The Rastafari Tradition

Temple University Press

Chapter Title: The Rastafari Chant

Book Title: Afro-Caribbean Religions Book Subtitle: An Introduction to Their Historical, Cultural, and Sacred Traditions Book Author(s): Nathaniel Samuel Murrell Published by: Temple University Press. (2010) Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1bw1hxg.18

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14

The Rastafari Chant

KEY TOPICS

Messianism and Formative Years • Jah Rastafari, the God- Man • City of Zion and Repatriation • Reggae Freedom Chant • Dawtars Dare to Trod • Houses and

Missions • Livity and Ital Rituals

Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God (Psalm 68:31).

Ethiopia is now really stretching out her hands. This great kingdom of the East had been hidden for many centuries, but gradually she is rising to take a lead place in the world and it is for us of the Negro race to assist in every way to hold up the hand of Emperor Ras Tafari (Marcus Garvey on Haile Selassie’s coronation day, 1930).

Give thanks and praise to Jah Rastafari, His Imperial Majesty, Haile Selassie I, Elect of God, King of Kings of Ethiopia, Lord of Lords, Con- quering Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Rastafari leader on Haile Selassie’s visit to Jamaica in 1966).

The emperor was not God to the Ethiopian people and other nations. He was a religious man who was elected king of Ethiopia. While one can appreciate the respect, love, and devotion given to him, as a clergyman, it is my duty to speak the truth. . . . Beware of the commandment of God: “Thou shall have no other gods before me— for I am a jealous God.”

—Archbishop Abuna Yesehaq, The Ethiopian Tewahedo Church

W ho are the eccentric renegades claiming to be earthly spiritualists, nurturing an alternative consciousness, embracing a religious Ethiopian ideology swathed in Africanized Christian beliefs, deem-

ing themselves ambassadors of African identity and liberation and proxies for social, po liti cal and economic change in society? Rastafari, the most well- known Ca rib be an new religious movement, is Jamaica’s only vibrant indige- nous spirituality. Rising as a social and po liti cal religious sect from Jamaica’s

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The Rastafari Chant • 287

underclass, the movement evolved into an infl uential heterogeneous religious phenomenon, has become one of the most pop u lar cultural icons of the twen- tieth century, and has fueled an international cultural revolution embraced in countries where it is barely understood. This religion attracts a diverse patron- age: sympathizers, reggae enthusiasts, “designer- dread wannabes,” Hollywood cultural fads, ganja rascals or drug opportunists, and profi teers from the pick- ings of Rasta accessories and music. The broad cultural appeal of this emer- gent faith is surprising; Rastafarians number fewer than a million worldwide. In Jamaica’s censuses they are unclassifi ed, and estimates run the gamut from 20 percent to less than 1 percent of the population.1

Foregrounding

Although born in Jamaica’s depression of the 1930s, the Rastafarian ideology fi nds its early roots in international soil during the convergence of social and historical events on opposite sides of the globe. In November, 1930, Haile Se- lassie I was crowned Emperor of Ethiopia. Within a year he was declared a god in a nascent religious vision by a people of whom he had little knowledge. On Selassie’s coronation, which constituted the most colorful ten- day pageantry in Addis Ababa’s history, the British Crown presented him with a scepter of solid gold that had been taken from Ethiopia in early colonial times. On one side of

The lion of Judah/Jah Rastafari.

(Illustration by Kelly Hawes.)

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Jamaica’s Creole Religions • 288

the scepter were inscribed the religion- making words “Ethiopia shall make her hands reach unto God”; on the other side was the inscription “King of Kings of Ethiopia.” The New York Times front- paged the event: “Amid barbaric splendor and lavish pageantry, the 39- year- old Emperor Haile Selassie I, who claims [descent] from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba and bears the title Lord of Lords and King of Kings Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Elect of God, Defender of the Christian Faith and the Light of the World, was crowned at dawn today.”2 The sight of world dignitaries paying respect to the diminutive black king of the only in de pen dent African country in the League of Nations, and Haile Selassie’s ac cep tance of the illustrious titles, inspired Africans in the diaspora, already expecting a messiah, to “go tell it on the mountains” that wise messiah Ras Tafari has come from the east.3

Messianic Vision

Conceived as a proto- Christian Ethiopian vision in the Ca rib be an, United States, and Central America— all hotbeds for the social struggle of the underclass— the Rastafarian ideology was nurtured in a messianic hope that had been held for centuries within the African diaspora.4 In the 1790s, for example, the missionary and former U.S. slave George Lisle used the Bible to spark Jamaicans’ interest in this Ethiopian vision. During the 1800s, African- American freedom fi ghters and church leaders preached a gospel of a coming African- Ethiopian redemption through a black god. When Abyssinia defeated Italy at Adowa in 1896, preachers connected the victory to a biblical text stating that “princes shall come out of Egypt, Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hands unto God” (Psalm 68:31). Jamaican prophet Alexander Bedward foretold of a millennium in which Ethiopians will be specially favored by an African messiah. James Lowe wrote of the “Revealed Secret of the Hamitic Race” in Ethiopia,5 and James Webb announced the com- ing of a black king out of Ethiopia, who would obliterate British power and liber- ate Jamaicans from oppression. Followers of the Jamaican- born Garvey move- ment promised that liberation would come from the blessed homeland of Ethiopia. On the eve of Selassie’s coronation, the vision inspired several pro- Ethiopian writings in the diaspora, among them The Holy Piby (1924), The Royal Parchment Scroll of Black Supremacy (1926), and A Blackman Will Be the Coming Universal King, Proven by Biblical History (1924). Like the Kebra Nagast (an epic apology on Ethiopia fi rst written in 700 c.e.), these aspired to shape the dream into an Ethio- pian theology of black pride, the glorifi cation of Africa- Ethiopia, and a black mes- sianic deliverer.

THE GARVEY VISION Among the Ethiopian visionaries of African redemption, Jamaica’s Marcus Mosiah Garvey provided the strongest impetus for the founding of Rastafari. The young traveler and newspaper publisher vowed to fi nd deliverance for his

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The Rastafari Chant • 289

people, who were “hemmed in by every economic barrier” in the region. In 1914 he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) to unite Africans and empower them to deliver themselves from their economic plight. The UNIA was stunted in Garvey’s homeland, but among New York’s dislocated and destitute blacks fl eeing the oppression and violence of the United States’ Jim Crow states, Garvey found a receptive audience. From his Harlem base, he or ga nized hundreds of chapters of the UNIA in the early 1920s and boasted of close to two million members6 internationally. Under the motto “Africa for Africans . . . one God, one Aim, and one Destiny,”7 Garvey pro- moted his ambitious agenda: fi ght racial and economic oppression and free Africa from colonialism, strengthen the bonds of unity among the races,8 unite diasporic Africans with their roots, establish a superempire on the continent, and help Africans control their own destiny. Advancing his po liti cal vision in Afro- Christian thought, Garvey urged the need for a black conception of God and affi rmed that a deliverer will indeed come out of Ethiopia to save the race.

Garvey’s own weaknesses and some malicious American gadfl ies turned his dream into a nightmare. CIA chief J. Edger Hoover and U.S. president Cal- vin Coo lidge had him incarcerated in Georgia on questionable charges of mail fraud, then deported to Jamaica in 1927. His vision crashed, but among his protégés, who bristle with hope about the idea of an African messiah- liberator, “truth crushed to the earth will rise again.” The deported prophet had high hopes that Selassie I would be Africans’ Simon Bolivar. On the emperor’s coro- nation, Garvey dispatched a cable from Jamaica commending him on his rise to power and wishing him success in carry ing out his great vision to develop Ethiopia and lead Africans out of colonialism. Garvey exclaimed, “Ethiopia is now really stretching forth her hands. This great kingdom of the East has been hidden for many centuries, but gradually she is rising to take a lead place in the world and it is for us of the Negro race to assist in every way to hold up the hand of Emperor Ras Tafari.”9 This prophecy inspired several Rasta pioneers who embraced Garvey’s Afrocentric signifi cation as a prophetic warrant on the messiah and, to his dismay, turned his po liti cal vision into a Caribbean- Ethiopian religious movement.

THE PIONEERS All of the pioneers of Rastafari had connections to Christianity and to the Panama- United States- Jamaica axis of the vision. Before World War I, the Pan- ama Canal attracted thousands of desperate workers seeking a fortune on the isthmus. These workers were Pan- Africanists, national liberationists, Afrocen- tric prophets, messianic dreamers, and socialist thinkers. In spite of the treacher- ous work and acute health problems, Panama, as Helene Lee notes, became a marketplace for a cross- fertilization of ideas among immigrant workers who were en route to industrial cities as well as the social climate for seeding religious dreams. Annie Harvey, a preacher from Central America and New York and

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leader of the Black Israelite Church in Jamaica, pursued the vision along with her husband as missionaries to Ethiopia. Five years later they returned, spread- ing a message: “Zion waits in Ethiopia” for oppressed Africans. In New York City, Harvey’s message touched would- be Rasta pioneer Leonard Howell, the fi rst acknowledged leader of the movement.

Robert Hinds, who visited Panama for a short period, was an admirer of Garvey and a loyal follower of the prophet Alexander Bedward, whom he re- garded as a black Christ. Hinds joined Bedward in prison as a result of their social protest march in Jamaica.10 On his release, he founded the King of Kings Mission (KKM), which boasted a substantial membership and became one of the earliest Rastafarian “churches.”

The Jamaican Joseph Hibbert lived in Costa Rica and Panama from 1911 to 1931, where he was ordained Master of The Ancient Mystic order of the Ethiopia Masonic Lodge. He returned to Jamaica shortly after Selassie’s corona- tion and created the Ethiopian Coptic Church, through which he announced the coming of the Ethiopian messiah. After joining forces with Hinds to conduct street meetings in the parish of St. Andrews, Hibbert collaborated with Howell in spreading the emerging Rastafari doctrine. Hibbert’s church became the Ja- maican Ethiopian Orthodox Church,11 a Rastafarian center. Archibald Dunkley, who worked for The Atlantic Fruit Company and visited Panama several times, started a religious ministry in Port Antonio and later was drawn to Kingston, where he chanted the Rastafarian beliefs about Selassie I based on the Bible. Claudius Henry, found er of the African Reformed Church in Kingston, followed Dunkley and Leonard Howell as an early exponent of Selassie as messiah.

Leonard Percival Howell was the most articulate Rastafarian pioneer. The Jamaican mystic, who made several trips to Panama and migrated to the United States two years before the opening of the Canal in 1914, was adept at myth- making; he claimed to be divine and, although born in 1898, said he fought in the Ashanti War in 1896, studied African languages, and met King Prempeh of Coute de Voire. In Harlem, Howell operated a tearoom for herbal medicines used in balm- yard healing, which included Hindu rites and Kumina rituals.12 It was in the United States that he acquired his revelations of Haile Selassie’s divinity; he told the media he joined the “Ras Tafarites” in New York before returning to Jamaica to preach the sect’s basic tenets. Of course, no such group existed in the United States at the time. With help from Hinds’ KKM, Howell established his “Ras Tafarite” cult in Jamaica in 1932. He attracted sizable crowds among the rural underclass, which was drawn to the gospel of anticolo- nialism, an African messiah, and repatriation. To fund his ministry, he sold as passports to Ethiopia duplicates of Selassie’s picture, which he obtained from Annie Harvey in New York.

