The Rastafari

Cover of Time Magazine, November 3, 1930Among many followers of the Rastafari movement, which developed in the 1930s in Jamaica under the influence of Marcus Garvey's "Back to Africa" movement, Haile Selassie I is seen as God incarnate, the Black Messiah who will lead the peoples of Africa and the African diaspora to freedom. His official titles, King of kings, Lord of lords, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah and Root of David, are believed to be the titles of the returned Messiah in the New Testament Book of Revelation. The belief in the incarnate divinity of Emperor Haile Selassie I began after news reports of his coronation reached Jamaica, particularly via the two Time magazine articles about the coronation the week before and the week after the event.

When Haile Selassie I visited Jamaica on April 21, 1966, somewhere between one and two hundred thousand Rastafarians from all over Jamaica descended on Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston, having heard that the man whom they considered to be God was coming to visit them. When Haile Selassie I arrived at the airport, he refused to get off the aeroplane for an hour until Mortimer Planner, a well known Rasta, persuaded him that it was safe to do so. From then on the visit was a success. Rita Marley, Bob Marley's wife, converted to the Rastafarian faith after seeing Haile Selassie I. She claimed, in interviews, that she saw scars on the palms of Selassie's hands (as he waved to the crowd) that resembled the envisioned markings on Christ's hands from being nailed to the cross- a claim that was never supported by other sources, but nonetheless, a claim that was used as evidence for her and other Rastafarians to suggest that "Selassie", as they refer to him, was indeed their Messiah. Rita's fervour for Selassie and the Rastafarian faith was what drew Bob Marley into the faith himself.

The Rastafari movement

Rasta, or the Rastafari movement, is a new religious movement that accepts Haile Selassie I, the former emperor of Ethiopia, as Jah (the Rastafari name for God incarnate, from a shortened form of Jehovah found in Psalms 68:4 in the King James Version of the Bible), and part of the Holy Trinity as the messiah promised to return in the Bible. The name Rastafari comes from Ras (Duke) Tafari Makonnen, the pre-coronation name of Haile Selassie I. The movement emerged in Jamaica among working-class and peasant black people in the early 1930s, arising from an interpretation of Biblical prophecy partly based on Selassie's status as the only African monarch of a fully independent state, and his titles of King of Kings, Lord of Lords and Conquering Lion of Judah (Rev. 5:5). Other factors leading to its rise include black social and political aspirations, and the teachings of Jamaican black publicist and organiser Marcus Garvey, often regarded as a prophet, whose political and cultural vision helped inspire a new world view. The movement is sometimes called "Rastafarianism", although this is considered improper and offensive by Rastas.

The Rastafari movement has spread throughout much of the world, largely through immigration and interest generated through Nyahbinghi and reggae music—most notably, that of Bob Marley. By 2000, there were more than one million Rastafari worldwide. About five to ten percent of Jamaicans identify themselves as Rastafari. Most Rastafarians are vegetarian, or only eat limited types of meat, living by the dietary Laws of Leviticus and Deuteronomy in the Old Testament.