2008 Woodie Awards
The dreadlocks alone do not make a Rasta; it also means following beliefs and lifestyle
By: Thomas Bumpers
Issue date: 5/7/08 Section: Opinion
There are many people with dreadlocks on this campus, but not all align themselves with the Rastafari movement.
As one slowly becoming highly interested by this spiritual movement, I feel I have the need to educate the masses on this subject matter. You know, separate the fact from the over hyped fiction given off through the media.
First off, one needs to know just exactly how this belief system started. That would be the coronation of Haile Selassie the First (formally Ras Tafari Makonnen) in 1930 Ethiopia.
Many believe the crowning of this man in the (at the time) only free African nation and also the only African monarch recognized by the nations of the world led, many of the founders to believe that Selassie, also known to those in the movement now as Jah or Jah Rastafari, is to be the physical reincarnation of Jesus Christ.
All those in the movement also believe that Selassie was the 225th in the unbroken line of Solomonic Kings descended from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.
Also due to this, many of the Rastafari also believe that they and those of the black race are part of the Twelve Tribes of Israel tossed into the continent through the ancient slave trade. Thus many of them draw from Abrahamic religion.
Moving along, the Rasta hold the belief that their bodies are the true church of God and that Selassie is both the Son and the Father of the Holy Trinity while the whole of humanity is the Holy Spirit. Also of great importance, is the belief of physical immortality or an everliving life, which only a chosen few would be able to be blessed with.
Diet wise many follow an ital diet, one practiced by Jews and Muslims, while some eat what they please following the saying,
"It's not what goes into the mouth that makes the body foul but what comes out of it."
Another thing to take note of is that all Rastafari denounce the use of 'isms'. Calling the belief Rastafarianism is in short a huge blow of disrespect.
As one slowly becoming highly interested by this spiritual movement, I feel I have the need to educate the masses on this subject matter. You know, separate the fact from the over hyped fiction given off through the media.
First off, one needs to know just exactly how this belief system started. That would be the coronation of Haile Selassie the First (formally Ras Tafari Makonnen) in 1930 Ethiopia.
Many believe the crowning of this man in the (at the time) only free African nation and also the only African monarch recognized by the nations of the world led, many of the founders to believe that Selassie, also known to those in the movement now as Jah or Jah Rastafari, is to be the physical reincarnation of Jesus Christ.
All those in the movement also believe that Selassie was the 225th in the unbroken line of Solomonic Kings descended from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.
Also due to this, many of the Rastafari also believe that they and those of the black race are part of the Twelve Tribes of Israel tossed into the continent through the ancient slave trade. Thus many of them draw from Abrahamic religion.
Moving along, the Rasta hold the belief that their bodies are the true church of God and that Selassie is both the Son and the Father of the Holy Trinity while the whole of humanity is the Holy Spirit. Also of great importance, is the belief of physical immortality or an everliving life, which only a chosen few would be able to be blessed with.
Diet wise many follow an ital diet, one practiced by Jews and Muslims, while some eat what they please following the saying,
"It's not what goes into the mouth that makes the body foul but what comes out of it."
Another thing to take note of is that all Rastafari denounce the use of 'isms'. Calling the belief Rastafarianism is in short a huge blow of disrespect.
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PinoyDreadman
posted 7/02/08 @ 3:01 AM PST
Not all people in dreads are RASTA, and not all RASTA are in dreads...
Here in the Philippines, there no real RASTAFARIAN followers, coz its not in our culture. (Continued…)
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