What is the RasTafari Movement?

agreed. it fascinates me

I have much respect for followers of islam

 

Succinct and well put description. Thank you.

 

Thank you very much. Its nice to see compliments on my descriptions. Most people argue and disagree with me.

umm also, np wt heck is that picture for?

 

i backcomb because my hair is not kinky. my hair is fine and straight. my dreads would look like shit for a very long time if i were to have grown them naturally. backcombing does not take away from the experience and bonding. it is not "unnatural." there's nothing non-ital like chemicals involved. salon dreads are a no-no.

your passage on ital-foods is correct. a lot of them bend the rules based on the food they can get in their area within reason. they need nutrients.. and theres not a lot of ital foods with nutrients in America. if there are in an area, they're usually expensive.

true on the soap and herb passage.

i've made adjustments on my life after learning about the rastafari movement.
i've grown dreads. i've eaten more ital foods. i've had a more positive vibe.
this is just my testimony. idk what others do to adjust their lives.

 

you're the religion expert. you know everything about religion. you've studied it since first grade, right? and you dont know what that is?


:cheers2:

 

an afrocentric set of beliefs centering around avoiding the temptations of babylon(technology, money, media), and aspirations of returning to zion (ethiopia) which usually involves repatriation, the recognition of and worship of a black jesus which has returned in flesh as emperor haille selassie of ethiopia (who denied his divinity)



rules for 'ital' food is strict. no meat, especially pork and shellfish. fish can be eaten if it is under 12 inches in length. over 12 inches in length and that's a big no-no. no canned foods, no preservatives, all organic and not changed or modified through technology.

many rastas reject technology altogether, avoiding phones, computers, toothbrushes, airplanes and cars, some even refuse to use bicycles and certain types of chairs.


marijuana 'ganga' is seen as a sacrament to be used for 'reasoning' and gaining 'overstanding'.

the doctrine was written for black superiority. leonard howell wrote the promise key which was geared towards punishing the white race for their wickedness. the kebra negast, which is an ethiopian book of stories similar to a bible, the royal parchment of black superiority (you can guess what this is about), and the holy piby, which is an afrocentric book labeling haille selassie as christ incarnate and marcus garvey as his apostle and suggesting that blacks separate themselves from white culture and repatriate to africa.

there are a few 'mansions' including garveyites, maroonists, howellites, bobo ashanti, nyabinghi, some ethiopian orthodox inspired groups, and twelve tribes, as well as others.

bobo ashanti separate their women from men during meunstration and have them wear full body coverings, believe a man named Charles Edwards to be christ in flesh, believe strongly in black superiority, and carry brooms to symbolize cleanlines. one saying of the bobos is 'it is better to be a white man with a black heart than to be a black man with a white heart'

nyabinghi are the known haters of catholic and white culture. many worship through chanting psalms, smoking ganga, and beating drums called 'vatican smashers' and 'pope smashers' and claim that this type of worship brings them closer to their african roots. these guys are very strict in calling selassie messiah, christ reborn sent to save the black people from bondage.

garveyites' main belief is in the repatriation and separation of black from white culture. garvey tried to do this with the black star line. had discussions with leaders of the KKK about gathering up all the negro folks and putting them on a boat to africa. this failed, however, as garvey was selling illegal bonds for his line and was sent back to jamaica before black star made its first trip

howellites are the player haters of the rastas, always hatin' on the white man. many howellite groups still exist in jamaica today. praise ja

maroon groups are more primitivist and less geared towards worship of selassie.

many rasta traditions are heavily influenced by the 'vow of the nazerite', which is to refrain from combing or cutting the hair and corner of one's beard, refrain from eating or drinking any fruit of the vine, all body modifications (including ear piercings), and not touching any dead bodies as described in leviticus.

the most widely known rasta was bob marley, who was a reggae musician from jamaica who gained worldwide fame for his music. he lived the last half of his life as a rastafarian, did a lot of coke and was known the world over for smoking ganga. eventually he developed cancerous cells in his body and refused to have an amputation, claming that a rasta has to be whole for the resurrection. the cancer spread to his lungs and brains and he eventually took medical care, going through intensive chemotherapy. eventually, he died of cancer (i personally believe he was poisoned by the u.s. government) and denounced rastafarI before he died, taking the ethiopian orthodox name of bernhane selassie and was buried in an orthodox ceremony.

many jamaican rastas speak a language called patois, which is a mash up of carribean languages incuding english, french, spanish, portugese, hindi, etc.

some of rastafarI's language include words like InI(the connection between the heart of other rastas or the connection between jah and his followers), overstanding (as opposed to understanding, 'under' having negative connotations in reference to slavery and inferiority) inity (rather than unity... you get it...) etc etc etc

k thats all the time i have to type. this was off the top of my head so if i missed something, fill it in, or i will later probably