Along with Paul Erlington, Ferdinand Rickets, and Vernon Davis, these pioneers pi loted a political- religious movement based on the conviction that Selassie I is in fact the black people’s messiah.13

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The Rastafari Chant • 291

Formative Years

FIRST RASTA CHANTS Preaching under the infl uence of Garveyism, Ethiopianism, and Christian scriptures, Howell declared Haile Selassie I as the divine deliverer and “the blessed and only Potentate” (1 Timothy 6:16). Selassie I was said to be the mes- siah promised in the Bible and foretold by Garvey and other prophets, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 19:16), Lion of the tribe of Judah (Revelation 5:5), the only one worthy to open the great seal of divine secrets about the day of judgment and the end of the world (Revelation 6:5). In 1933, Howell chanted, “The Lion of Judah has broken the chain, and we of the black race are now free. George the Fifth is no more our King. George the Fifth has sent his third son down to Africa in 1928 to bow down to our new king Ras Tafari of Ethiopia.”14 The preacher narrowly escaped ambush, but he was eventually arrested and imprisoned for chanting “rebellion and seditious doctrines”— that is, the superiority of the black race over whites, retaliation against all white dev ils for the wrongs they did to blacks during slavery, the call to switch Jamaicans’ allegiance from the King of En gland to Emperor Haile Selassie I, the notion that God is black, and the idea that Christ is not a meek and mild blue- eyed blond dying on a cross but rather the fearsome black messiah, Ras Tafari. In 1934, Howell observed the 100th anniversary of Eman- cipation with a demonstration during which he promised repatriation to Ethi- opia to his followers.

In 1935, using a pseudonym, Howell put his chant into an infamous ephem- era, The Promised Key, the most controversial fourteen- page booklet to appear in the Ca rib be an. In this rueful diatribe, Howell took unlimited freedom with the Bible and several other sources, botching Christian theology to such an ex- tent that the booklet was banned in Jamaica. As a voice for irate Africans against Italian aggression in Ethiopia, the book launched an assault on Italy’s Papacy. When Benito Mussolini (with a papal blessing) invaded Ethiopia to bring the continent’s only in de pen dent nation under fascism, Howell declared Italy the seat of the Antichrist and the home of the Great Harlot of Babylon, whom Haile Selassie I, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, would vanquish. In 1936, after the League of Nations turned a deaf ear to Selassie’s plea for help, the Italians pulverized Ethiopia’s defense and forced the Emperor into exile in Britain. Outraged, Howell and other Africans in the diaspora demonstrated against the fascist invasion and raised funds for the re sis tance effort.15 Ita- ly’s entrance into World War II in 1941 with an attack on France and Britain, however, proved Howell’s prediction true. After the United Nations granted Ethiopia allied status, Haile Selassie I led Allied forces in a decisive defeat of the Italians and became Time magazine’s Man of the Year. His triumphant re- entry into Addis Ababa after the war buttressed belief in him as the eschato- logical messiah of the black race, and Howell’s prophetic status was validated.

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PINNACLE COMMUNE In the 1940s, Rastafari spread throughout Jamaica in small groups, the same way early Christianity did in the fi rst two centuries of its existence. Howell or ga nized widespread recruitment drives that enlarged his camps. He se- cured an abandoned estate in Spanish Town, where he established the Ethio- pian Salvation Society on Pinnacle Hill. It was reported that there were as many as two thousand members in the commune. As the undisputed cult head, Howell ran Pinnacle as an effi cient military camp. Members adhered to a code of conduct and Howell infl icted punishment for various infractions. Families inhabited small cooperative arrangements and were required to con- tribute free labor to the support of the cultic commune by growing specifi c crops on their plots of land. This gave birth to the growing of ganja for rituals and for use as a cash crop.16 A fl amboyant leader, Howell had many incarna- tions that gave a cue to his mental health: President General of the KKM; Gong or Gangunguru Maragh, lord of the universe; Wise Teacher; King; Counselor; and Prince Regent.17 He maintained that he was endowed with supernatural healing powers, prophetic gifts, and knowledge of God, and even saw himself as another Selassie, a second messiah. Chanting a per sis tent war on the colonial culture and economic system of the corrupt society Rastas called Babylon, Gong pressured his neighbors to switch their allegiance by paying taxes to Pinnacle, in the Emperor’s name, rather than to the Jamaican government.

Police busted the commune in 1941, arresting seventy members on charges of sedition, harassment, and cultivation of a dangerous drug. When the prophet escaped, members attributed the feat to his divinity, but he was caught promptly and again incarcerated. On Gong’s return to Pinnacle, he placed guards with vicious dogs at the gates, but this failed to deter police raids on the commune and so he endured additional imprisonments in the 1950s. On his fi nal arrest in 1954, about two hundred followers were detained, police razed the com- mune, and members absconded to Back- O-Wall, Kingston’s most impoverished ghetto. After the authorities committed Gong to a mental asylum in 1961, the forlorn pioneer faded into oblivion, and Claudius Henry, Mortimo Plano, and Count Ossie (found er of Rasta music) snatched the spotlight18 in the cult. Pin- nacle was a short- lived experience but had a lasting impact on the religion. Many Rastas live communally, use ganja as an essential sacrament, fl y Rasta colors and fl ags, wear the trademark dreadlocks, observe practices and teach- ings initiated by Howell, nurture a lasting odium for the Babylon police, keep women as second- class citizens, and hold Nyabinghi gatherings (fi rst adopted at Pinnacle),19 which became a staple liturgical feature of the movement and later became a major sect. Rastafari became a largely urban phenomenon prac- ticed under derelict conditions because of the police closing down Pinnacle and other rural communes.

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The Rastafari Chant • 293

Battling Babylon

JAH- JAH PEOPLE RISE UP By the 1950s, Rastas had become a critical voice of re sis tance against the race and class structures that fueled inequities in Jamaica and that had been sources of the 1938 uprising. The minority class controlled Jamaica’s economic means and po liti cal structure, to the destitution of the “wretched of the earth,” on whom they imposed their colonial values and will. Fortunate mulattos and the Anglicized middle- class Jamaicans glorifi ed Eu ro pe an culture, treated black- African traditions with utter disdain, and saw Rastafari as a social distraction and pariah. Rastafarians countered by trumping the colonial ideology that “nutten black nuh good”; they rejected the white man’s ways and refused to beg for crusts that fell from his table. Katrin Norris states, “While the conformist still looks on a white man as a source of fi nancial assistance and few would hesitate to beg from him . . . , the Rastafarians prefer to live in appalling squa- lor”20 rather than sacrifi ce their African pride and dignity. The government, fi nding in Rastas a perfect scapegoat for attacking growing nationalist anticolo- nial feelings over harsh economic conditions among the masses, fl exed its postcolonial muscles to silence the movement.

In response to persecution and police and public harassment, a new Rasta sect, the “Youth Black Faith,” showed its defi ance toward the dominant Baby- lon culture and oppression of Rastas in a radical cultural counterpoint; it used ganja publicly, groomed dreadlocks, wore ragged clothes, grew long beards, and abandoned En glish for Rasta talk, called I-an- I consciousness. Their new natty hair, unkempt clothes, and painted screw face gave them a menacing Mau- Mau warrior look that symbolized confrontation and warned that peaceful Dreads will defend themselves by appropriate means. The paranoid state gov- ernment enacted the Dangerous Drugs Law against the cultivation and use of ganja, drove Rastas from squatted lands, and razed many of their urban camps and “squaller- housing yards.” Riots broke out and Rastas were indiscriminately rounded up, forcibly shaved, beaten,21 and incarcerated. Driven to despair, a few Rastas accelerated preaching of repatriation to Ethiopia as a divine inter- vention to escape hellish Babylon. Some migrated to other islands— Canada, Britain, and the United States— while a minority contemplated the warpath.

Leader Claudius Henry claimed to be the “Repairer of the Breach” and “Moses of the Blacks” in order to allay po liti cal tension between Rastas and law enforcement, but he too lost faith in the Babylon system; his repatriation plans to take Jamaicans to Ethiopia on October 25, 1959, and his increasing militant posture set him on a collision course with police. In 1958, leader Prince Em- manuel rallied Rastas at a Nyabinghi convention held at the Coptic Theocratic Temple headquarters in Kingston to unite the movement into one or ga ni za tion for peaceful re sis tance. His effort failed, but the excessive ganja smoking of one of the Nyabinghi groups and the Rastas’ anticolonial rhetoric and criticism

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of the police received wide press coverage. Violent clashes between the police and Rastas, as well as the publicity of the convention, emboldened three hun- dred misguided, bearded Rastas to gather at Victoria Park in Kingston during which they announced plans to oust the government of Jamaica. A paltry number of the three hundred Rastas came three months later and occupied Old King’s House (the governor’s house) in the name of King Negus Negusta of Ethiopia, to the amusement of onlookers. However, the militant front unnerved authorities, who launched another offensive against the “miscreants.” A police assault team set a Bobo Shanti commune on fi re and arrested Claudius Henry for selling fake tickets for repatriation passage to Africa. At his headquarters, they seized a stash of weapons22 and two letters addressed to Fidel Castro that promised to assist him in invading Jamaica on the eve of the Rastas’ departure to Africa.

Before Henry could be convicted of sedition and imprisoned for his quix- otic coup idea, his son Ronald led radical Rastas in mounting a retaliatory as- sault on police. Jamaica’s Babylon government suppressed the riot swiftly, and the revolutionaries were executed. To stem the tide of further violence, Rasta- fari leader Mortimo Planno and a small delegation convinced the University of the West Indies to undertake a study of Rastafari to educate the public on its philosophy. The 1961 study, by Smith, Augier, and Nettleford, produced the fi rst substantive publication on the religion and made these recommendations to government: educate the public on the Rastafarian faith, end police brutality of Rastas, address the dereliction in Jamaica’s shanty- town, provide opportuni- ties for social expression for youths, and send a fact- fi nding mission to Ethiopia to investigate the Rastas’ claim of Haile Selassie’s land grant for repatriation. The government’s positive response to the report paved the way for better rela- tions between Rastas and the public, one that reached a watershed in Selassie’s follow- up visit to Jamaica in 1966.23

JAH GOES TO JAH- MAICA! The emperor’s visit in April 1966 drew the largest crowd in Jamaica’s history and gave Rastafari such extensive press coverage that national interest in the movement was sparked. “Jah ah come to h’ert (earth) in ah Jah- maica!” shouted Rastas. As Chevannes says, Jamaicans greeted the emperor with such enthusi- asm that mounting vocal devotion to him and his country seemed to threaten Jamaica’s rising nationalism and its relations with Britain. Haile Selassie I was humbled by the euphoric adulation but befuddled by the idea that he is the Rastafarian god. He acknowledged privately the Rastas’ right to their beliefs but saw their deifying him as amusing and misguided. Rastas, hearing no di- vine utterance from their messiah, put their best spin on His Majesty’s reti- cence, and took advantage of the publicity to strengthen their po liti cal base. After Selassie’s visit, several Rasta “houses” with sociopo liti cal agendas became prominent: the Human Rights Brethren Association of Barbican; the Rastafari Movement Black African Recruitment Center; the Rastafarian Repatriation Association; the Ethiopian African International Congress (or Rastafarian

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The Rastafari Chant • 295

Melchizedek Orthodox Church); and the Rastafari Brethren United Front, which led the Selassie visit.

