The Matrix Rhetoric of Reggae Music Reggae Links Dread Library Catalog. The Rastafari movement stems from the teachings of the great Jamaican leader and motivator of masses, Maces Garvey. Garvey told the African people of the world to unite and to return to African, the homeland.

Garvey created the U. An event that would happen in would be as important to a Rasta's as the birth of Christ is to a Christian. These people tuned to the Bible and through literal translation of the documents found much correlation into what had taken place. An important correlation to the Bible is the fact that Selassie claimed to be a direct descendent of King David. By Selassie claming his relation to David, he had made a coalition to Revelation 5: To some Jamaicans this meant their Messiah had arrived.

In Jamaica some people such as Leonard P. Hibert, and Archibald Dunkle, began to spread the word of the Messiah coming to save the African people. The people who listened to this soon began to call themselves Rastafarians. The Rastafari religion would continue to follow this trend of interpreting the Bible literally which lead to practices that make the Rastafari religion unique from any other.

What It Means to be Rasta. The beliefs of the Rastafarian are often misunderstood. To many, any one who has dreads, smokes ganja, and plays Reggae music is a Rasta. There is much more than those three elements to being a Rasta.

Rastafari is more than just a religion. It is a movement and a way of life. The Rasta life style is one of peace, or at least it seeks to be one of peace. It is important when reading this section of the paper that one understands that the Rastafari has no set book of rules. One of the first aspects of Rastafari that come to mind when people hear of Rastafari is their use of marijuana.

The smoking Ganja for a Rasta is a special experience. They use the Ganja to help enlighten their mind so they can correctly reason the ways of the world.

The Ganja is always smoked in a ritual way. Before smoking the plant the Rasta will say a prayer to Jah God or to Haile Selassie I. The Rasta call them reasoning sessions when they use Ganja for Nyabinghi. A Nyabinghi session is much different from a casual marijuana smoking session that western people take part in.

A Rasta's Guide to Living Well - Outpostings

People in the west smoke marijuana for social and entertainment reasons. In the west smoking the weed may lead to a silly time of laughing and horse play. This differs greatly from what takes place during a Nyabinghi.

A Nyabinghi is a taken very seriously. Acting silly would be considered disrespectful to a Rasta. Before Rasta smoke the ritual plant, they say a prayer to their god Haile Selassie. Unfortunately for the Rasta, the smoking of Ganja has become one of the Rasta biggest struggles. This is due to the fact that Ganja smoking is illegal in almost every country in the world with the exception of two. Throughout the world, from South Africa to Jamaica the Rasta are constantly at court with the government trying to fight for the legalization of Ganja for religious purposes.

The countries that they have tried to fight for the right to smoke Ganja in include: Great Britain, United States, South African, Jamaica, and more. In one of the early teachers of Rastafari, Leonard P. This community was named Pinnacle. At Pinnacle, Howell grew Ganja as a cash crop. It was during this time that Rasta discovered the properties of Ganja that helped their reasoning process.

The Rasta soon turned to the Bible and found reverence to the use of this holy plant. From this Ganja was born into the Rastafari culture. Dreadlocks are another well-known part of Rastafari. The origin of the dreadlock traces back to ancient Africa, originating in eastern Africa,. The name dreadlock comes from the locks of hair deemed dreadful as Dubb explained.

This comes again from interpreting the Bible literally. Due to this belief they do not believe it is right to shave or comb their hair. The lion is significant because the lion is the respected king of the animal kingdom, as well as humble animal. The dreadlock is also a natural state of the African person hair, and by being natural the Rasta feels they are more connected to Jah.

The wearing of the dread first appeared in the Rasta Community at the original Rasta community of Pinnacle. At Pinnacle Howell was growing Ganja as a cash crop and the police where constantly raiding the farms.

Because of this and other border problems at the Rasta community, Howell was forced to create a group of guards to protect the area. With this and the reasons given in the previous paragraph, the Dreadlock became the hairstyle of the Rasta. Just like the smoking of Ganja, the dreadlock hairstyle has lead many problems for the Rasta. In the early days of Rastafari, Rasta who wore their hair in dread form where brutalized by the police for no reason. This pushed many Rasta into the bush of Jamaica so that they could live in peace.

Things have not gotten a whole lot better for dreadlocked people. In Jamaica and other parts of the world children who have dreads are not allowed to attend some schools. Just like the Ganja issue the, the dreadlock school issue is constantly being fought in courts throughout the Rasta world.

It came up lately in a South African school where a young child was not given the right to go to school because of her dreads and the issue had to be fought in court. The Rastafari diet is something that is often overlooked by many people who do not know a great deal about Rastafari.

