1. The Rastafari Movement or Rastafarianism
A religion story
By: Gideon Stanwood Spaulding

2. Introduction and Brief History
The Rastafari movement started in the early 1930’s preached by Marcus Garvey. It started in Jamaica caused by poor economical and social conditions for blacks. It is a religious movement that idolizes Haile Selassie former ruler of Ethiopia. The Rasta movement is mostly part of Jamaica, but can be found worldwide. Rasta’s preach from what is known as the black, the Holy Piby, for equality and justice for all around the world. Many Rasta’s are former Christians.

3. Haile Selassie
Haile Selassie was Born as Tafari Makonnen in Ethiopia in He married the princess of Ethiopia in 1911, and In 1917 he became heir to the throne. In 1930 he became ruler of Ethiopia and upon being crowned ruler he took the name Haile Selassie. Many say that Haile Selassie made Ethiopia what it is by modernizing it to Europe's standards (from what he saw in his visits to Europe). Haile Selassie preached equality and justice in the world. He died August 28, Haile Selassie is seen as a true god by Rastafarians.
Haile Selassie is also known as Ras Tafari.

4. Other Main Figures
In Rastafarianism there are other figures that are considered a main part of the religion:
Bob Marley, a famous reggae artist appreciated in Rasta culture for preaching Rastafari practices in his music
Marcus Garvey, known as the first to preach about the Rasta movement in Jamaica, he is said to be the founder of the Rastafari movement.

5. Rasta Holidays January 6, Ethiopian Christmas
February 6, Bob Marley’s Birthday
April 21, Anniversary of Haile Selassie’s visit to Jamaica
July 23, Haile Selassie’s Birthday
August 17, Marcus Garvey’s Birthday
November 2, Coronation of Haile Selassie

6. Vocabulary Ganja- Rasta word for marijuana.
Rasta- Someone who is part of, or follows, the Rastafarian movement.
Reggae- Popular music of Jamaican origin, signature for its noticeable and offbeat rhythms.
Jehovah (Jah)- The old testament name for God, used in Rastafarianism also. Most Rasta’s call Jehovah, Jah, for short.

7. Worship and Practice
Rasta’s worship Haile Selassie on grounation days (holidays)
A reasoning- a simple event where Rasta’s gather, smoke ganja, and then discuss ethical, social, and religious issues. The person honored by lighting the herb, or the ganja, says a short prayer first. The pipe is passed counterclockwise.
Dreadlocks- The wearing of dreadlocks is very close to the movement, but is not exclusive to its followers. The hairstyle was mainly adopted to contrast the kinky long hair of black men with the straighter hair of whites.
Ganja- For most Rasta’s the smoking of Ganja is a spiritual act, they consider it a sacrament that helps their consciousness and peacefulness, bringing them closer to God. Rasta’s also use segments from the bible to further their idea why Ganja is a sacred act. For example, Genesis 3:18 “…thou shalt eat the herb of the field.

8. Sacred Places
Rastafarians believe that their own body is like a church or a temple, so there is no need to make actual churches or temples in the world.
Despite their being no temples or churches a sacred place to be in to a Rasta in Jamaica is to be in Ethiopia where Haile Selassie ruled.

9. The Rasta Dream
The Rastafarian dream is that Haile Selassie will call the day of judgment, when righteous shall return home to Mount. Zion to live forever in piece, love, and harmony

10. Books and Writings
The Royal Parchment Scroll of Black Supremacy- A writing from Jamaica written in the early 1920’s by a Rastafarian speaker, Fitz Balintine Pettersburg, the parchment’s significance is it tells of the roots of the first Rastafarian beliefs.
For more info on The Royal Parchment Scroll of Black Supremacy click link
The Holy Piby- The Holy Piby in summary is the Rastafarian Bible. It was written by Robert Athlyi Rogers in the 1920’s as part of the religious movement going on. The original is very rare to find, and copies are not listed in the library of congress, which is highly unusual. The book was banned in the late 1920’s to Jamaicans and Caribbean Islands. Today The Holy Piby is considered a Primary source by Rastafarians.
For more info on the Holy Piby click link The Holy Piby Index.htm