With their national image at an all- time high, Rastas seized the moment to become a catalyst for po liti cal change. They contested the 1972 general elec- tions and, although the paltry po liti cal support for Ras Sam Brown’s ticket24 was largely in- house, Rastas gained publicity; one of Jamaica’s two national parties co- opted and politicized Rastafarian symbols and slogans to the advan- tage of both. This Rasta respite was checkered. In the 1970s and 1980s, they experienced a new wave of violent persecution on both sides of the Atlantic. Sensational tabloids, media hype, and the posturing of po liti cal hopefuls ste- reo typed Rastas as unkempt derelicts of society, West Indian Mafi a in En gland on the war path, Jamaican criminals on the prowl, New York Rastas in cahoots with the Colombian coca cartel, and drug traffi ckers, all threatening peaceful neighborhoods under the guise of religion. These created a sinister Rasta pho- bia that yielded deadly consequences.25 Law enforcement in Britain, the United States, South Africa, and the Ca rib be an, associating Dreads with un- solved hom i cides and as a cause of civil unrest, placed many under false arrest and incarceration for alleged drug dealing;26 others were beaten or murdered.

Ideological Orientations

Internationally, Rastafari is identifi ed most often with reggae music, dread- locks, and ganja smoking. These are but a few of the many orientations associ- ated with the beliefs and practices that constitute Rastafarian sects (houses). Ostensibly, Rastas believe in an Ethiopian messiah as jah (God), an Ethiopian- Zion vision, black repatriation ideology, an apocalyptic hope, patriarchal lead- ership, a reticulate or gan i za tion al structure (Edmonds), “livity” (mores, life- style, dietary habits, and ritual assembly), dread talk (I-talk) or “I-an- I” consciousness, a diffused system of beliefs,27 and an infatuation with the Bible and Afro- Christian thought. Some of these orientations are discussed in the sections that follow.

Jah Ras TafarI, the God- Man

“Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rides upon the heav- ens by his name jah, and rejoice before him” (Psalm 68:4, King James version). The “bredren” chant this as they hijack scripture and the God of their oppres- sors to redefi ne them in their image. For its fi rst forty years, Rastafari claimed its quintessential tenet to be that Selassie I is Jah RastafarI, its God and mes- siah. The exclamation Jah (a Hebrew synonym for God) RastafarI (uppercase I), the creator who sustains the universe, is the powerful, incarnated black God- man. He came to earth to bring deliverance to the poor and oppressed and functions as a successor to Christ. The concept of God- man recalls Jesus’s be- ing called “Son of Man” in Mark’s Gospel, but points to the oneness of being

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between the divine and humans. Jah is not the inaccessible, otherworldly, in- different god of the “Babylon religions,” but a black human Christ. Jah lives within I-an- I (a Rasta), and suffering humans, especially oppressed blacks, live in Him. No alienation exists between God and humans because “God shares a part of his being with those who were once poor”28 and oppressed. The evoca- tive chant “I-an- I Selassie I Jah RastafarI” has the force of the Muslim Shaha- dah: “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his Prophet.” However, it crosses the lines of Abrahamic mono the ism to “communotheism,” or the shar- ing of divinity;29 I-an- I is divine the same way the suffering Christ was human and divine. Rastas who identify with Selassie experience shared divinity ex- pressed in the “I” in RastafarI, pronounced Rasta- for- I (for me).

Before 1975, many Rastas held the belief that since they are one with Jah, they are divine, they cannot die; Jah never dies, and death contaminates body and soul. After departing earth, I-an- I continue with Jah, enjoying a new exis- tence, but not in a Hindu state of reincarnation; Rastas say they have “always existed in the distant past with Jah”; they need no rebirth. The Emperor’s hor- rifi c death in 1975, however, moved the faithful to invent new mythologies to account for his disappearance (or assassination). Bob Marley immortalizes Se- lassie I in his song “Jah Lives” and claimed that he is still alive— that his al- leged death was fabricated by his enemies or that he staged it to mystify Baby- lon. In another myth, Selassie I died but rose from the dead as Christ did; he is the Christ who was to come. Yet another Rastafarian view holds that Haile Selassie I, like the fi rst Buddha, is an extraordinary man and the most spiritual of leaders; he fulfi lls the prophetic role of Christ as the greatest black man and Christian King who lived. He is a descendant of David and Solomon, and he died a martyr for the faith, but he is not a deity.

A reigning Archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC), puzzled by Rastas’ advocacy of Selassie’s divinity, pleaded, “The emperor was not god to the Ethiopian people. . . . He was a religious man who was elected king of Ethiopia [and] it is my duty to speak the truth and to strongly advise my breth- ren and sisters . . . to be aware of the commandment of God: ‘Thou shall have no other gods before me— for I am a jealous God.’ ”30 Selassie I remained tute- lary head of the EOC until his death, carry ing the appellation Protector of the Faith of Christ; a 1955 constitution made him the church’s leader and legiti- mate authority. Article 5 of Ethiopia’s 1974 Draft Constitution also shows the Emperor as professing the faith and calling on Ethiopians to recognize his role in the EOC.31 At a World Evangelism Conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1966, Selassie I urged fellow delegates to be diligent in spreading the Christian faith by preaching the gospel to all nations.32 This religious man of royal hue showed no interest in being a god to Ca rib be an “sufferers”; but to most Rastas, he was too humble to acknowledge his divinity.

Selassie I’s nobility contributed to his ascribed divinity. Makonnen, his fa- ther, was king of the city of Harar and Ethiopian ambassador and emissary to Eu rope. Emperor Menelik II was Ras Tafari’s second cousin. He grew up Lij

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(child of a nobleman) and, while still a teenager, was made a provincial gover- nor. On Menelik II’s death, his granddaughter, Empress Zauditu, replaced his Muslim rival, Lij Yasu, and made Makonnen’s son, Lij Tafari, her trusted advi- sor, regent, and heir apparent to the throne. From 1916 to 1928, he held the mili- tary title Ras (head and prince) and became Negus (King) Tafari. After two years as king, he was crowned Emperor and, at his coronation, was given the supreme judicial- political rank Negusa Nagast (King of Kings). As Clinton Chis- holm notes, the titles Selassie I held, of course, were not unique; they were used commonly by past emperors as insignias of authority, po liti cal status, and power. The titles King of Kings of Ethiopia and Elect of God were used territori- ally in the 1800s to assert dominance over rival regional rulers and kings. Em- perors inscribed, on their offi cial seals, the words “The Lion of the Tribe of Ju- dah hath prevailed.” A Negus of Shoa addressed his correspondence “The Lion of the Tribe of Judah has conquered”; and Menelik II used Elect of God, King of the Kings of Ethiopia as bragging rights.33

Ithiopia, City of Zion

Rastafari’s’ orientation to Ethiopia claims to be historical, but it is largely myth- ological. From the Bible and other sources (for example, Kibra Nagast, The Holy Piby, The Promised Key, and Ethiopian messianism), Rastas came to see Ethiopia as an extension of favored Israelites and the city of Zion. According to the biblical story, Ethiopia’s close association with Israelites dates back to Mo- ses, who married an Ethiopian (Numbers 12:1). Many Ethiopians were con- scripted in the Hebrew military (2 Samuel 18:21); and Jeremiah, who spoke fi guratively of Ethiopian’s color and leopard’s skin (Jeremiah 13:23), was res- cued from danger by an Ethiopian Ebed- melech (Jeremiah 38:4– 14). Ethiopi- ans claimed royal descent from the Hebrew King Solomon and Queen Makeida of Sheba. According to a biblical story, the African Queen visited Solomon in Jerusalem to experience fi rsthand his wealthy kingdom and great wisdom (1 Kings 10:1– 13; 2 Chronicles 9:1– 12).34 In early Christian writings, Jesus is credited with giving prophetic credence to the story: “The Queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it; for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and behold a greater than Solomon is here” (Matthew 12:42). Therefore Ethiopia fi nds a pop u lar orientation in the Bible, a source of Rasta teachings.

The Coptic History of the Patriarchs (circa 500 c.e.) portrays Ethiopia as the kingdom of Sheba, out of which came the Queen of the South to see Solo- mon. Legend has it that during their encounter, Solomon and Makeida cohab- ited and sired a son, Menelik I, patriarch of Ethiopian kings, now ancestors of Emperor Haile Selassie I. According to the legend, Makeida— impressed by King Solomon’s wisdom and God— admitted she was a worshiper of Egypt’s sun god Re and quickly converted to worshiping the God of Israel. Kebra Na- gast (called the “Lost Bible of Black Man’s Wisdom”) established Ethiopia’s

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sacred history by glorifying the myth of the lineage of Ethiopian kings and emperors connected to King Solomon, Makeida, and ancient Hebrew religion. Another legend claims that the Hebrew Ark of the Covenant, taken from Jeru- salem and transferred to Menelik I, resides in Ethiopia, the ancient empire of Aksum, where the famous Queen had her capitol around 1000 b.c.e. “Today the Ark of the Covenant lies in the St. Mary of Zion Church in the ancient city of Aksum . . . birth place of Ethiopian civilization.”35 Excerpts from The Prom- ised Key and the Holy Piby, recorded later in this chapter, further propagate these myths and serve to glorify a spiritual Ethiopia as the City of Zion.

This saga with Solomon and the Ark of the Covenant became an essential orientation in Rastafari’ mythological history. Ethiopia, having become the sa- cred land and special people, is the seat of Jah and the home of blacks, who are made a superior race through their connection to Selassie I. In this historical connection, Rastas equate themselves with Falashas, black Jews in Ethiopia, many of whom were airlifted to Israel in the 1980s. In the mythic blending of their po liti cal and theological narratives, diaspora blacks who suffered in captiv- ity became Israelites. Throughout the history of blacks in the Americas, this mythology held up Ethiopia as the pride of Africa, a symbol and historic glory of the continent, and Ethiopians as being among God’s chosen ones. Africans took solace in the discovery that the Bible spoke well of Ethiopia, to which they looked with pride as their future home. They cherished the fact that they were called “Ethiopians” and drew on biblical themes related to Ethiopia to lift their psyche and sense of “some- bodiness” and to work for freedom from slavery.36 In postemancipation liberation narratives, “Ithiopia” is a vision of human dignity; religious struggle for equal rights and justice; “the transcendence of a negative self- image, racism, religious hegemony”; and freedom from economic and po- liti cal exploitation. To God’s new Children of Israel, who suffered “four hun- dred years of the Babylonian Captivity in plantation America,” Selassie I has become “the agent of an imminent liberation that entails a return to Ethiopia,” the blessed and wise promised land.37 Ethiopia is Zion, a symbol of hope for a new social order for the black race.

