By Ras Leon Saul
Greetings in the name of I and I, Guide and Savior, the Most High God “JAH” – The Almighty Father! The Creator of Life…RAS TAFARI! Glory to Word, glory to sound and glory to the power of Amon-Ra, Yahweh, Yahovah, Yah…Jah Rastafari who cometh in the name of HAILE SELASSIE 1 – Might and Power of the Trinity!For clarity, “Ras Tafari” simply means “Head Creator” and “Prince of Peace” to be at peace with nature, oneself, the universe and its inhabitants and to have love for all.
When you see ones waving the red, gold, green and black banner and shouting “Rasta”, never assume that they have taken the time to actually study the roots of “Rasta.”
According to one spiritual and cultural analyst writing in an international online reggae magazine, “Many who shout ‘Rasta’ don’t even know who Haile Selassie 1 is and what he represents; who Marcus Garvey was and what he stood for. They have no idea who Leonard Howell was or what he stood for. In fact if you asked them who founded the Rastafari Movement they will probably say Bob Marley!
“While peace, love and harmony are the goals of Rasta, that’s not the essence of Rasta. The essence of Rasta is resistance – fighting against oppression, resisting unjust systems and revolting until there are equal rights and justice for all! These are the things that are at the root of Rasta. The primary purpose of Rasta was to resist against European colonial aggression and oppression.
“In fact, if you wanted to make a soundtrack of what is currently taking place in Ferguson and Baltimore, USA and Tel Aviv, Israel, reggae would have to be the primary genre to choose songs from. It’s time for a new song!
“So my ‘bredren’ was very surprised at the messages he got when he decided to play some reggae songs in support of the protestors in Ferguson, Baltimore and Tel Aviv.
One person even went as far to tell him that reggae is love and the music he was posting wasn’t reggae! I’m not making this up…he was posting songs from Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Dennis Brown and Max Romeo. We’re talking about the ‘King of Reggae’, the ‘Prince of Reggae’, the ‘Stepping Razor’ himself and a living legend in Max Romeo.
“The songs posted were songs like ‘Revolution’, ‘Burning and Looting’ and ‘Get Up, Stand Up’ by Bob Marley. Also posted was ‘Revolution’ by Dennis Brown, and ‘Equal Rights and Justice’ by Peter Tosh. How could someone claim to love reggae but find some of the classic reggae songs offensive? The reason is a lot of people heard Bob Marley’s song ‘One Love’ and have no idea what the term means or even who coined the term.
“‘One Love’ is a term coined by Marcus Garvey and it wasn’t meant to be a Kumbaya song. ‘One Love’ was a phrase for Blacks to unite and return to the motherland! Some White people also choose to conveniently ignore the part in the song where Bob Marley says, ‘let’s get together to fight this Armageddon. Who is he telling to let’s get together and who are they going to fight against?
“Again, Rasta is not all about ‘one love’. So trying to stifle certain reggae songs and pigeon-hole militant Rastas as weed smoking hippies’ is ridiculous! So, I could play Bob Marley’s One Love but I must mute the part about fighting the Armageddon and I shouldn’t play his songs like Revolution or Get Up, Stand Up? It’s alright when Dennis Brown says “Here I come…with love and not hatred” but not when he says “Are you ready to stand up and fight the right revolution?”
If you’re just on the Rasta bandwagon because it seems cool, please hop off! Rasta is way higher than just being cool! Big up all protestors from Georgetown to Baltimore to Tel Aviv. As Bob Marley said, “Arm in arm, with arms we fight this struggle…cause that’s the only way we can overcome this trouble.” And cheer up to all the oppressed. As reggae singer Fred Locks says, “things won’t always be the same. I and I have to take the steps to make sure things change…BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY!”
Now, this brings I to the source of Rastafari way of life. Both the writings of Marcus Mosiah Garvey in “Philosophies & Opinions” and Edward Ullendorf‟s “The Autobiography of Emperor Haile Selassie 1 – Vols. 1 & 2:” could go a far way, along with the Bible, in creating a philosophical framework for Rasta.
Now, to see yourself as a Rastafari, your choices are either living ITAL or being a VEGAN.
Eating as a VEGETARIAN is for those who have less faith. Don’t get me wrong, you don’t have to see yourself as Rasta to be someone who is at peace with nature, oneself, this universe and its inhabitants or to be living as a VEGAN or living as a VEGETARIAN or just being into ITAL. Because, in the final analysis, being “Rasta” is a spiritual livity and a love conception of the heart!
