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 158: Rastas typically smoke cannabis in the form of a large, hand-rolled cigarette known as a spliff. This is often rolled together while a prayer is offered to Jah; the spliff is lit and smoked only when the prayer is completed. At other times, cannabis is smoked in a water pipe referred to as a "chalice": styles include kutchies, chillums, and steamers. The pipe is passed in a counter-clockwise direction around the assembled circle of Rastas.
ellauri108.html on line 170: 1968 saw the development of reggae in Jamaica, a musical style typified by slower, heavier rhythms than ska and the increased use of Jamaican Patois. Like calypso, reggae was a medium for social commentary, although it demonstrated a wider use of radical political and Rasta themes than were previously present in Jamaican popular music. Reggae artists incorporated Rasta ritual rhythms, and also adopted Rasta chants, language, motifs, and social critiques. Songs like The Wailers' "African Herbsman" and Peter Tosh's "Legalize It" referenced cannabis use, while tracks like The Melodians' "Rivers of Babylon" and Junior Byles' "Beat Down Babylon" referenced Rasta beliefs in Babylon. Reggae gained widespread international popularity during the mid-1970s, coming to be viewed by black people in many different countries as music of the oppressed. Many Rastas grew critical of reggae, believing that it had commercialised their religion. Although reggae contains much Rastafari symbolism, and the two are widely associated, the connection is often exaggerated by non-Rastas. Most Rastas do not listen to reggae music, and reggae has also been utilised by other religious groups, such as Protestant Evangelicals. Out of reggae came dub music; dub artists often employ Rastafari terminology, even when not Rastas themselves.
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 193: The wearing of dreadlocks has contributed to negative views of Rastafari among non-Rastas, many of whom regard it as wild and unattractive. Dreadlocks remain socially stigmatised in many societies; in Ghana for example, they are often associated with the homeless and mentally ill, with such associations of marginality extending onto Ghanaian Rastas. In Jamaica during the mid-20th century, teachers and police officers used to forcibly cut off the dreads of Rastas. In various countries, Rastas have since won legal battles ensuring their right to wear dreadlocks: in 2020, for instance, the High Court of Malawi ruled that all public schools must allow their students to wear dreadlocks.
ellauri108.html on line 201: Marcus Garvey, a prominent black nationalist theorist who heavily influenced Rastafari and is regarded as a prophet by many Rastas. The Jamaican activist Marcus Garvey, spent much of his adult life in the US and Britain. Garvey supported the idea of global racial separatism and called for part of the African diaspora to relocate to Africa. His ideas faced opposition from civil rights activists like W. E. B. Du Bois who supported racial integration, and as a mass movement, Garveyism declined in the Great Depression of the 1930s. A rumour later spread that in 1916, Garvey had called on his supporters to "look to Africa" for the crowning of a black king; this quote was never verified. However, in August 1930, Garvey's play, Coronation of an African King, was performed in Kingston. Its plot revolved around the crowning of the fictional Prince Cudjoe of Sudan, although it anticipated the crowning of Haile Selassie later that year. Rastas hold Garvey in great esteem, with many regarding him as a prophet. Garvey knew of Rastafari, but took a largely negative view of the religion; he also became a critic of Haile Selassie, calling him "a great coward" who rules a "country where black men are chained and flogged".
ellauri108.html on line 233: Rastafari is not a homogeneous movement and has no single administrative structure, nor any single leader. A majority of Rastas avoid centralised and hierarchical structures because they do not want to replicate the structures of Babylon and because their religion's ultra-individualistic ethos places emphasis on inner divinity. The structure of most Rastafari groups is less like that of Christian denominations and is instead akin to the cellular structure of other African diasporic traditions like Haitian Vodou, Cuban SanterĂ­a, and Jamaica's Revival Zion. Since the 1970s, there have been attempts to unify all Rastas, namely through the establishment of the Rastafari Movement Association, which sought political mobilisation. In 1982, the first international assembly of Rastafari groups took place in Toronto, Canada. This and subsequent international conferences, assemblies, and workshops have helped to cement global networks and cultivate an international community of Rastas.
ellauri108.html on line 262: Barrett described Rastafari as "the largest, most identifiable, indigenous movement in Jamaica." In the mid-1980s, there were approximately 70,000 members and sympathisers of Rastafari in Jamaica. The majority were male, working-class, former Christians aged between 18 and 40. In the 2011 Jamaican census, 29,026 individuals identified as Rastas. Jamaica's Rastas were initially entirely from the Afro-Jamaican majority, and although Afro-Jamaicans are still the majority, Rastafari has also gained members from the island's Chinese, Indian, Afro-Chinese, Afro-Jewish, mulatto, and white minorities. Until 1965 the vast majority were from the lower classes, although it has since attracted many middle-class members; by the 1980s there were Jamaican Rastas working as lawyers and university professors. Jamaica is often valorised by Rastas as the fountain-head of their faith, and many Rastas living elsewhere travel to the island on pilgrimage.
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