Repatriating Evil Babylon

REPATRIATION “We know where we’re going, we know where we’re from, we’re leaving Baby- lon, we’re going to our Father’s land,” sang Rasta Marley in “Exodus,” his para- digmatic appeal to the biblical memory of the Hebrew exodus and Babylonian exile, to express the Rasta notion of liberation and repatriation. Rastafari main- tains no consistent doctrine on repatriation, which it has only sporadically em- phasized. Infl uenced by the back- to- Africa movement, the strong, early repa- triation message of the 1930s to the 1960s advocated the physical return of large numbers of oppressed blacks to Ethiopia and Africa. However, less than three dozen Rastas actually overcame the mammoth fi nancial hurdle of migrating to

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Ethiopia; those who did settled to an arduous life in Shashamane in the Goba Valley. In 1955, Selassie I granted the American- based Ethiopian World Federa- tion a fi ve- hundred- acre lot of land in Shashamane as a kind gesture intended to benefi t a few Western blacks “who supported Ethiopia in the war against Mus- solini.”38 The emperor invited skilled Jamaicans to Ethiopia to continue the re- building effort in his country but had no place for a mass migration of unskilled peasants under the banner of repatriation. Rumors spread that Selassie had re- served a large settlement for repatriates and was building ships to transport them to Ethiopia. The following year, hundreds of the persuaded assembled at a Kingston port awaiting in vain the arrival of the “promised ships.” In 1958, a little- known Rasta, Prince Emmanuel Edwards from a Back- O-Wall camp in Kingston, called on Rastafarians to prepare for imminent repatriation to Ethio- pia. The following year, Claudius Henry bamboozled a number of people into selling their possessions and purchasing from him phony passage- tickets that were stamped October 25, 1959, for their imminent repatriation to Ethiopia.

After 1966, Rastas linked repatriation with reparation and retributive jus- tice owed to blacks during colonialism. One repatriates Babylon by fi ghting for justice and freedom from oppression in the system39 or by contributing to the impending apocalyptic fall of Babylon and a realization of the kingdom of Jah. Repatriation also involves an attitude and consciousness that rejects Babylon’s culture and values things African; most Rastas “step out ah Babylon” culturally and ideologically in their lifestyle and practices. The voice of re sis tance to op- pression urges that liberation from po liti cal control and economic deprivation40 begin within, “for only we can free our mind from mental slavery” (Bob Mar- ley, Redemption Song).

BABYLON No orientation is as consistently held by all Rastas as the belief that life in the African diaspora is under the curse and domination of agents of Babylon. The use of this apt typology draws on the biblical memory of the ancient Babylo- nian empire as the symbol of evil in its invasions and oppression of the He- brews and other peoples. The multivalent meta phor fi rst symbolized colonial rule in Jamaica, with its menacing police, race and class prejudice, and twisted socioeconomic system. Later it included world po liti cal systems and cultural traditions that contribute to the impoverishment and oppression of African peoples. Babylon is Leviathan the Beast in governments, whose almighty power defends the interest, ethical mores, values, and institutions of the wealthy against the wretched of the earth. These Rastas fi nd the culture of Babylon demon- strated also in the waste of the earth’s natural resources and in the greed of multinational corporations from the world’s richest nations.41 Rastas’ per sis tent chant against Babylon in reggae rhythms symbolically “delegitimizes” those Western values and institutions. In “Ride Natty Ride,” Marley sings, “All in all you see wa g’wan. It is to fi ght against the Rastaman. So they build their world in great confusion to force on us the Dev il’s illusion, But we refuse to be what

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they want us to be; we are what we are, that’s the way its going to be” (“Babylon System”). The battle against Babylon is construed in apocalyptic terms: evil arrayed against Jah and his people in a fi nal showdown. To Howell, Western governments and Christianity constitute the evil powers of Babylon, which are set against oppressed Africans. The complicity of the Catholic Church in the Eu ro pe an exploitation of African countries makes the Pope the Antichrist and the Vatican in Rome the “great harlot” of Babylon, spoken of in terms of the Apocalypse (Revelation). Jah will bring to a disastrous end the world’s corrupt Babylon system that one Rasta intellectual claims “conspire” to create for the masses “busted hopes, broken dreams, the blues of broken homes, and of dis- jointed tribes of people trapped by history.” 42 When Babylon falls, Jah will cre- ate a new society, where Rastas— God’s true Israelites— and the poor will rule the world in peace and love.

Reggae Freedom Chant

Music, especially reggae, is the most well- known Rastafarian orientation. In the earliest Rasta meetings, their music consisted of Christian hymns and cho- ral chants. At the Kingston ghetto camp, Burru drumming was added and consisted of the bass, fundeh,and repeater drums. Although the African Burru, played during Nyabinghi celebrations, remains the most authentic and distinct Rastafarian music, reggae, a latecomer, is its chief vehicle and the most univer- sally recognized cultural form. Since the early 1970s, Rastas have used this scintillating art as an effective communication tool, and it earned for them a broad international cultural appeal. Music is one of the movement’s greatest means of diffusion, especially from artists of the reggae revolution— the non- violent artistic revolt against the Babylon system and its colonial legacy. Rasta- fari’s message is spread and legitimized in the music of “the masters,” who sound its beliefs in dynamic rhythms and fl ash its culture in the media. The most notable among the masters were Desmond Decker, the late Nesta Robert Marley (his fi rst name is Nesta), Peter Tosh, Toots and the Mytals, and Burn- ing Spear;43 a few of these artists were actually diehard Rastafarians.

After many years of experimenting with various musical styles and forms, the destitute Marley and the Whalers made history; they created reggae after Bob “cited up Rasta” in the historic post- 1966 visit of Haile Selassie I. At the peak of Bob’s short career as arguably the most pop u lar musician of the second half of the twentieth century, he became Rastafari’s proxy and evangelist to the world. His fans found his colorful dance parties44 and reggae hits (for example, “Stir It Up,” “No Woman No Cry,” and “We Jamin”) irresistible, but they also heard that Selassie I is Jah the divine, incarnate in living fl esh; that the black man is suffering in a “War in Babylon”; and that Rastas must chant down the system because “Jah’s Kingdom Goes to Waste.” To resist Babylon, we must follow our “internalized alternative consciousness” 45 and not let anyone fool us, or try to school us, because “we got a mind of our own” (“Can You Be Loved”).

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Some try to brainwash us to make us into fools, hating us while telling us about their god above but we must “chase those crazy baldheads right out of town” (“Crazy Baldheads”).

In his revolutionary hits “Confrontation,” “Babylon System,” “Duppy Con- queror,” “War,” “Rebel Music,” “Burning,” “Catch a Fire,” “I Shot the Sheriff,” “Africa Unite,” and “Get Up Stand Up,” Bob waged a peaceful po liti cal war, chanting to the world the black struggle for dignity, economic justice, and in- clusion. When he performed “Zimbabwe,” before a massive audience at the nation’s in de pen dence celebration in Harare, he inspired black dignity and a call for freedom in many countries in Africa. In his cool rhythms—“Could You Be Loved,” “One Love,” and “Is Dis Love”— Bob is an ambassador for brother- hood and interracial harmony around the world. The death of the King of Reg- gae, similar to the murder of Selassie I six years earlier, was a great loss to the movement and the world. He died from a neglected soccer injury in 1981, but his death became the object of myths and conspiracy theories, implicating the Babylon police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Central Intelli- gence Agency.46 Some fans mythologize that Jah took Marley to heaven, be- cause a strange specter was seen in the sky over his home the minute he died. Some Rastas say Marley, like Jah, lives. He climaxed an epoch in Rastafari his- tory, put Jamaican culture on the map, and changed the world for the better through music and Rastafari.

Dawtars Dare to Trod

Ca rib be an religions of African origin are dominated by women and have a proclivity toward female leadership. Rastafari, however, broke that mold. Al- though it is now open to anyone, from its inception it was a male- dominated order where men outnumbered women three to one and “sistren” had no say. Mirroring its belief that it is made up of the new Israelites, the movement built its social structure on ancient Hebrew regulations found in the Torah. Like the Hebrew and Catholic priesthood, or like Buddhist’s sanghas (“orders”), Rasta- fari groups were perceived as male cultic orders; the men hung out together and assembled at private yards (“homes”) for ritual activities. Few “dawtars” (“women”) “trod” (“followed”) the movement; most of those who “cited up” (“ joined”) were brought in by their kingmen (“Rasta men”). “Bredren” (“men”) were leaders and “sistren” or dawtars, although called queens, served their kingmen and their “youths” (“children”) as good caretakers of the home.47 The bredren were head of all sistren in the “house”; all women in the Bobo Shanti sect are still lower in the pecking order than the kingmen’s sons; that is, male youths hold a higher status than their mothers and other women. A female can trod the path of Rastafari only through a male and cannot expect to attain the highest level of Rastafari wisdom without having a kingman as her head; he has the responsibility of balancing her thoughts, which are perceived as infe- rior and limited.

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In the Ca rib be an, except in East Indian communities, women have a strong rebel tradition and are authority fi gures in most homes.48 Especially since the 1960s, they also have outpaced men academically: girls now account for more than two- thirds of co- ed high school populations in Jamaica. Literate women are better providers than men and hold the social fabric of the family together, to the chagrin of their underemployed men, to whom they must play a proscribed role in the Rastafari communes. In “mansions,” women may per- form important tasks where their academic skills are needed, but the trea sur- ers and leaders are all male. Sistren cannot lead or direct rituals in the mansion (Rasta “church” meetings). At a binghi I attended with some students in Barba- dos in 1998, women were not allowed to take a lead role in the chanting of hymns or testimony. They are not denied “grounding” (“reasoning”) among them- selves, but this cherished activity of the body politic was for males.49 Under the infl uence of Revivalism, the Rastas’ reading of myths about the fall of Adam and Eve, the Delilah story, and ancient Hebrew ceremonial codes all generated many taboos that typecast women as unclean and dangerous. Rastas claim that men lose spiritual force during sexual intimacy and that they are most vulnerable during the menstrual fl ow of women, who must be temporarily quarantined from the rest of the family. The idea of women being hazardous to men recalls the secret societies in West Africa where women use their femi- nine resources as magical tools of empowerment to keep irresponsible men in check.50 Rastas who know of this African tradition feel discommoded by the idea and have one more reason to keep women “downpressed.”

