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The Canon · No. 101

Rastafari

Rastafarianism (a term many adherents reject)

1930 CE – present · Abrahamic · Living · Jamaica, Caribbean, UK, Ethiopia, US, Africa

VII. THE MODERN AGE — 1800 – 1945

How many

Roughly 700,000–1 million worldwide.

Who began it

No founder. It arose in Jamaica among the very poor following the 1930 coronation of Ras Tafari Makonnen as Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia. Marcus Garvey (1887–1940), whose Black nationalism and reported prophecy of an African king are foundational, was not himself a Rasta and was dismissive of the movement. Early preachers: Leonard Howell, Joseph Hibbert, Archibald Dunkley.

What it is for

To restore the dignity, identity and homeland of people of African descent scattered by slavery, and to reject Babylon — the oppressive systems of the colonial and capitalist West.

What it worships

Jah, God, drawn from the Psalms. Haile Selassie I is regarded by most Rastas as the returned messiah or as a divine incarnation. Selassie himself, a devout Ethiopian Orthodox Christian, never accepted the claim — a fact Rastas variously explain, contest or set aside.

What it holds

Black people are among the true Israelites, exiled into Babylon as punishment and destined for repatriation to Zion, meaning Africa and specifically Ethiopia. Increasingly this has been understood spiritually rather than literally. Livity — the life-energy running through all people. I-and-I, a pronoun replacing both I and we, expressing that Jah is within every person and that there is no separate self; Rastas systematically reshape English — overstand for understand, downpression for oppression — because they hold that the colonisers' language encodes their assumptions.

What it does

Dreadlocks, grown in accordance with the Nazirite vow of Numbers 6. Ital diet: natural, unprocessed, usually vegetarian or vegan, no salt, no alcohol. Ganja as a sacrament, used in reasoning sessions and defended by reference to Genesis and Psalms. Reasoning — communal discussion. Nyabinghi drumming and chanting at gatherings called grounations. The red, gold and green of the Ethiopian flag, plus black.

After death

Distinctively, many Rastas reject death itself. The doctrine of everliving holds that the faithful will not die but will live on in the body, and physical death is often attributed to a failure of livity. Others hold to reincarnation, or to a resurrection at the redemption. Traditional Christian heaven and hell are rejected outright — Babylon and Zion are conditions in this world, and Rastas commonly say heaven and hell are here.

Its texts

The Bible, read selectively and with the assumption that it has been distorted by Babylon. The Kebra Nagast, the Ethiopian national epic. The Holy Piby. Selassie's speeches, including the 1963 UN address that Bob Marley set almost verbatim as War.

Its branches

Nyabinghi (the oldest and most traditional), Bobo Ashanti (Emmanuel Edwards; turbans and robes, highly disciplined), Twelve Tribes of Israel (the most Christian in orientation and the one Marley belonged to).

Of note

No religion of comparable size has had anything like Rastafari's cultural reach. It travelled the world on records, and its vocabulary, imagery and politics are recognised by hundreds of millions of people who know nothing of its theology.

Its timeline

  1. 1914–1930s CE Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association, the largest Black mass movement in history to that point.
  2. <strong>2 November 1930 CE</strong> Haile Selassie crowned in Addis Ababa, with the titles King of Kings, Lord of Lords and Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah.
  3. 1933–1954 CE Leonard Howell's Pinnacle commune, raided repeatedly by Jamaican police.
  4. 1935–41 CE Italy invades Ethiopia; Selassie's League of Nations speech makes him a global symbol of African resistance.
  5. 1963 CE Coral Gardens incident — Jamaican security forces attack Rastas; the government apologised in 2017.
  6. <strong>21 April 1966 CE</strong> Selassie visits Jamaica. An estimated 100,000 people surround the aircraft. The date is kept as Grounation Day. He privately advises Rasta elders to liberate Jamaica before thinking of repatriation.
  7. 1968–1981 CE Reggae carries Rastafari worldwide; Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Burning Spear. Marley dies in 1981 and is given a state funeral in Jamaica.
  8. 1974–75 CE Selassie is deposed and dies in captivity. Many Rastas reject the reports of his death.
  9. 1995–present Legal recognition of ganja as sacrament in several jurisdictions; Jamaica decriminalises in 2015 with a religious exemption.
  10. 2003 CE The Ethiopian government grants land at Shashamane to returnees; a small repatriated community lives there.

Sources

Not yet checked against named sources. This entry is the house's reading; until it is checked, treat each claim as unverified. Correct it, with a source.

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