The Rasta has a very interesting belief in their thoughts about dead beings. This idea stems into their diet. The Rasta believes that it is wrong to eat animals that have died because then you are turning your body into a cemetery. This does not mean that a Rasta will not eat dairy products. However the Rasta will not eat shellfish. This stems from more readings in the Bible.

Some but not all Rasta will go as far as to not t eat fruit that has been altered from its original form. This means they would not eat fruit that has been pealed, cut, or smashed. There is also a large number of Rasta that will not eat any processed food. The dialect of the Rasta reflects their beliefs in many ways. Their speech uses a literal translation of words, just like their beliefs use a literal translation of biblical readings. Their speech reflects their protest against oppression, as well as their protest against authority.

The Rastafarian rhetoric changes the English language in a way that helps them make more sense of the world, as well as to protest against what the Rasta believe to be unjust.

Rasta will often change word from a negative meaning to a positive meaning. A Rasta will almost never use a negative term. They will always replace it with something positive. This is a great reflection on how the Rasta always sees things positively. The Rasta use the word to connect themselves to god, to show that that god is always part of them. The Rasta does this to show that god is part of him, and that he is not separate from any other person.

The Rasta believes in peace and they are constantly trying to preach down violence. The Rasta fear world wars, and especially Nuclear war. One of the most important parts of Rasta thought is the protest against authority and structure.

This rejection of authority can be seen in how Rastafari has no rules like many other religions do.

There is not one thing that Rasta has to do to be a Rasta because that would defeat the whole purpose of being a Rasta. Burn the Pope man…. The Pope is a vampire, wants our blood.

Selassie I is the head. To a Rasta Communism would be too structured. They would also reject the idea of a leader telling them what to do.

Instead they either live in a place where they can survive on what they can grow or they take part in the informal economy and survive through street vending. One unfortunate part of Rastafari is their negative attitude toward females.

They believe that a good woman must always respect men and do what they ask. This is very contrary to much of their other beliefs about people being equal. Rasta men often beat their wives for being lazy.

Rasta men believe that being naked is good because you are closer to god in your natural state. Rasta men often have many different partners, while it is wrong for Rasta women to give more than a hand shake to more than one man.

Fortunately for some this dream has come true. In Emperor Haile Selassie I gave hectares of land to any African that wished to return to Ethiopia. The land that was given is located in the small southern Ethiopian town of Shasemene. The small town of Shasemene has a population of 13, The town has many visitors because it is a cross roads of the three largest Ethiopian cities. Prostitution is very common in this town and many women make good money through this business.

Other than prostitution there is little contact between the sexes. The staple crops are maize, beans, potatoes, wheat, barley and injera a local grain used in traditional Ethiopian breads. The Twelve Tribes is the most organized form of Rastafari that there is. The origin of the group is in Jamaica and has branches in Brooklyn, NY.

The structure of these houses is very strong, but none of the houses are more than one story. Their economy is completely informal.

This is able to work because the land is very fertile and they can grow almost all they need to survive. Because of this the people of the compound are completely free and truly live with no other person governing their actions.

There is no class order in the compound. Work projects are done by the most skilled person in that field, being in charge of the project. Life for women in the Rasta compound at Shashemene is not great. In fact it is more oppressive than in other areas of Rastafari culture.

Rastafari: The Secret History of the Marijuana Religion | Cannabis Culture

Women are often severely beaten for taking too long to go to the market. The men often time how long it takes to go to the market and come back with out wasting time to talk or any other pleasure. If the woman does not return in this pre planed time they are often beaten. The daily life for a man living in the Twelve Tribe compound is much different than that of the women. The men spend most of their time involved in activities that are not related to work.

They will spend much of their time smoking and discussing Rasta world views, as well painting pictures of Haile Selasie I. Newcomers to the compound do most of the work that is done in the field. A Ethiopian women who lived in the compound for a while claims:.

RASTAFARI & POWER TO GET WEALTH; GET MONEY!!! But FIRST JAH COVENANT.... Deuteronomy 8:18

The newcomers, she claimed, are exploited and overworked through a process which the brethren call education. If they do remain it is because the brethren put fear in their hearts that the Twelve Tribes in Jamaica will shoot them should they leave. To return to Babylon is forbidden and sacrilegious Lewis Most of the money that the members of the compound receive comes from the money that has been donated by people who live in Jamaica.

This is the complaint about their use of Ganja. Some people in the town don't like this, as our children have also started to use this drug. We like them as they integrate and there is a lot of inter-marriage, but the marijuana has to stop," says year-old mechanic Adbul Onduka.