Maureen Rowe and Imani Tafari- Ama (both Jamaican), Obiagele Lake from the United States, U.S. Lauretta Collins at the University of Puerto Rico, and other Rastafari scholars51 note that women’s role in Rastafari is no more proscribed than it is in the Babylonian culture in which the religion emerged. Jamaica has been patriarchal and has historically abridged women’s role in es- tablished religions. Rastas did not see women’s liberation and equality as their movement’s priority. As violence, economic disadvantage, discrimination, and racism were more pressing issues than sexism and patriarchy during the long night of the African American struggle, so too early Rasta women accepted their proscribed role to fi ght the more sinister causes of liberation from eco- nomic slavery and bigotry. Not immune to winds of change in the Ca rib be an, Rastafari saw a period of accommodation, when a signifi cantly larger number of women began “citing up” the movement. Many dawtas committed to the faith by trodding the Twelve Tribes of Israel, whose houses allowed sistren an active social role in the cult. For example, at offi cial functions, twenty- four members comprising equal numbers of men and women offi ciate. Women wear the Rasta colors, head wraps, dreadlocks, and tams, share in the challis, partici- pate in reasoning, and assert themselves at various gatherings.

Under the infl uence of the Ca rib be an Women’s Movement (CWM) in the 1970s, sistren were emboldened to initiate new changes in the movement by challenging its gender relations and ideology. CWM held several important

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conferences and initiatives in Jamaica, some under the international feminist umbrella, and had a signifi cant impact on Rastafari women, who began or ga- niz ing their own groups and associations regardless of the threat they posed to men. King Alpha and Queen Omega’s Theocracy Daughters, International Twelve, Dawtas United, and other women’s groups were formed in the 1980s to advance the cause of the sistren. They articulated their own perceptions of Rastafari in reasoning sessions; debunked social taboos of feminine sexuality; redefi ned Rastas’ beliefs about women’s spirituality; and collaborated to estab- lish spiritual, social, and economic circles of association within the movement. Ostensibly, they brought Rastafari patriarchy a new orientation on women.52

Structure and Cultus

From its inception, Rastafari formed from different cells led by its pioneers and remained a structurally loose reticulate movement, consisting of a network of heterogeneous circles of associations. These range in size from groupings of three or four families to several hundred who live in small shacks within “camps” (“squatting settlements”); “yards” comprising several poorly maintained small structures enclosed in a city community or ghetto; and regular homes. Most Rastas affi liate with one of many small camps, and others are “own- built” (“un- affi liated”); they follow Rastafari as individualists, with little interest in group association. As Makeda Lee explains, the “believers are of many kinds . . . there are the holy men, the patriarchs of the faith, and the sages, who can be found living in small shacks in . . . encampments on the hillsides and seashores, and in the heart of the ghetto.”53 Since the late 1950s, groups of Rastas, called “mansions,” and “houses” formed as autonomous sects and developed specifi c practices and beliefs. Houses are small, informal groups of ten to eigh teen Ras- tas whose members sustain an ongoing relationship. A mansion (often called a house) is a commune- type settlement or a sect of hundreds of Rastas led by a charismatic leader. Prince Edward’s Ethiopian National Congress, Abuna Fox’s Church of Haile Selassie, Rastafarian Theocratic Government, Peacemakers Association, Rastafari Movement Association, Sons of Negus Negusa, and Count Ossi’s Mystic Revelations of Rastafari are among the pop u lar houses in Ja- maica.54 They form an amphictyony, or loose federation, with no centralized authority.

Houses and Mansions

Notwithstanding their reticulate structure, camps, houses, and mansions form quasi- organizations that facilitate their orderly function. Their informal asso- ciations allow houses to communicate, collaborate, and socialize spontaneously. Some mansions are well or ga nized; their found ers are leaders and se nior elders of the commune. These elders certify anyone who is “citing- up Rasta” before they are considered legitimate, perform ceremonial rites, and offi ciate at funerals in

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houses, where the dead are ritualized. An elder travels, as a delegate, to inter- national Rastafari gatherings and reports to his house. He may also plan Nyabin- ghi and other ritual activities of the sect.55 The following houses, whose names have changed several times, are run by founding elders and represent the broadest cross- section of the faith: Bobo Dreads (Bobo Shanti), House of Nyabinghi (called variously Rastafari Theocratic “Issembly,” Theocratic Priest- hood and Livity Order of Rastafari, Prince Emanuel Edwards Ethiopian Inter- national Congress, and Ethiopian African International Congress), and the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

BOBO DREADS Bobo Dreads form the most recognizable sect within Rastafari; the tightly wrapped turbans covering matted locks is a most conspicuous Rasta cultural symbol. On special occasions, Bobos can be seen dressed in long black or white robes and sandals, with staff in hand, conducting eve ning prayers and paying tribute to their holy trinity.56 In the 1950s, disagreement among Rastafarians, caused by the dissident Youth Black Faith, over the necessity of growing dread- locks resulted in a split in the order; one faction formed the House of Dread- locks and another, which saw no need to “locksup,” formed the House of “Combesomes.” The House of Combesomes faded into other groups, but the House of Dreadlocks carried the distinguishing Rastafarian trademark. It fur- ther divided into regular dreads and Bobo Shanti, named after the Ashanti of Kumasi, Ghana. The Bobos eke out an existence from the most humble of circumstances— government’s displacement action forced many into Trench Town and other ghettoes of Kingston— but they are a very proud and self- assured group. These landless peasants originally squatted on “crown lands,” which allowed for the growing of sustenance food crops. As an important means of survival, they make and barter arts and crafts for the small tourist trade. Some Bobos escaped the ghetto and settled in Bull Bay in western Ja- maica, establishing another Rasta community and living communally and self- reliantly after Howell’s Pinnacle model. The Bobos are peaceful and denounce violence of every kind.

Bobo mythology is rich in symbolic meaning and typology. Embellishing an annual Roman Catholic tradition, Bobos view their “Ithiopian” African Black Congress Church, settled during state persecution, as Stations of the Cross ev- erywhere; the locations are named after an important place where Jesus walked. They named the Bull Bay settlement Mt. Temon, regarded as a sacred site from which Israel’s God originated, and claim to be the new biblical Israel- ites. Bobos are one of the few Rastafarian sects to develop a strict social code with taboos based on the Bible. They observe Sabbath from sundown on Fri- day to sundown on Saturday, follow sabbatical restrictions given in the Torah, and uphold rigid disciplines and female taboos on social relations in their commune. Their ceremonial observances often exceed the forms found in the Christian Old Testament. For example, male and female living quarters are

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separated for ritual purposes; sistren must observe strict purifi cation rituals, inspired by taboos associated with the female reproductive cycle. Every month, Bobo sistren spend a week in a hostel- type “sick house,” during which they must not cook for men or approach a ritual gathering. They do not share the chalice with males— an act that excludes them from the essential Rastafarian “livity” and fellowship. After childbirth, a sistren is unclean for up to three months and must be attended to by a “nurse.”57 In the commune, all sistren must be properly clad so as not to distract the brethren. They should cover their heads during prayer and other public rituals, they should not wear “cross- gender” clothing, and must not straighten their hair. Bobo’s houses are com- munities of social control and allegiances. At his own commune, Prince Em- manuel is the absolute authority; he is the divine prince of the holy trinity (son of God) and a reincarnated “Melchizedek.” At the heart of this trinity are three constituent divinities in a triad of priest, prophet, and king: Selassie is Father of creation and King Alpha, Garvey is prophet, and Emmanuel is Priest. When Emmanuel died in 1993, Bobos claimed he left only for a short while; he re- turned58 as a reincarnated black Christ, sent to earth, and is on par with Selassie I the divine.

NYABINGHI ORDER Nyabinghi is a religious sect, an assembly, a ritual celebration, a musical or drumming style, and an ideology expressing a spirit of re sis tance to oppression. Associated with an uprising against Eu ro pe an colonists in southwestern Ugan- da’s Ndorwa- Kajara region, in the late 1800s, Nya and Binghi meant “death to oppressors.” Among women who led the insurgence was the much- feared med- icine woman Muhumusa. Myth has it that she possessed the spirit of a legend- ary Amazon Queen, Nyabinghi, which gave her supernatural powers. Rastas appropriated Nyabinghi as their liberation motto after Jamaica Times (1935) ran an article “Nya- Binghi,” written by Italian journalist Frederico Philos and published as propaganda in a Vienna newspaper in August, 1934. Intending to justify Italian- European aggression against Ethiopia, Philos charged that Afri- can nations were leading a secret society called the Order of Nyabinghi, founded by the king of the Kongo to resist white colonial rule in Africa. Philos claims that at a congress in Moscow in 1930, the eighty- two African delegates unanimously gave Selassie supreme powers in the Nyabinghi. The emperor then swore to go to war against Eu ro pe ans and “is regarded as a veritable messiah, a savior to colored people everywhere, the Emperor of the Negro Kingdom. . . . He is their god.”59 The sensational article, printed with a picture of the Emperor in an Ethiopian Amharic warrior’s headdress, circulated throughout Kingston’s shantytown at the beginning of Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia and infl amed angry passion among Rasta pioneers.60

In 1949, Jamaican Rastas held a convention at Wareika Hills under a Nyabinghi banner to show their large rally’s solidarity with the African strug- gle. Shortly thereafter, militants of the Youth Black Faith reappropriated the

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Nyabinghi concept as a battle cry against persecution. Later, Rastas or ga nized several orders under the name Nyabinghi. The House of Nyabinghi called TPLOR constitutes one of the largest sects in Rastafari.61 It claims that Selassie I authorized the founding of the original House of Nyabinghi in the late 1940s. This is celebrated in a symbolic dance that is dedicated to the African struggle. TPLOR says its order began with the mysterious Bible character Melchizedek, King of Salem, the mythic biblical high priest who has no beginning or end of days and no father or mother (Genesis 14:17- 24). Selassie I is the new Melchize- dek, and elders of the house of Nyabinghi, the keepers of the faith, are inheri- tors of the divine order of Melchizedek. Leonard Howell also claimed to be Melchizedek, and the Ethiopian National Congress regards its found er and fi rst leader, Emanuel Edwards, its Melchizedek. So the ancient mythic charac- ter of Mesopotamia has several Rasta impersonations.

Ras Pidow, a priest, poet, and theologian (born in 1931), and Ras Sam Brown (1921 to 1998), two of the most well- known elders of the Nyabinghi Theocratic Order, articulated its belief in this abbreviated manifesto:

• We strongly object to sharp implements used in the desecration of the fi gure of man, e.g., trimming. . . .

• We are . . . vegetarians, making scant use of certain animal fl esh yet outlawing the use of swine’s fl esh in any forms, shell fi sh, scaleless fi sh, and snails.

• We worship and observe no God but Ras Tafari, outlawing all forms of pagan worship.

• We love and respect the brotherhood of mankind yet our fi rst love is to the sons of Ham.