“Dreadlocks” was a style since a long time ago. Black people in ancient Egypt or Kemet wore dreadlocks.
All sorts of people wear dreadlocks for whatever reasons. It is co-incidental that Rasta carries “knotty dreadlocks” too, so everybody associates dreadlocks with Rastafari…even if they are homeless vagrants and roaming “crazies”. Wrong! Rasta has a philosophy by which I and I live. That’s why a true heart Rasta King or Prince, or Queen and Princess will never eat dead animals nor partake in using cocaine!
Rastafari spiritual teachings are Bible-based, but can also be found in the Vedic Scriptures, the Bhagavad Gita, the Koran and other holy writings, including the cosmic “Knowledge Book”. First of all, the “Ark of the Covenant” is the most reserved holy relic of God incarnate, and became part of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Christian belief. The presence of replicas of the Ark of the Covenant in every Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the belief in it, exert a profound influence on the imaginations and spiritual lives of many Ethiopians at home and abroad.
According to the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, this priceless treasure (the original Ark of the Covenant) still exists and rests in a small chapel in the monastic complex of Saint Mary of Zion Church in Aksum. This makes Saint Mary of Zion the holiest sanctuary in Ethiopia and the world! It does seem likely that the Ark was “spirited away” and brought to Ethiopia when a young Menelik 1 returned to Aksum with his mother Makeda (Bilkis) – the “Queen of Sheba” (Saba), from a visit to his father – King Solomon in Israel.
Ever since that time, the Ethiopian monarchs claimed to be direct descendants from the biblical King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, and ruled Ethiopia in an unbroken line until the Coronation on November 2, 1930 of “the King of Kings” – His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie I (the 225th descendant), who sat to rule till the end of times as “Defender of the Faith”. In fact, the “Throne of David” is in Ethiopia.
The advent of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church to then British Guiana in the early 50s (with churches set up in Stanleytown, New Amsterdam; Princess Street, Georgetown and on the East Bank of Demerara) marked the spiritual/religious introduction of “Rastafari” and recognition of the divinity of His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie 1 of Ethiopia – the oldest independent African State…as GOD incarnate!
After all, His Imperial Majesty was also head of one of the oldest religions in the world – Ethiopian Orthodox, and upon His Coronation on November 2, 1930 became “Defender of the Faith” and fulfilled biblical prophecy about the “second coming of the Christ in his Kingly Character”! The Rastafari Movement is a “messianic religio-political movement” that began in the Jamaican slums in the 1920s and 30s spearheaded by Leonard Percival Howell and Marcus Mosiah Garvey, among others.
Marcus Garvey – the “Black Moses” and also the re-incarnated “John the Baptist” had prophesized: “Look to Africa, where a Black King will be crowned. That will be the time of African redemption!” It was Marcus who declared emphatically “Up Ye Mighty Race!” The most famous Rastafarian is, of course, Bob Marley, whose reggae music gained international recognition for the Jamaican-founded Afrocentric movement after he focused his musical message to proclaim “Jah Lives”!
There is significant variation within the Rastafari Movement and no formal organization. Some Rastafarians see Rasta more as a way of life than a religion. But uniting the diverse movement is belief in the divinity of “Jah” and knowledge of the messiahship of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I, the influence of Jamaican music culture (reggae), resistance of oppression, and pride in African heritage.
The Rastafarian lifestyle usually includes a natural indulgence, ritual use of marijuana as sacrament, avoidance of alcohol, the wearing of one’s hair in dreadlocks, and vegetarianism – moreso an ital diet. Some essentially live by the dietary Laws of Leviticus and Deuteronomy in the Old Testament. Rastafarian lifestyle emphasizes harmony with the positive world and a “one love” universal outlook.
Rastafarians draw on parts of the Bible as spiritual texts. In a final analysis, Rastafari is both a philosophy of life and a religion. Central to the religion is Emperor Haile Selassie I who was the last Emperor of Ethiopia. In Rasta, Selassie is accepted as “Jah”, which is the Rasta name for God. The term “Jah” is a shortened version of the name “Jahovah’ used in Psalms 68:4 of the King James version of the Bible -“Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him.”
In Rasta, Jah is accepted as part of the Holy Trinity and, as the Messiah, was expected to return, which HE did when he was crowned Emperor on November 2, 1930 and assumed the name Haile Selassie 1 (Might and Power of the Trinity) with the title of “King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah” (Revelation 5:5)…fulfilling ancient Biblical prophecy! But who is this “Rastafari” and where did He originate? What is the Rastafari Movement really all about?

(To be continued in the next edition)