Haymanot "is the only Ethiopian saint celebrated officially in foreign churches such as Rome and Egypt." His feast day is 30 August (Nehasə 24 in Ethiopian calendar), and the 24th day of every month in the Ethiopian calendar is dedicated to Tekle Haymanot.
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