• We disapprove and utterly hate jealousy, envy, deceit, guile, treachery. . . .

• We are avowed to create a world order of one brotherhood, and ad- here to the ancient laws of Ethiopia.

• Our duty is to extend the hands of charity to any brother in dis- tress . . . to any human, animals, plants.62

TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL Twelve Tribes, a name adopted from ancient Hebrews, is the strongest and most progressive house in Rastafari. Made famous by Marley, the king of reg- gae, it has established branches in many Ca rib be an states, the United States, Eu rope, Canada, and Africa. Members of the Tribes consist of what is termed Rasta’s ethnically diverse middle class. The sect has an or ga nized leadership that is incongruent with the acephalous nature and antihierarchy philosophy of Rastafari. Vernon Carrington, Prophet Gad, heads the Tribes, which is served by an executive board of thirteen elders and a twenty- four- member body made of twelve male and twelve female representatives. Members on the board have a stated policy for fi lling their vacant seats, and the prophet Gad (Gadman)

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approves board appointees and decisions and maintains control of the sect. Gadman Carrington claims he founded the order in 1968, following Selassie I’s visit to Jamaica in 1966, as the lost tribes of Israel. He also claims to have ex- perienced a vision from Jah to or ga nize the group under the name Twelve Tribes. Until the 1970s, however, the sect existed as Local Chapter 15 of the Ethiopian World Federation (EWF), located in Trench Town; it changed its name to Twelve Tribes during the reggae explosion of the 1970s.63

Revivalist leader Carrington synthesized the Bible with Egyptian and Ethiopian myths, African history, and Jewish mystical Kabbalah numerology to frame the sect’s beliefs. Through Selassie I, Tribers claim to be descen- dants of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. His Majesty is the second- coming manifestation of Christ, as taught in the Bible. Members of the Tribes trace their roots to the twelve tribes of Israel and use the number twelve as a sacred wand for genealogical and metaphysical determinations. They replicate the twelve disciples of Jesus, and each member takes a biblical tribal name based on the twelve signs of the Zodiac and one’s birth month. The Tribes are among the 144,000 whom Jah will save “from the four corners of the earth” (Revelation 7:3- 8). Twelve Tribes freely showcase their middle- class values. Unlike vintage Rastas, tribesmen share roles with the sistren64 and may choose not to wear dreadlocks and to groom facial hair. Strict adherence to a vegetarian diet is not required, and some members eat salted meat, forbidden in other houses. Tribes bury their dead and attend funerals, as they did at Bob Marley’s passing.

Livity and Ital Rituals

An essential orientation of Rastafari is the integrative praxis— lived out in commitment to its rituals and social code— called livity, an all- inclusive idea that involves such things as beliefs, dietary choices, pharmacopeia, ritual ganja, Nyabinghi, lifestyle, and symbols of the faith. The livity mantra is multipur- pose: it symbolically expresses Rastas’ cultural alternative to social norms and a lifestyle they designed for themselves on the basis of their view of biblical teachings; it is an attempt to model a life that honors Jah while living in har- mony with the natural order of things; and it is a path to true spirituality and holistic health. The complex livity concept incorporates elements of African culture that survived among Ca rib be an peasants and is a veritable rejection of Western consumerism, intrusive science and technology, postmodernist ethics, and the modern medicine of Babylon.

DREADLOCKS, SYMBOLS OF RE SIS TANCE Most characteristics of the Rastafari livity are its symbols of re sis tance, chief among which are the darning of beards and dreadlocks; the wearing of tams (or ites); unkempt clothes; the Haile Selassie icon; and the lion- and- cross mas- cot cast against the colors of their fl ag, which are green, black, red, and gold.

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Red symbolizes the triumphant faith of Rastafari and the blood of those who died in the cause of freedom for enslaved and oppressed Africans. Black repre- sents the resilient African race, holiness, and wisdom. Green represents the holy herb and the beautiful vegetation of Africa and Jamaica. Gold is a symbol of the purity of Rastafari’s philosophy and faith, as well as the “natural wealth” and hope of Africa and Jamaica;65 Africans are impoverished, but the conti- nent is rich in minerals, diamonds, gold, bauxite, fossil fuel, and rubber— all controlled by Babylon companies. Darning dreadlocks is not original to Rasta- fari and was not a dominant feature of the movement before the 1950s.66 It was appropriated from several sources: Jamaican Hindu holy men, East African Galla, Somali or Masai tribesmen, and the Mau Mau of Kenya, all of whom grew matted locks. After a group of Rastas started wearing locks in western Kings- ton, they took the Hindi name Jagavi. “Locksingup” got pop u lar after Rastas saw photos of Kenyan Mau Mau freedom fi ghters and of Jomo Kenyata’s Re- form army resisting colonial rule.67 Pictures of Ethiopian monks wearing dreadlocks appeared in a 1970 issue of National Geographic, coinciding with the emerging worldwide appearance of reggae and its superstar Marley darning his locks. Since then, locks became the authentic Rastafarian icon68 and pop cultural symbol of choice, internationally.

For Rastas, dreadlocks are both important elements in a lifestyle and an au- thentic symbol of re sis tance to Babylon culture. What could be a more powerful symbol of re sis tance than the locks that show Rastas’ “lion- ness,” or inner strength, as followers of the African lion of the tribe of Judah? The crown, formed by the matted hair, identifi es with the crown of Selassie I and is a symbol of the king of beasts whose hairy mane warns enemies of its lethal strength. In Rastafari, the lion embodies moral fortitude, fearless re sis tance, “and wholesome integrity that come from self- realization.” 69 Also, the grooming of the locks was a reform trend, intended to purge the movement of the revivalist elements it re- tained in its rituals. Dreadlocks and matted hair point to a staunch African identity and a way of expressing Rastas’ natural lifestyle, in sharp contrast to the unnatural straightened hair glorifi ed as a symbol of beauty in colonial society. Rastas grow locks also as a sign of their Nazarite vow to follow Jah, in appropria- tion of the biblical story of strongman Sampson (Judges 16 and 17), who single- handedly vanquished the armies of the enemies of the Hebrews as long as he kept his locks and obeyed his god. Dreadlocks heighten the brethren’s psyche and improve their status in the house; the longer one’s locks, “the greater his standing as a professor of the faith.”70 For many Rastas, wearing locks is optional, but it is an important orientation and symbol of the faith.

ITAL LIVING Ital living is true to Rastas’ Nazerite lifestyle, in imitation of an ancient Hebrew practice. Rastas grow long hair naturally, although many locks are superfi cial; they do not consume alcohol or smoke tobacco products; they avoid corpses and, with the exception of members of Twelve Tribes of Israel, do not attend

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funerals— Rastafari is a religion of the living, not the dead. The bredren are op- posed to war and the shedding of blood, especially human blood, even if the in- tent is to save lives; Jah is a god of peace and love, not violence and bloodshed. Rastas view, as taboo, family planning programs; divorce and remarriage (many replace traditional marriage practices with those of African traditions); and same- sex unions, which they regard as an abomination to Jah. Cosmetic make overs and the straightening of kinky hair also dishonor Jah, since it shows enslavement to the Babylon culture and lack of African pride. The ital code also marks a time of purity when Rastas set themselves apart from natural pleasures.

Rastas believe in preserving the environment. In rural areas, they mostly live off squatted lands, which they attempt to keep free from pollutants. Their humble yards (homes) are built of wood and other environmentally friendly plant products. Although the harsh economic realities of the Ca rib be an make it impossible for them to live “strictly ital” (on organic foods), Rastas strive to consume homegrown foods in order to be in de pen dent of evil Babylon’s “poi- sonous system,” which is seen in the contamination of foods through pro- cessing plants, canning, and preservatives. Among meat foods, pork, certain species of marine life (shellfi sh and scaleless fi sh), birds, and animals— all regarded as earth’s scavengers and predators— are on the forbidden list. Like Medieval Jewish teacher Moses Maimonides, Rastas claim that eating preda- tory or carnivorous animals makes one violent. Salted foods are also off- limits for many, because they are associated with slavery and with African- Maroon myths of salt interfering with human communication. Rastas say that salt clouds their vision and abridges their freedom in Babylon, just as slaves suf- fered in Jamaica.

Ca rib be an Rastas have limited access to health care and few of them trust Babylon’s medical system, regarded as contributing to the pollution of the envi- ronment.71 Furthermore, the per for mance of modern medical experiments on black human subjects is suspected. In most rural communities, Rastas rely strictly on ital medicines taken from a variety of plants. Ganja (known in non- Rasta society as grass, marijuana, hemp, and cannabis) is the most pop u lar item in their pharmacopeia. Rastas call it callie (kali), Iley, holy herb, and wis- dom weed and put it to multiple use, as has been done in Ca rib be an society for more than 150 years. Jamaican use of the herb is traced to many sources, among them India and western, central, and southern Africa. In the Demo- cratic Republic of the Congo, for example, ganja pipes were smoked to the beat of drums and ritual chants and dances in ATRs. West African traditional heal- ers use the herb to procure a variety of cures for aches and pains, spells, and to access spiritual power. In Kumina ceremonies in Jamaica, cannabis is smoked for health and spiritual reasons,72 as is done in West Africa.

HERBS HEAL THE NATION Smoking ganja was a Ca rib be an practice among the working class, infl uenced by colonial postemancipation Indian immigration. The use of Indian hemp was

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pop u lar among the indentured East Indian immigrants brought by the British into their territories in the second half of the 1800s. Those immigrant workers grew cannabis among their food crops, in garden plots, and on their host plan- tations for medical, spiritual, and recreational use. Like their African ances- tors, Ca rib be an herbalists and medicine men use ganja as folk medicine, dis- creetly mixed with other herbs. Rastas cite Scripture: “Of the herbs that bear the various fruits, the leaf of it shall be the healing of the nation” (Revelation 22:2, King James version). The holy herb heals the Rasta nation. In Rasta my- thology, “herbs feed the brain, prevent cancer,” and suppress an overly active sex drive. As Amerindians do with tobacco, parents blow the smoke of the herb in the face of children to cure common colds and coughs. The herb is chewed, smoked, cooked in foods or brewed as a panacea for a variety of ailments, among them asthma, stomach disorders, fevers, cramps, and rheumatism. Rastas are well known for their ganja herbal teas and “roots- tonics”;73 this petit trade is used to subsidize their meager income, while at the same time one of the earth’s natural sources provides cures for ailments.

Rastas’ medical and culinary use of the sacred herb is less well known than their cultic sacramental use, which was neither widespread nor a sacred ritual until the late 1950s. It would be later still before biblical warrant would be sum- moned in support of a doctrine of the sacrament and the labeling of ganja as a “holy herb for the healing of the nation.”74 Hindu mystical ideas infl uenced the religion’s sacramental use of ganja. The use of the chillum pipe— one of the two pipes used in “pulling the chalice” (the ritual smoking of ganja)— the manner in which it is used, and the method of preparing ganja for the chalice are East In- dian in origin. The other pipe used is the Kochi. Howell made ganja use a ritual at Pinnacle Hill at the same time that he adopted East Indian titles. Following this, the Youth Black Faith institutionalized the herb as an integral part of their worship. As Chevannes explains, to ensure that they used ganja only “as part of their religious practices and beliefs, the Youth Black Faith” prohibited its mem- bers from carry ing ganja paraphernalia on them as drug traffi ckers do. A myth of con ve nience says the holy herb received its sacredness and spiritual force from fi rst appearing as a plant on the grave of King Solomon, who built the fi rst temple to Jah, and therefore pulling the chalice renders “I-an- I” as wise as Solomon.75

The sharing of the single ganja pipe imitates Christ and his disciples cele- brating the Jewish Passover sacrament with the sharing of a single cup of wine and thus enhances communal bonds. Brethren say the holy herb is a source of enlightenment and a means of spiritual nourishment; its ritual smoking en- hances meditation, gives clarity of thought in reasoning sessions and Nyabin- ghi ser vices, and soothes the troubled mind. It is also an expression of authen- tic individual freedom given by Jah as well as a symbol of re sis tance to Babylon’s culture. Jah created and blessed the callie for I-an- I: “He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle and herb for the ser vice of man, that he may bring forth food out of the earth” (Psalm 104:14); “and thou shalt eat the herb of the fi eld”

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(Genesis 3:18); “eat every herb of the land” (Exodus 10:12); “Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred there with” (Proverbs 15:17 King James version). So what Jah- Jah blessed, let no Babylon curse as illegal. No legal infractions were committed in the use of ganja before Babylon made it illegal in the 1930s. The criminalizing of ganja began after the Egyptian gov- ernment persuaded the League of Nations to place marijuana on its Dangerous Drugs list in 1924, after which Britain prohibited its use in all of its colo- nies, with exceptions made for medical and scientifi c use. After the 1938 revolt, caused largely by economic deprivation in Jamaica, authorities invoked the Dangerous Drug Law and declared marijuana a nuisance, erroneously claim- ing that its use infl uenced the uprising among Rastas. In spite of the po liti cal myths, no research has shown that ritual ganja makes Rastas violent.

RITUAL NYABINGHI Rastafari’s festive rituals fi nd their fullest expression in the Nyabinghi meeting, the most important of Rastafarian “Issemblies.” Rastas initiated the binghi in the Warika Hills communes, Pinnacle Hill, and Kingston’s shantytown as a sym- bolic worship event. As Chevannes notes, this was “a death- by- magic ritual in which an effi gy representing the intended victim is consumed by fi re while all the participants dance under a spell of buru drumming called ‘tuokin [stoking?] the drum.’ ” At fi rst, “the ritual was performed in the presence of Rastafari only,”76 as a music festival, but today it is less secretive. It is enacted with a spe- cial drumming style known as “churchical” (religious) music and combines “in- struments and rhythmic techniques of the African Burru drums and rhythms with Rastafarian Christian- based hymn singing and chanting”77 lyrics. The Afri- can Nyabinghi music style survived in Revival, Pocomina, and especially Burru and Kumina drumming. Rastafari’s three- drum set— called the akete (the bass), fundeh, and repeater— are Burru in origin and form the binghi’s most authentic musical base. Although the binghi music emerged from Back- O-Wall in the 1940s and 1950s, it was unknown before the Rasta conference in 1958. Notwith- standing the popularity of reggae, Rastafari retains the distinctly African- Buru musical score that is unmistakable in the binghi celebration.

The ceremonial binghi can last for several days, and in addition to sing- ing, drumming, and dancing, it consists of reading the scriptures, reasoning, testimony, and sharing the chalice. At two Rasta binghis I was privileged to attend (in Barbados and Trinidad), smoke fi lled the air around us as drums kept a deep and steady “haunting beat” and brethren sang lyrics, repeatedly, into the wee hours of the morning. Drummers and song leaders paused only to catch their breath before the next song began; it was as if Jah was not in a hurry for anything. The smoke that greeted my students and me at the Bar- bados camp came not from the holy herb but from a bonfi re, symbolically lit to burn down Babylon. The Binghi Night lasted from 10:00 p.m. on Sunday to 6:00 a.m. on Monday, during which brethren danced around an altar- table that was covered with gifts (food, herbs, and so forth), pictures of Selassie, and

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Bibles; the food on the table recalls the table in Revivalism. Brethren led chants in immediate succession as the fi re burned continuously to the unceas- ing drumbeat.78 When a voice signaled a long overdue intermission, one breth- ren at a time began reading passages from the Bible as a basis for the ensuing reasoning.

GROUNDATION In the binghi, Rastas assemble for a spiritual grounding in the faith; this is the most common communal activity found in all Rastafari houses. Groundings are meetings where Rastas assemble for intellectual refl ection, or reasoning, on a regular basis. They are also held during the commemoration of important events on the liturgical calendar, such as Groundation Day, which celebrates Selassie’s visit to Jamaica in 1966. Although unstructured and informal, the meetings are used to instruct new adherents in the principles of the faith. Grounding occurs in the yards of leading brethren. Some Rastas ground in each others’ yards daily as a social activity to build community politic. Ground- ing takes the form of biblical texts citations, exhortations, homilies, explana- tions, and commentaries on current events; Rastas share their views on theology, politics, and a variety of other issues. In most houses, groundation is accompa- nied by the ganja sacrament.79 An unoffi cial calendar guides Rastafari’s ritual occasions. Each April, Rastas observe the anniversary of the Emperor’s visit to Jamaica; they celebrate his birthday on July 23 and commemorate his coronation on November 2. They honor found ers of their houses and celebrate birthdays of national heroes like Marcus Garvey, Paul Bogle, and Maroon free- dom fi ghter Nanny. Also commemorated are Emancipation Day (August 1), Ethiopian Christmas (January 7), and the beginning of the Ethiopian year on April 1.

Conclusion

Rastafari evolved as a despised and dreaded tumor among the downtrodden but has become Jamaica’s most pop u lar religious movement of modern times. The persecuted dreadlocks- waving, ganja- smoking, unkempt followers of the renegade cult chanting down evil Babylon are now the proud bearers of a com- mercialized Babylon culture. This is but another phase of the social struggle and misery that gave birth to the religion. Africanists combined their anticolo- nial liberation ideology with the black struggle for equality and dignity and grounded their Ethiopian messianic hope in an eschatology of a returned Mes- siah. The fact that Rastas chose a diminutive Haile Selassie I as that messiah must remain a paradox. His supporters, who saw him as special and as a leader who did great things for his country, say that he gave Ethiopia international recognition by getting it into the League of Nations in 1924; he also modern- ized the country with automobiles, electricity, postal ser vices, and a world- class international airport; abolished elements of Ethiopia’s cruel penal system;

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made improvements in transportation and health; and gained respect for his country with his decisive defeat of Italy.

Ethiopia under Selassie I, however, was no paradise, and the emperor was not a merciful god to his po liti cal dissenters, especially from the breakaway country- state of Eritrea. He lived in opulence, lavishly entertaining dignitaries at the royal palace while giving beggarly handouts to starving peasants in order to keep their homage.80 Selassie I surrounded his administration with unsavory characters, some of whom were “Babylonians” of Italian descent. Ethiopian masses lived in squalor, poor health, and backwardness. The illiteracy rate in the country was about 90 percent. These realities of Haile Selassie’s ineptitude did not factor into Rastafarian theology, because religions are born of myths, new consciousness, and faith rather than truth, science, or logic.

Excerpts

The First Chant: Leonard Howell’s The Promised Key, with Commentary by William David Spencer

The Mystery Country

I wish to state to you my dear Readers, that Ethiopia is a Country of great con- trasts largely unexplored and is populated by Black People whose attitude to- wards this so called Western civilization has not changed within the last six thousand years.

The people are Christians while retain Primitive customs. The result is that the Black People of Ethiopia are extraordinarily blended into a refi ned fashion that cannot be met with in any other part of the world.

In 1930 the Duke of Gloucester undertook one of the most interesting du- ties he had been called upon to execute up to this date. The occasion was the Coronation of His Majesty Ras Tafari the King of Kings and Lord of Lords the conquering Lion of Judah, the Elect of God and the Light of the world.

The Duke was to represent his father The Anglo Saxon King. The Duke handed to His Majesty Rastafari the King of Kings and Lord of Lords a Scep- tre of solid gold twenty seven inches long of which had been taken from the hands of Ethiopia some thousand years ago.

The Duke fell down bending knees before His Majesty Ras Tafari the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and spoke in a loud tone of voice and said, “Master,

Excerpt: Selection reprinted from Nathaniel Samuel Murrell, William David Spencer, and Adrian Anthony McFarlane, Chanting Down Babylon: The Rastafari Reader (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998).

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Master my father has sent me to represent him sir. He is unable to come and he said that he will serve you to the end Master.” See Psalm 72:9 to 11 verses, also see Gen. 49 chap. 10 verse.

On one side of the Sceptre was inscribed Ethiopia shall make her hands reach unto God, and on the other side the King of Kings of Ethiopia, the top of the shaft was fi nished with a seal and above was a clen cross in which a single carbuncle was set.

The Sceptre was a magnifi cent piece of workmanship and had been de- signed from an historic piece in which was the special ceremonies of His Royal Highness of Ethiopia, Earth’s Rightful Ruler.

The Duke also handed to Queen Omega the Empress of Ethiopia a Scep- tre of gold and ivory. The shaft being in the form of a spray of lilies and at the top a spray of lilies in bloom.

It was a brilliant ceremony, the church began to fi ll. The Ethiopians were brilliant in special robes having discarded their precious white robes, and wore Jewels of great value.

The men’s swords being heavily ornamented with gems. On their heads they wore gold braided hats, in which the covered lion’s manes were to be seen. In contraction then were the solar note struck by the women who were heavily veiled, and wore heavy cloaks.

His and Her Majesty King Alpha and Queen Omega the King of Kings drove to the Cathedral in a Coach drawn by six white Arab horses.

Queen Omega in a Robe of Silver and the escort on mules wearing lion’s skin over their shoulders, forming into pro cession outside the Cathedral.

King Ras Tafari and Queen Omega the Royal pair, the escort and a line of Bishops and Priests entered, the guests rank obeisance.

King Alpha sitting on his Throne homage was done to him by the Bishops and Priests fulfi lling the 21st. Psalm. The ceremony took 10 days from the second day to the eleventh day of November 1930.

King Alpha was presented with the orb spurs, and spears and many other mighty emblems of His High Offi ce, Dignitaries of the world power presented King Alpha with the wealth of oceans.

The Emperor attended to most of his preparations for the reception of his thousands of guests himself, and day after day could be seen rushing about in his scarlet car seeing how the white labourers were getting on with the new road he had ordered that the lawns he had laid down be attended to and that the extension of the electric lights throughout the city were being hurried on.

The False Religion

All the Churches Religious system of today, claims to represent the Lord God of Israel; but the Pope who is Satan the dev il, false or ga ni za tion, it is a hypo- critical religious system that has three elements, fi rst commercial po liti cal and ecclesiastical, to keep the people in ignorance of their wicked course.

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. . . . . . . .

The Promised Key

The glory that was Solomon greater still reigns in Ethiopia We can see all the Kings of earth surrendering their crowns to His Majesty Ras Tafari the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Earth’s Rightful Ruler to reign for ever and ever.

Upon His Majesty Ras Tafari’s head are many diadems and on His garment a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords oh come let us adore him for he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The Conquering Lion of Judah, The Elect of God and the Light of the world.

His Majesty Ras Tafari is the head over all man for he is the Supreme God. His body is the fullness of him that fi lleth all in all. Now my dear people let this be our goal, forward to the King of Kings must be the cry of our social hope. Forward to the King of Kings to purify our social standards and our way of living, and rebuild and inspire our character. Forward to the King of Kings to learn the worth of manhood and womanhood. Forward to the King of Kings to learn His code of Law from the mount demanding absolute Love, Purity, Honesty, Truthfulness. Forward to the King of Kings to learn His Laws and social order, so that virtue will eventually gain the victory over our body and soul and that truth will drive away falsehood and fraud. Members of the King of Kings, arise for God’s sake and put your armour on.

Dear inhabitants of this Western Hemi sphere, the King of Kings warriors can never be defeated, the Pope of Rome and his agents shall not prevail against the King of Kings host warriors you all must stand up, stand up, for the King of Kings.

All ye warriors of the King of Kings lift high King Alpha’s Royal Banner, from victory to victory King Alpha shall lead his army till every enemy is vanquished.

Ethiopia’s Kingdom

Dear inhabitants of this world King Ras Tafari and Queen Omega are the foundation stones of the resurrection of the Kingdom of Ethiopia.

Their prayer and labour for our resurrection is past fi nding out; no library in this world is able to contain the work of their hands for us, for they work both day and night for our deliverance.

As for this generation of the 20th century you and I have no knowledge how worlds are build and upon what trigger Kingdoms are set.

In King Alpha’s Encyclopedia he will explain to us all, how worlds are be- ing built and upon what trigger Kingdoms are set on. He will also explain to us the capacities of generations.

Speaking for the Universe and the womanhood of man Queen Omega the Ethiopian woman is the crown woman of this world. She hands us Her

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Rule Book from the poles of supreme authority she is the Cannon Mistress of creation.

King Alpha and Queen Omega are the paymasters of the world, Bible own er and money mint. Do not forget they are Black People if you please.

Owing to the universal rend of our ancient and modern Kingdoms we are at this junction of our history scattered over the Globe into little sectional groups.

All our local bands throughout the globe are bent towards King Alpha’s Royal Repository, the Royal Authority is to admit all Bands, Mission Camps, Denominations into this supreme Royal Repository.

Queen Omega being the balming mistress of many worlds she charges the power house right now.

Ethiopia is the succeeding Kingdom of the Anglo- Saxon Kingdom. A man of greater learning and a better Christian soul, than King Alpha is not to be found on the face of the Globe. He makes the nations hearts rejoice with rag- ing joy, we give him the glory. Ethiopia rule book leads us into different depart- ments of the Kingdom, the rec ords of the Kingdom are with us unto this day. The Regulations points us to the basis of the Kingdom.

Many will not see the truth, because they are spiritually blind. See Mat- thew 3:13. The woman of Samaria fi rst re[f]used to obey the request of our Lord because she was spiritually blind. But when the great Physician opened up her eyes and healed her of her infi rmities concerning her many husbands in the city of Samaria, she found out that her fi rst teachers of denominations throughout the state or country of Samaria were false. Then she cried aloud unto the inhabitants of the city and said “Come see a man that told me all that I ever did” and is not a native of Samaria but an Hebrew, is not this man the very Christ. Our cities of today are inhabited with the same qualities of people as it was in the days of Jesus and the woman of Samaria.

The Holy Piby: Blackman’s Bible and Garveyite Ethiopianist Epic in Commentary

The Second Book of Athlyi Called Aggregation

Chapter 1: Heaven Grieved

1. For as much as the children of Ethiopia, God’s favorite people of old, have drifted away from his divine majesty, neglecting life economic,

Excerpt: From Hemchand Gossai and Nathaniel Samuel Murrell, eds., Religion, Culture and Tradition in the Ca rib be an (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000), reproduced with permission from Palgrave Macmillan.

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The Rastafari Chant • 317

believing they should on spiritual wings fl y to the kingdom of God, consequently became a con ve nient for the welfare of others.

2. Therefore the whole heaven was grieved and there was a great lamentation in the kingdom of God. Ethiopian mothers whose bodies have been dead a thousand years, weeping for their suffering genera- tions and would not be comforted.

3. And behold two angels of the Lord resembling two saints of Ethiopia appeared before Athyli and he inquired of them what is the cry?

4. And they answered him saying, Ethiopian mothers who have been dead a thousand years pleading before Elijah for the redemption of suffering Ethiopia and her posterities who by the feet of the nations are trodden.

. . . . . . . .

Rejoicing in Heaven

19. There was great rejoicing in heaven and singing hosanna to Elijah; praise ye Douglas; blessed be thou Ethiopia forever and forever; the people at the end of the known world, and world unknown shall look for the coming of thy children with food and with raiment.

20. And when the two angels had joined the multitude and the mighty angel had fi nished his per for mance the said angel who was robed in colors turned to the heavenly host and said:

21. Mothers of Ethiopia, the convention has triumphed, your sor- rows have brought joy to Ethiopia, your tears have anointed her soil with a blessing, your cries have awakened her children throughout the earth, yea in the corners of the unknown world are they aroused, and is prophesying, saying prepare ye the way for a redeemer.

Chapter 3: God’s Holy Law to the Children of Ethiopia

Great and manifold are the blessings bestowed upon us the oppressed children of Ethiopia, by His Divine Majesty, Lord God Almighty, King of all mercies, when by his most holy command his divine highness, Christ, Prince of the heavenly kingdom, descended and anointed us that we may be prepared to re- ceive these noble men, servants of God and redeemers of Ethiopia’s posterities, his honor, Marcus Garvey and colleague, his holiness the shepherd Athlyi, su- preme minister of God’s holy law to the children of Ethiopia, may we show gratitude to our God by being submissive to his teachings through these his humble servants, and submitting ourselves in obedience to his holy law that we a suffering people may reap the fruit thereof.

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When as it was the intention of others to keep us forever in darkness, by our faithfulness to the law we shall in time prove to the nations that God has not forsaken Ethiopia.

The Holy Law- Commandments

I. Love ye one another O children of Ethiopia, for by no other way can ye love the Lord your God.

II. Be thou industrious, thrifty and fruitful, O offsprings of Ethi- opia, for by no other way can ye show gratitude to the Lord your God, for the many blessings he has bestowed upon earth free to all mankind. . . .

. . . . . . . .

V. Be thou clean and pleasant, O generation of Ethiopia, for thou art anointed, moreover the angels of the Lord dwelleth with thee.

VI. Be thou punctual, honest and truthful that ye gain favor in the sight of the Lord your God, and that your pathway be prosperous.

. . . . . . . .

IX. O generation of Ethiopia, shed not the blood of thine own for the welfare of others for such is the pathway to destruction and contempt.

X. Be ye not contented in the vineyard or house hold of others, for ye know not the day or the hour when denial shall appear, prepare ye rather for yourselves a foundation, for by no other way can man mani- fest love for the offsprings of the womb.

XI. Athlyi, Athlyi, thou shepherd of the holy law and of the chil- dren of Ethiopia, establish ye upon the law a holy temple for the Lord according to thy name and there shall all the children of Ethiopia wor- ship the Lord their God, and there shall the apostles of the shepherd administer the law and receive pledges thereto and concretize within the law. Verily he that is concretized within the law shall be a follower and a defender thereof, moreover the generations born of him that is concretize within the law are also of the law.

XII. O generation of Ethiopia, thou shalt have no other God but the Creator of heaven and earth and the things thereof. Sing ye praises and shout hosanna to the Lord your God, while for a founda- tion ye sacrifi ce on earth for his divine majesty the Lord our Lord in  six days created the heaven and earth and rested the seventh; ye also shall hallow the seventh day, for it is blessed by the Lord, there- fore on this day thou shall do no manner of work or any within thy gates.

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The Rastafari Chant • 319

Chapter 6: The Athlian’s Creed

. . . . . . . .

20. We believe in one God, maker of all things, Father of Ethiopia and then in his Holy Law as it is written in the book Piby, the sincerity of Angel Douglas and the power of the Holy Ghost. We believe in one Shepherd Athlyi as an anointed apostle of the Lord our God, then in the Afro Athlican Constructive Church unto the most Holy House of Athlyi. We believe in the freedom of Ethiopia and the maintenance of an effi cient government recorded upon the cata log of nations in honor of her posterities and the glory of her God, the establishment of true love and the administration of justice to all men, the celebration of concord, the virtue of the Solemnityfeast and in the form of baptism and concretation as taught by our Shepherd Athlyi.

We believe in the utilization of the power and blessings of God for the good of mankind, the creation of industries, the maintenance of colleges and the unity of force, then in the end when earth toil is over we shall be rewarded a place of rest in the kingdom of heaven, there to sing with the saints of Ethiopia, singing Hallelujah, hosanna to the lord our God for ever and ever- Amen.

. . . . . . . .

Chapter 7

1. Now in the year of nineteen hundred and nineteen on the thir- tieth day of the seventh month, when the Athlians were celebrating concord in the city of Newark, New Jersey, U.S.A., and on the third day of the period a paper was read by the Rev. Bonfi eld telling of Mar- cus Garvey in New York City.

. . . . . . . .

4. Raise not the weight of your fi nger on Marcus Garvey, neither speak ye against him.

5. In the year of 1921 Garvey spake, saying: I have no time to teach religion.

6. Because of this saying Athlyi took up his pen and was bout to declare him not an apostle of the twentieth century.

7. And it came to pass that the word of the Lord came to Athlyi say- ing, blame not this man, for I the Lord God, hath sent him to prepare the minds of Ethiopia’s generations, verily he shall straighten up upon the map.

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8. Nevertheless, in the year nineteen hundred and twenty- two Apostle Garvey issued a religious call throughout the world which ful- fi lled the last item upon the map of life.

9. Therefore, Athlyi yielded him a copy of the map, and declared Marcus Garvey an apostle of the Lord God for the redemption of Ethiopia and her suffering posterities.

10. And the word of the Lord came to Athlyi saying, I am the Lord God of Ethiopia, three apostles of the twentieth century have I sent forth unto Ethiopia’s generations to administer the Law and the Gospel which I have commanded for their salvation, let not the hands of men ordain them.

11. For I, the Lord, hath anointed mine apostles that they may ordain and give authority to ordain.

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