Just curious to see if there is any interest in this movement on the forum.
The Rastafarian Movement began gradually in Jamaica over the course of the 20th Century. Inspired heavily by Marcus Garvey, all of its original members (and many of the current ones) came from the most under-privileged elements of Jamaican society.
The Rastafari have developed a Messianic religion, crucially a form of Christianity. They accept both the Old and New Testaments of the Christian Bible, but they also believe that Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia 1930-1974, was a reincarnation of Jesus Christ who would bring peace on earth and recall all the black people of the Western nations back to Africa.
The movement takes its name from its Messiah. Haile Selassie's birth name was Tafari; as a young man he was known as Ras Tafari, Ras being an Ethiopian title equivalent to "lord" or "duke" in a European language. A believer in Rastari is generally called a Rasta or Rastaman; in recent decades female Rastas have become known a Rastawomen as opposed to "Rastaman's woman". Rastas which the characteristic dreadlocks are often called "dreads" or "natty dreads"; a Rasta who grooms himself like a European but otherwise follows the Movement faithfully is termed a "combsman".
Rastas generally wear their hair in what have become known on their account as dreadlocks. This may have developed out of the Maroon culture or even out of pre-slavery African cultures who wore long hair to intimidate opponents. The "religion" (many Rastas resent being identified as a religious movement) is highly social but has little hierarchy and virtually no organization; its main rite is the smoking of marijuana, called "ganja" in Jamaica - hence another slang for Rastas, ganjaman. Rastas believe that one can only see the world - and God - as they truly are when he is smoking.
The Rastafari movement was poorly known and often viewed with distaste by white people, and even many blacks, in its early years. It did not become well known outside of Jamaica until the 1970s and 80s. The rise of Nesta Robert "Bob" Marley, a mixed Jamaican and a Rastafarian of the Twelve Tribes denomination, to fame greatly increased popular culture's familiarity with the movement. It also did much to popularize reggae, the musical tradition of Jamaica and especially of the Rastafarians.
In well less than a century, the Ras Tafari Movement went from a quaint Messianic cult believing in black repariation to Africa, to the beating heart of Jamaican cultural, spiritual, and musical expression.
Edited by Salah ad-Din - 14-Aug-2011 at 18:01