11. The Holy Parchment Scroll of Black Supremacy & The Holy Piby

12. Afterlife
Rasta’s do not believe in heaven or hell like other religions, they believe that Jah will send the signal and help the blacks migrate back to Ethiopia, their homeland. This belief goes back to Marcus Garvey’s idea “Back to Africa.” Even though Haile Selassie may have died before the idea could be reality, it did turn blacks interest to look at Africa as their roots, and most Rasta’s believe Ethiopia is heaven on Earth
Rastafarians are also physical immortalists, which means they believe the chosen few will live forever in their current bodies. This idea of immortality to Rastafarians is a very strong and important belief in Rasta culture.

13. Ethiopia
A country in Northeast Africa. Ethiopia has a long history of rulers and exiles. Addis Ababa is the capital and the largest city its population is 32,775,000.

14. Race and Culture
Early Rasta’s believed in Black Supremacy. These strong opinions lasted for a small time mostly because Selassie spoke and was against racism. Now most Rasta’s believe that racial negativity must be set aside, and world peace and harmony should be a common idea and theme.
One of the major sects of the Rastafari movement, The Twelve Tribes of Israel, have specifically cleaned themselves of all types of racism, and have said the teachings of the Bible can be the route to spiritual cleansing for people of any ethnic or racial background.

15. Language and Dialect
Rasta’s believe that their African languages were take away from them and put into captivity as part of the slave trade, and that English is a forced Puritan language. Their heal for this act has been the creation of a modified vocabulary and dialect. This reflects the Rastafari desire to take forward language and come forth with the society they call Babylon.

16. Isms
Most Rastafari’s reject “isms.” This is because they see a wide range of isms and schism around the world, and they do not want to be a part of them. This is why Rasta’s reject the word Rastafarianism, they see themselves as having passed through isms and schisms.
This ordeal has created conflict between Rasta’s and people of the academic community studying the Rastafari movement, because they insist on calling the movement Rastafarianism.

17. Afrocentrism and Racial Pride
Rastafarianism was originally a response to racist negation of black people as it was experienced in Jamaica in the early 1930’s. Marcus Garvey’s encouragement of black people to take pride in themselves and their African origins, inspired Rasta’s to embrace all things that have relation with Africa. Rastafarians believe they were brainwashed while in captivity to oppose all things black and African. They then refuted these racist images, and turned the picture into a proud cultural group of people.

18. Music
Rasta music has been around for a long time, and thanks to a few famous musicians, it has become popular too. The most common and most popular type of Rasta music is Reggae, Reggae artists such as Bob Marley and Peter Tosh raise awareness of Rastafarianism around the world, and for this the artists are honored by Rasta’s very gratefully.
There are other forms of Rasta music, and variations on reggae such as Raggamuffin, Ska, NyaBinghi, Rastafarian, etc…

19. Rasta Colors
The 3 main Rasta colors consist of Red, Green, and yellow, they each symbolize something in Rastafarianism.
Red represents the blood and suffering of the people who fought or died for the Rastafari movement
Green represents the beauty and vegetation of Africa and Ethiopia
Yellow (gold) represents the wealth and prosperity Africa and Ethiopia have to offer

20. Rastafarianism Today
In the early years of Rastafarianism women were not a very active part of the movement, and menstruating women were excluded from religious gatherings and meetings. Now they are very important in the functioning of Rastafarianism. The movement is not a very organized religion but “a way of life,” is how a Rasta would explain it.
Today there are an estimated 1,000,000 followers of the Rastafari movement worldwide.

21. Works Cited
“The Royal Parchment Scroll of Black Supremacy.” Date: 2002 pars. 2 Online Available: (June 1, 2005)
“Rastafari Movement.” Date: 2005 pars. 63. Online available: (June 1, 2005)
“The Rastafarian religion.” Date: 2004 pars. 15. Online Available: (June 1, 2005)
“The Holy Piby.” Date: 2005 pars. 1. Online Available: (June 1, 2005)

22. THE END