Rastafari is a movement of Black people who know Africa as the birthplace of Mankind and the throne of Emperor Haile Selassie I -- a 20th Century Manifestation of God who has lighted our pathway towards righteousness, and is therefore worthy of reverence.

The Rastafari movement grew out of the darkest depression that the descendants of African slaves in Jamaica have ever lived in -- the stink and crumbling shacks of zinc and cardboard that the tattered remnants of humanity built on the rotting garbage of the dreadful Dungle on Kingston's waterfront. Out of this filth and slime arose a sentiment so pure, so without anger, so full of love, the Philosophy of the Rastafari faith.

It was a flower in a pigsty, watered by the nourishment of the Prophet Marcus Garvey, swayed by the wind of local political change, and cherished by the Black man's long witheld desire to hold his head upright. Freedom of Spirit, Freedom from Slavery, and Freedom of Africa, was its cry.

Religions always reflect the social and geographical environment out of which they emerge, and Jamaican Rastafarianism is no exception: for example, the use of marijuana as a sacrament and aid to meditation is logical in a country where a particularly strain of 'herb' grows freely. Emerging out of the island of Jamaica in the later half of this century, the religious/political movement known as Rastafarianism has gained widespread exposure in the Western world.

Rasta, as it is more commonly called, has its roots in the teachings of Jamaican black nationalist Marcus Garvey, who in the 1930s preached a message of black self empowerment, and initiated the "Back to Africa" movement. Which called for all blacks to return to their ancestral home, and more specifically Ethiopia. He taught self reliance "at home and abroad" and advocated a "back to Africa" consciousness, awakening black pride and denouncing the white man�s eurocentric worldview, colonial indoctrination that caused blacks to feel shame for their African heritage. "Look to Africa", said Marcus Garvey in 1920, "when a black king shall be crowned, for the day of deliverance is at hand".  Many thought the prophecy was fulfilled when in 1930, Ras Tafari, was crowned emperor Haile Selassie 1 of Ethiopia and proclaimed "King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and the conquering lion of the Tribe of Judah". Haile Selassie claimed to be a direct descendant of King David, the 225th ruler in an unbroken line of Ethiopian Kings from the time of Solomon and Sheba. He and his followers took great pride in being black and wanted to regain the black heritage that was lost by loosing faith and straying from the holy ways. Rastafarians live a peaceful life, needing little material possessions and devote much time to contemplating the scriptures. They reject the white man's world, as the new age Babylon of greed and dishonesty. Proud and confident Rastas even though they are humble will stand up for their rights. Rastas let their hair grow natually into dreadlocks, in the image of the lion of Judah. Six out of ten Jamaicans are believed to be Rastafarians or Rastafarian sympathizers. The total following is believed to be over 1,000,000 worldwide.  1975 to the present has been the period of the most phenomenal growth for the Rastafarian Movement. This growth is largely attributed to Bob Marley, reggae artist, and the worldwide acceptance of reggae as an avenue of Rastafarian self-expression. Marley became a prophet of Rastafarianism in 1975. The movement spread quickly in the Caribbean and was hugely attractive to the local black youths, many of whom saw it as an extension of their adolescent rebellion from school and parental authority. With it came some undesirable elements, but all true Rastas signify peace and pride and righteousness.

In 1930 in Ethiopia, Ras Tafari Makonnen was crowned King of Kings and Lord of Lords with the throne-name Haile Selassie the First and a new chapter in the struggle, one with religious connotations, was opened. God was finally real and the Christian doctrine was no longer the monopoly of white missionaries with headquarters in Rome. The bible was studied and any reference to Ethiopia took on added significance.

Ethiopia, being attacked by Italy at the start of the second world war galvanized interest and concern in the struggle of good over evil. During this period, the Ethiopian World Federation was formed in the United States of America under the guidance of the Emperor Haile Selassie the First, to unite the support for the restoration of Ethiopia's sovereignty. After the war, and the defeat of Italy, the Emperor showed his appreciation by donating land at Shashamane, to anyone of African descent in the west who wanted to return to the mother-land. Time, however, was creating Africans with various aspirations. New generations were producing new societies of Africans in the West.

Independent nations were beginning to form and black majority rule was imminent. In Jamaica, the reverence of Emperor Haile Selassie continued to create distinguishable movements, such as Nyabinghi, the Ethiopian National Congress or Bobo dreads, the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

The Twelve Tribes of Israel, founded by the Prophet Gad, has added another dimension in the liberation movement, to include liberation for all races through the teaching of the bible, and the acceptance of Jesus Christ. Membership is not limited, but inclusive. By identifying the spiritual sons of Jacob and finding truth for oneself through reading the bible "a chapter a day", man can find salvation. The divine lineage continues through the Ethiopian Monarchy, the seed of David, of which it is said, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from beneath his feet, until Shiloh comes and unto Him will be the gathering of the people."

To Rastafarians, Selassie was much more than just a political leader; Rasta theology centered on the divinity of Selassie as a living manifestation of Jah, the all-knowing and all-loving God. To Rastafarians, the story told by the Old Testament pertains to black Africans who descend from Abraham and Jacob. But white Christians altered this fact to keep Africans in a substandard position. Rastafarians refer to this oppression as "Babylon", with obvious references to a state of slavery and cultural tyranny that all blacks must overcome. To greater represent the truth, Rasta rejects the Bible used by most Christians, opting instead for a "black man's Bible" known as the Holy Piby.

Rastafarians have developed a unique language and outward appearance, best exemplified by the dreadlock Hairstyle. Rastafarians also have placed a high value on smoking marijuana (ganja), which is used for meditation and to reflect completely on the word of Jah. Rasta has never been strictly defined, but it continues to exist it pockets all over the world, though mainly in Jamaica. The demise and common man's death of Haile Selassie in 1974 discouraged some believers, and Rastafarians have never been liked by the authorities due to its endorsement of marijuana and its excitation of violence. Nevertheless, Rastafarians continue to follow the word of Jah: "ever-loving, ever-fearful, ever-sure as Selassie I the First." Rasta World Day Without Sense.

Rasta forms the base of reggae music, the vehicle that artists such as Bob Marley used to spread Rasta thought all over the world. This indigenous music grew from ska, which had elements of  American R&B and Caribbean styles. It also drew from folk music, Pocomania church music, Jonkanoo fife and drum bands, fertility rituals, adaptations of  quadrilles, plantation work songs, and a form called mento. Nyahbingi is the purest form of music played at Rasta meetings or grounations. It uses three hand drums of different sizes, the bass, the funde and the repeater. (An archetypal example of nyahbingi is the three LP set from Count Ossie and the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari.) "Roots" reggae explores the themes of the suffering of ghetto dwellers, slavery in Babylon, Haile Selassie as a living deity, and the hoped-for return to Africa.

After Jamaica's independence in 1962, the lack of political improvement and the Black Power movement in the U.S. led to a big Rasta resurgence. In 1964 the body of Marcus Garvey was returned from England for reburial in his homeland. In mid-60s reggae evolved a slower and cooler mode called rocksteady which shifted emphasis to bass and drums. In the late Sixties, Haile Selassie visited the island. Peter Tosh's "Rasta Shook Them Up" commemorated this major event. The fact that the emperor presented him with a walking stick, helped Michael Manley get elected. Manley's term in office started with wide support from Rasta musicians, though his leadership later brought disillusionment. "He Who Feels It Knows It" was one of the first recordings to use the phrase "I & I," which expresses unity between man and God. Ras Michael and the Sons of Negus recorded such forthright Rasta statements as "Ethiopian National Anthem."

In 1969, Burning Spear's debut album included the exhortation to "Chant Down Babylon". From other artists in the early Seventies came such songs as "Conquering Lion," "Deliver Us," "Rasta Never Fails," and "Africa is Paradise." By 1975, Rastafarian chants were increasingly heard on records and the Wailers were in dreadlocks. With the albums and , Bob Marley became Jamaica's first international superstar. With a population of only two million, the island nation has sent into the world more than 100,000 reggae records over four decades.

Although we live in the midst of spiritual strife, even seemingly in the times described in the book of Revelations, Rasta is not about converting people. Although based on the Ethiopian Orthodox church, Rasta is not a church with an official doctrine, but a belief system that concerns spiritual social and historical matters. Some Rastafarians cut their hair and don't use ganga. Beliefs may include not eating salt, or things that grow under the earth or that need to be killed. Some Rasta followers won't sleep in a house. Adherents of Ites culture find the Almighty within all men, not Haile Selassie in particular. The Bobo dread wears his locks in a turban and carries a broom to signify his own cleanliness. There are Rasta women, but you don't see them around so much because they are very home and family-centered.