RASTAFARI
"On November 2, 1930, Ras Tafari, a descendant in a line of 323 kings that followed the union of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, was crowned His Imperial Majesty and Emperor of Ethiopia. Ras Tafari took the name, Haile Selassie I, meaning "Instrument of the Trinity." Other titles he received that day were King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and Conquering Lion of Judah,- all taken from the Book of Revelations. The lavish ceremony was held in St. George's Cathedral in the Ethiopian capital. Addis Ababa, and was attended by representatives of all the great powers of the world. Haile Selassie I was the Emperor of Ethiopia, the only original African kingdom still free from colonial domination.
Born Ras Tafari, Haile Selassie traced His Lineage back to Menelik I, founder of the Solomonic Dynasty. Menelik was the son of Solomon and Sheba, Queen of Ethiopia. Solomon was the son of David. Thus Ras Tafari was the root of David. In his youth, Ras Tafari had been rumored to communicate with animals and possessed an uncanny knowledge of sacred Biblical texts kept hidden by priests of the Ethiopian Coptic Church. He said that the information came to him at the moment of his baptism. Ras Tafari had risen to power against great odds and had become even more of a world figure when he and Ethiopia stood against the forces of Fascism as Italy invaded with tanks, airplanes and poison gas at the beginning of World War II. He was so benevolent, that many defeated Italians chose to stay in Ethiopia after the war.
By the time the news of the newly crowned Emperor reached Jamaica, that country was already swept up in a feverish wave of Ethiopianism thanks to the teachings of the Jamaican-born freedom fighter, Marcus Garvey, who had traveled to America in 1916 and a year later formed the Universal Negro Improvement Association.
Throughout the '20s, Garvey's "back to Africa" movement, and his belief that blacks had the power to be the voice of sanity in a white world gone mad, made him revered as a prophet by Jamaica's downpressed. Garvey cut such a messianic figure that a large number of Jamaicans felt repatriation to Africa was imminent. "Africa for Africans at home and abroad" was his rallying cry. He also preached that black people should see their Creator through Ethiopian eyes the same way the white man saw his Maker through white eyes-namely, that black people should believe in a black Diety. He quoted Psalm 68 in his speeches: Princes shall come out of Egypt and Ethiopia shall stretch forth his hands unto Yah," and finally one Sunday in 1927, legend has it, he announced to his congregation, "Look to Africa, where a King shall be crowned, for the day of deliverance is here."
King of Israel
With this history in mind, it was a short jump for Garveyites from Ethiopianism to the devout belief that Haile Selassie was the prophecied messiah. The coronation was splashed all over the newspapers. For a country used to being the subject of the English monarchs-white rulers of supposedly "divine right"-the concept of a divine black king was intoxocating. Consulting their Bibles, Jamaicans found even more evidence, particularly the Book of Revelations where it is stated. I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open the scroll, and loose the seals thereof?...and one of the elders saith unto me, 'Weep not; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll, and to loose its seven seals." Many Rastafarians, saw Haile Selassie as the Lion of Judah. The irony is that Garvey, undoubtedly the man who set the movement in motion, later denounced Selassie, after Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia, as an inept leader.
The first leaders of the Movement are legendary in their own right. Between 1930 and 1933, Rastafari began to spread through Kingston's ghettos. One of its first missionaries was a man named Leonard Howell, who sold pictures of the Emperor on the streets of Kingston, supposedly good as passports back to Ethiopia. He had been to Africa and had fought in the Ashanti Wars of 1896 and later spent time in the United States, where he witnessed the poor living conditions of America's blacks. It was through him that the Rastafari Movement first came to the attention of the Jamaican people at large. In January 1934, Howell was arrested after a meeting at which he proclaimed the superiority of the black race, the urgent need for repatriation back to Africa and that Haile Selassie was Jah and the only ruler of the black people. Howell got two years hard labor. Once released, he retreated to the countryside. Howell was a descendant of the Maroons, a fierce tribe of escaped slaves that lived in the mountains and continually eluded British soldiers throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, finally winning independence in 1739.
There he started Pinnacle, a Rasta commune that could be reached by foot through a secret and quite dangerous path. The Movement crystallized in the commune known as the Pinnacle, located on an old estate outside Spanish Town. Founded by Leonard Howell, one of the original Rastas, Pinnacle was similar to the Maroon communities , accessible only by foot and hidden from the public. At Pinnacle, the Rasta bredren lived peacefully in accordance with their interpretation of the Bible. Its membership is said to have numbered between 500 and 1600. Howell served as chief and is said to have had 13 wives. The community was financed by money recieved from growing and selling ganja, the magical herb that had become the focal point of all their rituals. They planted crops that included Indian hemp, or ganja (marijuana), which had been used for generations in Jamaica as a remedy for a large number of ailments and was often made into tea. The Rastas developed the practice of smoking it to aid in their meditations.
Rastafarians know ganja as the wisdom weed that grew from the grave of Solomon. Many credit its use with helping them perceive the wickedness of the Babylon system. The Rastas smoke the herb while reasoning with their bredren. Father Joseph Owens, a Catholic priest who spent much time with the Rastas, attested in his book, Dread, that the use of the herb does not lead to the same degeneration of conversation found among users of alcohol. In 1941, the police raided Pinnacle and Howell served two years in prison. Ganja was, and still is, illegal in Jamaica. Under the jurisdiction of the Dangerous Drugs Law, amended that very year to include a mandatory prison sentence for the possession, smoking, cultivating or selling ganja, the police made 70 arrests. Howell and the Rastas were viewed as a threat to the status quo, preaching that the King of England was not the King of the Africa - that could only be His Imperial Majesty, Haile Selassie I!
While 28 Rastas went to prison, Howell escaped the authorities and his legend grew. Howell returned to Pinnacle after prison. Pinnacle regrouped, this time with a greater emphasis on security. 
The Rastas began wearing their hair in locks, fashioned after Masai and Somali soldiers they'd seen in pictures. They were also encouraged by Leviticus 21:5, which states. "They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh." The appearance of the Rastafari was a shock to Jamaica. Where people would attempt to straighten their hair to emulate the white man, Rastafarians let their hair grow naturally into knotty strands, known as Dreadlocks. Rastas became known as Dreads. In 1954, police again raided Pinnacle, arresting 163 members. In 1958, it was destroyed by the police after neighbors complained that the Rastas were insisting all taxes be paid to them, in the name of Haile Selassie, and not the Jamaican government. The commune was demolished and its members were turned loose in the ghettos of Kingston. Howell supposedly himself started to unravel, proclaiming that he, not Selassie, was the Supreme Being, and was finally committed to a mental asylum in 1960, where he died. Even though they sought to eliminate Rastafari, the police actions had the opposite effect, the Movement grew!" Check these links below, to learn more about Rastafari, & its houses, as well as reasonings, pics, & art.
Rastafari Pt II Rastafari's Philosophy Rastafari-Way of Life The Nyabinghi Order Nyabinghi Binghi Elders speak Binghi chants Ethiopia Africa Black International Congress The Twelve Tribes of Israel The Ethiopian World Federation Mortimo Planno & his book; The Earth's Most Strangest Man: The Rastafarian Rastas & U.N. Rastafarian image gallery Rastafari's universal photos Rasta pics Pics II Pics III Rasta Art Rasta Art II Roots Paintings
