Rastafari

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 Garvey, generally seen as its originator.

It owes its name to Ras (prince) Tafari Makonnen a.k.a. Haile Selassie, whose coronation as emperor of Ethiopia (1930) was seen as fulfilling Garvey's prophecy of a decade earlier,

Look to Africa for the crowning of a Black King; he shall be the Redeemer

Rastafarianism's followers, known as Rastafarians, believe that Ras Tafari remains a iving messiah who will lead the world's peoples of African descent into a promised land of full emancipation and divine justice.

Rastafarians believe in the smoking of cannabis ("ganja") as an aid to meditation and religious observance. The wearing of dreadlocks is also closely associated with the movement, though not universal among (or exclusive to) its adherents.

Haile Selassie's 1966 visit to Jamaica and meeting with Rastafarian elders (despite his own adherence to the Ethiopian Orthodox or Coptic Church) gave a marked boost to the movement: his death (1975) coincided paradocically with the beginning of its most spectacular period of growth, sustained in part by the inmternational popularity of reggae music in which Rastafarianism found expression.