They say their community can handle any amount of people that want to come back to African. Rastafari in the United States. Rastafari has ventured out of Jamaica and Africa to the United States. The center of Rastafari in the United States is by far New York City, but Rastafari is not limited to New York City at all.

Texas is one of the most religious areas in the western world. Texas is a place where Christianity dominates the social life a great number of people.

Texas is also a place that has a great amount of discrimination of African people and this is probably one of the reasons that Rastafari has emerged in this area. Rastafari first came to Dallas 20 years ago. Most of the first exposure to Rastafari came from Reggae music that became popular in that era. Most of the Rasta community in Dallas is African Americans who looked for answers through the Black Panther movement, or Nation of Islam, and other African churches, and were left felling empty.

A Rasta by the name of Moore is a good example of this. Moore spent much of his life looking for answers. He turned to the Nation of Islam and felt more oppressed than before. Moore is now a Rasta and his outlook on life has improved very much for him.

This quote of Moore shows how Rastafari helps him get through his hard day-to-day life. The son of Rasta Moore, Jameel Moore was suspended from his school for wearing his crown in his sixth grade elementary school. The school officials suspended Jameel because they said he was violating the school rules that prohibit the wearing of hats. The issue was dropped when the school scared young Jameel so much that he had to swallow his pride and agree not to show his faith and not where the crown.

The Jackson are a Rasta couple that tried to improve their run down West Dallas neighborhood. The couple bought up run down homes in their neighborhood and renovated them. During the renovation of the homes they painted pictures of Marcus Garvey and Haile Selassie on the walls of the homes. They grew vegetables and purchased animal to be raised on the area for means of self-sufficient survival.

When the couple began to hold Nyabinghi sessions they where sighted for code violations and eventually arrested for possession of marijuana. The women in this Rasta community of Dallas Texas seem to be treated much better than Rasta Women throughout of the rest of the Rasta world.

Although they are not seen as equals, they are part of the Ganja smoking rituals and are not forced to stay at home like many other Rasta women are throughout the world. This is probably a reflection of the low intensity of the Rasta community of Dallas. It is also mostly a result of the surrounding that the Rasta woman are in. The way in which woman are treated in Dallas Texas is much better than how women are treated in Jamaica or Ethiopia as a whole.

In general, Rastafari culture in Dallas Texas is much less intense than it is in most other parts of the world. These Dallas Rastas do not seem to have the desire of rebellion that most other Rasta feel.

This is partly because it is very hard for the Rasta to survive in the informal economy in Dallas. The Dallas Rasta seems to be one of the most relaxed, least rebellious, and least motivated to help bring Babylon down.

The reason for this is most likely the level of oppression in the area is much less intense than it is other places.

Another reason for the lower level of intensity is the large separation that Texas has from the African world. Texas does have a large population of people of African decent, but these people do not feel the same oppression that black people feel in other places such as Jamaica.

Rastafari in Dallas is more of religious movement than it is a social or cultural movement.

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In both Jamaica and in Ethiopia it is a major cultural movement. This is not different from people of other faiths. Every religion has people that believe in the religion at different levels.

A good example of this is in the Jewish faith. There are Jews such as the Orthodox Jews that believe in the religion to a very strong degree and then there are people of Jewish faith, such as the Reform Jews that follow the religion to lowest degree. The first and most important of these principles is their love and worship of Haile Selassi I. Second, they want to fight the oppression of the black man.

Third, their hatred of authority and preaching down of Babylon although this is felt to a lesser degree by the Dallas Rastas. Fourth, their ritual use of Ganja to reach clear thought and to connect to God.

A fifth connection is their appearance wearing their hair in dread locks and having unshaven faces. The last and most important connection is their love for the world, and their desire for the unity of man.

The point is Rastafari is everywhere, just like oppression is everywhere. There is always positive thought Rasta where there is negative thought oppression. Rastafari A Way of Life Pamphlet no other info given.

Soul Rebels The Rastafari. When one does this they run into many problems. This is because Rastafari is much more than a religion.

It is a way of life, a social movement, as well as a mind set. Another reason why western people have a hard time understanding Rastafari is because the movement lacks the structure that the western world is use to. These people do not begin to think what is behind the movement. The idea that Rastafari is strictly Jamaican is also very wrong. Since the origination of Rastafari, the Rasta movement has expanded far beyond the island of Jamaica.

There are Rasta cultures in all parts of Europe, Asia, New Zealand, United States, and especially Africa. Ganja Smoking One of the first aspects of Rastafari that come to mind when people hear of Rastafari is their use of marijuana. Rasta Dialect The dialect of the Rasta reflects their beliefs in many ways. A Ethiopian women who lived in the compound for a while claims: