Rastafarian Beginnings
Maroons were escaped slaves who survived in the Jamaican hills in communities after running away from British
slave colonies from
1655 until around
1800. Maroons faught constantly with the British, and signed several treaties in order to maintain their freedom and autonomy from British rule.
Many consider maroons to be the first
Rastafari.
Marcus Garvey was considered by early Rastafari to be a messenger from God. Garvey was born into a
Jamaican Maroon family.
In 1907 he began traveling and witnessed firsthand the plight of fellow blacks around the world. 1912 he sent to London, enrolled in college, and studied Afro-Egyptian history. By
1914 Garvey had returned to Jamaica and founded the
Universal Negro Improvement and Conservation Assosiation and the African Communities League, both designed to establish educational and industrial colleges for
Jamaican Negroes. These associations were built using
Booker T. Washington’s
Tuskegee Institute as a model. In
1916, Garvey traveled to
America and founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association.
Haile Selassie is the centerpiece for the Rastafarian faith. Since there is no official Rastafari church, and Rastafarian beliefs vary widely, Rastafarians are most often described as people who believe that Haile Selassie was
divine or of divine nature.
Selassie was originally named Ras Tafari, however changed his name to King H.I.M Emperor Haile Selassie (H.I.M stands for "His Imperial Majesty) upon being crowned emperor of Ethiopia in 1930. Selassie claimed to be a direct descendent of David. He was the 225th King in a line of Ethiopian kings in unbroken succession from the time of
King Solomon.
Selassie was, upon his coronation as Emperor, viewed as a
messiah or
prophet by many blacks in Jamaica because of a prophesy of
Garvey’s that said:
“
Look to Africa, when a Black King shall be crowned, for the day of deliverance is near.”
In
1934 using the Garvey-an ideal of migrating back to Africa, many Jamaicans created fake
passports (using the a picture of Selassie himself) in order to relocate to Ethiopia.
Leonard Howell was one of the first preachers in Jamaica to accept Selassie as the Living
God. By 1934 Howell had gained respect from many other Jamaicans, these people were the first true Rastafari. Later in 1934 Howell was arrested for selling over five thousand bogus passports sporting photographs of
Haile Selassie.
Upon his releasr from prison in
1941 Leonard Howell purchased an abandoned estate northwest of Kingston and founded “Pinnacle” a Rastafari
community of over sixteen hundred.
After many run ins with local police, in 1941 Howell is arrested again during a violent
police raid for cultivating
marijuana alongside yams on the Pinnacle farms.
Returning to from prison once again in 1943 Howell develops a corps of guardsman who grew their hair long and were known as “Ethiopian warriors” or “locksmen”, these were the first Rastafari who wore their hair in dreadlocks as a sign of divine strength.
In 1954 Pinnacle is raided again, and 163 of its members are arrested on marijuana charges, Howell is tried and later acquitted, however, his Pinnacle brethren refuse to re-accept him into the Pinnacle community, so he is forced to relocate to Kingston.
For years, Howell had run Pinnacle as if he were Selassie himself, and was quoted in a Jamaican Newspaper:
“
I am Haile Selassie, neither you nor the government have any lands here.”
In
1960 Howell is confined in a
mental hospital.
Rastafari Faith
Rastafarianism is based around
Christianity; however, has very little in common with any other sects of Christianity.
Rastafari have a strict diet which discludes: meats such as fish, eggs, salt. Sardines, ham, bacon, chicken, cheese,
white flour products such as bread, buns, cake, dumplings, gravy. Alcohol is also prohibited along with beverages such as milk, ovaltine, cocoa, coffee, and soda.
Rastafarian women are referred to as either “sisters” or “daughters”, regardless of age, appearance, marital status, or blood relation. Women are expected not to smoke (ganja), especially in public, however can often be found smoking in private.
Rastafari believe that marijuana is a holy herb and use the “divine-use theory” to justify it’s use. From Genesis 1:11-12
“Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yeilding seed, and the fruit tree yeilding froot after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth, and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yeilding seed after his kind… and it was good.”
In earlier times, Rasta’s grew ganja for themselves, and bring the rest to marked for trade, and since marijuana is also illegal in Jamaica, this makes marijuana a “political herb” rather than the “divine herb” that the Rastafari believe in.
Holy Grounation is a yearly festival on April 21, celebrating the visit of Haile Selassie from Jamaica in
1966. Grounation occurs on a large hill named Castle Kelly, outside
Kingston.
Holy Grounation is an affirmation of life through earth, and is a joyous festival, unlike Easter, which the Rastafari
celebrate in a somber manner.
Much of this information I found in a book entitled
Rastafari: A Way of Life by Tracy Nichols.
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