 

as far as whether one has to be born into rasta, i feel it's more like one is born rasta and comes to realize it through life experience. one can choose to recognize it or to ignore the feelings that their spirit is expressing.

as far as your question, pat, you are correct. it is very difficult to adhere to some of the strict practices that some rasta follow. for myself, i try to do the things that my economic status allows me to do. i eat as much raw and live food as i can. canned food is used as a last resort. i don't use any salt in my cooking. i don't eat red meat or pork (i am working on the rest gradually so i don't get ill from weight loss), i backcombed my locks to section them neatly and then left them alone (neither comb, nor scissors has touched my hair in 6 mos.) as far as cuting body hair, well, that's none of your business. modesty is something that i try to preserve unless in the name of art. there's no need to show anything other than my arms and lower legs. lemme see, what else did you list....
soap, well unfortunately we don't have ackee trees yet. and catus soap burns...i use bronners
i don't drink coffee, or milk, and alcohol very rarely.
the argument for ital consumption is that eating live things will bring life to the body, and eating dead things causes disease of the body and spirit.
i feel that one cannot instantly jump into the rasta lifestyle epecially if they are accustomed to a western lifestyle. one must gain new resources in order to transition into ital cooking etc.

 

All very interesting. Oddly enough, I follow much of what you do already vig.

Zilla, I do'nt get the quran comment. I mean... I wanted to learn about Rastafari. I have a brother-in-law that is muslim so I ask him any questions that I may have about it. But I do not know any rastas, so I wanted to ask peeps on the forum about it. Seems there are quite a few that know the religion on here.

np, what are Mansions? Also, it really seems that you think that Rasta is a black superiority religion. Do you accept that this is not how all rasta's interpret the religion?

Corey... Now I'm confused. Are you rasta? lol I know you are judeo christian... but how does rasta fit into there?

 

yeah, i think the qu-ran thng was juist for attention. but, don't we all want it?

a mansion is a denomination of rastafari. i don't choose to adhere to any of them. but, as a caucasian the 12 tribes is probably the best way to go. unless, you happen to live in jamaica and know others from the different mansions that are accepting. i think most of them are, and the racist view is a select few.

 

Gotcha.

So which mansion was Bob Marley?

 

Attention?

No. I was just making a crack about all religion. You don't have to agree with it. Islam is a certain kind of religion; therefore, it has a certain kind of follower. It is more comprehensive, ancient movement. Rastafari is new age, it focuses on another aspect of existence. Both tap in to the Truth of our reality, but neither embody it completely. So why call myself Muslim or Rasta?

Frankly, it's annoying to me that some Rastafari think they have a monopoly over a certain hairstyle.
I'm fine with any religion/spiritual movement that allows people to live and let live. Hypocrisy is what makes me tick.

I don't subscribe to the Rastafari movement; I don't subscribe completely to any particular line of thought. But I still find it interesting to learn about them, hence my presence in this thread.

My belief is that everything is a model. Glean along your way the best parts of every model, but never accept anything as Truth. The truth is that you know nothing, and you're better that way.

 

he liked the twelve tribes as well. the twelve tribes is kind of odd. the way you figure which tribe you are is by your birth date. kind of like a horoscope because each tribe as characteristics that when combined with other tribes is the recipe for Iritual success.

 

Supermarket religion. "I'll take a bit of Christianity, a bit of Judaism, a bit of rasta, a bit of scientology, blah blah blah"
where's the commitment in that?

so true zilla

 

why do we need to commit to a religion? why can't we just accept that our perspectives are constantly evolving, and that there are good things to be had in all religions?

 

i agree^

 

Im of the oppinion that add-hoc religion is self indulgent and arrogant.

"Forget that 1000's of people have basically been paid to think about this shit for 1000's of years, I know best"

Dress it up as spiritual growth or whatever you like, it's essentially doing what you want.

 

salt. yea forgot about the salt.

 

if you read the rastafarian holy texts, you too would understand that it is an afrocentric religion. besides extensive reading of the biographies of rasta leaders, the groups or 'mansions', etc, ive had personal conversations with rastas from haiti, jamaica, other carribean islands (trinidad i think?) and americans. some born into the faith, others converts. not all of them said that they hate white people, but most would say that rastafarI is a religion made by blacks for blacks to lift them up for oppression. it's not a religion about one love(as some would tell you), it's about social justice.

white people saying they are rasta because they believe and follow some tenets are disillusioned. yea, i agree with ital food, opposition to the babylon system, and primitivism, but that's no reason to jump into the religion. its entirely possible to live one's life like the rasta without all the human worship and jamaican talk. ini seen dem bumboclot babylon system gwaan fall! praise ja

that's like saying i disagree with killing, lying, and rape, so i think i'll be xtian on that basis

:cheers2:

 

^^you know your stuff don't you.. At least when you choose to:cheers2:

 

it's entirely possible to be rasta without the human worship and the patois!