Yawney describes dreadlocks as "the primary external symbol of Rastafari identity." Dreadlocks are a 'crown,' a sign of the covenant between Jah Rastafari (God) and the believer.
The internal process of discovering and acknowledging one's African identity also happens to manifest physically and this representation of the religion is often mistakenly assumed to be its substance.
Firmly rooted in African heritage, this religion was born in the western diaspora post-slavery in which an estimated 25 million black people made it to America as slave labour and three million perished in transit at sea (a history famously recounted in Bob Marley's hit Buffalo Soldier).įormalised over the past 70 years, the Rastafari religion is a code of beliefs, a spiritual consciousness and a culture that strives to advance the cause of African liberation, both spiritual and physical. Rastafari is based on the foundational precept of the right of repatriation to Africa under the divine guidance of Emperor Haile Selassie I. In this way, Rastafari is an open-ended proposition, an open path for one's life.
Nyahbinghi* is the orthodoxy of observance, but every Rastafari is free to choose how they "sight up" - i.e. The name of the religion is derived from Ras Tafari (Amharic for "Head Creator"), the birth name of His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, who is also the Divinity of the movement. This article is dedicated to helping deconstruct the myth of the "inscrutable" Rastafari mind by detailing the religion's visual characteristics and delving a little into its reasonings* (as much as that can be achieved in nine pages of words and pictures). "The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding." So what is the real story? Who are these people and what are they about? Rastafari have often been portrayed in the media as "crazy, fanatical blacks with a drug problem" and described by various derogatory and defamatory terms such as "a bizarre cult suspected of violent crimes." This stands in direct contradiction to their stated calling of "peace, love and a-unity" (sic). The consequences of this have been outright dismissal, mockery, resentment, misunderstanding and even abuse (both verbal and physical). Negative, positive or neutral, practically everybody has an opinion on it, whether or not they can back their theses up with factual evidence. Rastafari* has always presented a challenge to the world. In researching this story, a number of people were (anonymously) asked to mention the first thoughts that came to mind when they heard the words 'Rasta', 'Rastafari' or 'Rastafarianism.' (In fact, feel free to do the exercise yourself before reading any further and see what comes up.) The responses were unsettling, with words like 'weed', 'crazy', 'fanatics', 'blacks', 'dope-heads', 'dirty', 'dread-locks', 'Bob Marley' and 'reggae' popping up several times each and confirming the lament of Ras Mortimo Planno.