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Rastafarianism
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Rastafarianism is a religious movement which emerged in Jamaica in the early 1930s out of Biblical prophecy, black social and political aspirations and the teachings of the Jamaican-born black publicist and organiser Marcus Mosiah Garvey, generally seen as its originator. There were about 1,000,000 Rastafarians world-wide in 2000. An estimated sixty percent of Jamaicans identify themselves as Rastafarians. Rastafarianism began among working-class black people in Jamaica, and remained for some while an advocate of black supremacy this can be seen as a form of racism. Nowadays ... it has spread throughout much of the world through immigration. Middle-class people, white people, Asians, and Arabs comprise minorities within the religion.
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Rastafarianism is a very new religion. It began in 1930 in Jamaica. Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican, predicted there would be a black messiah in Africa. As it turned out Ras Tafari, a prince, became Emperor of Ethiopia in 1930. As emperor he was called Haile Selassie but the name Rastafarianism comes from his name, Ras Tafari. People believed he was the black messiah Marcus Garvey was talking about.
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Rastafarianism does not have a clearly defined leader or place of organized worship. Rastafarian meetings usually begin as informal street gatherings that escalate into religious services but most Rastafarians refuse to join a specific organization for fear of losing any part of their freedom or autonomy.
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Men and women within Rastafarianism have distinct and defined roles. That is there is a prevalent traditional role that is similar to that of Islam and Judaism where women are concerned. There has been a shift in attitudes over time to the equality of women’s roles, nowadays it is accepted that women within the Rastafarian religion may be permitted to become educated.
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During the 1970s, Rastafarianism mushroomed in popularity, both in Jamaica and abroad. Primarily, this was due to the connection between reggae music and the religion. Reggae was born from poor blacks in Trenchtown, the main ghetto of Kingston, Jamaica, who listened to radio stations from the United States. Playing ska, the bands soon melded ska with traditional Jamaican folk music and American R&B, doo wop and soul to form reggae. Reggae began entering the international consciousness in the early 1970s, largely due to the massive fame of Bob Marley & the Wailers. Haile Selassie died in 1975.
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Rastafarianism began as the beliefs of four men: Leonard P. Howell, Robert Hinds, H. Archibald Dunkley and Nathanial Hibbert. All were clergymen and all claimed to have had a revelation that the coronation of Haile Selassie signaled that he was the black messiah foretold of in the scriptures who would lead Africans out of Babylon into redemption. Howell was the most outspoken of the group and proclaimed the divinity of Selassie to all that would listen (Clarke 33,1986.) Howell's main goal was the establishment of a community of followers. In 1940 he formed the Pinnacle community in St. Catherine's. This was the first Rastafarian community. One of Howell's early followers was an Indian man remembered only as Laloo.
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Rastafarianism