“zion”
(‘reggae jews’)
(‘black jews’)
(“rastafari”, sometimes termed Rastafarianism, is an “abrahamic religion”)
(classified as a “new religious movement”, it developed in Jamaica during the 1930s)
(it lacks any centralized authority and there is much heterogeneity among practitioners, who are known as ‘Rastafari’, ‘Rastafarians’, or ‘Rastas’)
(‘Rastafari’ refer to their beliefs, which are based on a specific interpretation of the Bible, as “Rastalogy”)
(central is a monotheistic belief in a single God—referred to as ‘Jah’—who partially resides within each individual)
(the former emperor of ‘Ethiopia’, ‘Haile Selassie’, is given central importance)
(many ‘Rastas’ regard him as an incarnation of ‘Jah’ on ‘Earth’ and as the “Second Coming of Christ”)
(others regard him as a human prophet who fully recognized the inner divinity within every individual)
(‘Rastafari’ is ‘Afrocentric’ and focuses its attention on the “african diaspora”, which it believes is oppressed within western society, or “Babylon”)
(many ‘Rastas’ call for the resettlement of the african diaspora in either ‘Ethiopia’ or ‘Africa’ more widely, referring to this continent as the Promised Land of “Zion”)
(other interpretations shift focus on to the adoption of an Afrocentric attitude while living outside of Africa)
(‘Rastas’ refer to their practices as “livity”)
(communal meetings are known as “groundations”, and are typified by ‘music’, ‘chanting’, ‘discussions’, and the smoking of ‘cannabis’, the latter being regarded as a sacrament with beneficial properties)
(‘Rastas’ place emphasis on what they regard as living ‘naturally’, adhering to ‘ital’ dietary requirements, allowing their hair to form into dreadlocks, and following patriarchal gender roles)
(‘Rastafari’ originated among impoverished and socially disenfranchised Afro-Jamaican communities in 1930s ‘Jamaica’)
(its ‘afrocentric ideology’ was largely a reaction against Jamaica’s then-dominant British colonial culture)
(it was influenced by both ‘Ethiopianism’ and the Back-to-Africa movement promoted by black nationalist figures like ‘Marcus Garvey’)
(the movement developed after several Christian clergymen, most notably ‘Leonard Howell’, proclaimed that the crowning of ‘Haile Selassie’ as ‘Emperor of Ethiopia’ in 1930 fulfilled a Biblical prophecy)
(by the 1950s, Rastafari’s counter-cultural stance had brought the movement into conflict with wider Jamaican society, including violent clashes with law enforcement)
(in the 1960s and 1970s it gained increased respectability within Jamaica and greater visibility abroad through the popularity of Rasta-inspired reggae musicians like ‘Bob Marley’)
(enthusiasm for ‘Rastafari’ declined in the 1980s, following the deaths of ‘Haile Selassie’ and ‘Marley’)
(the ‘rasta’ movement is organized on a largely cellular basis)
(there are several denominations, or “Mansions of Rastafari”, the most prominent of which are the ‘Nyahbinghi’, ‘Bobo Ashanti’, ‘Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church’, and the ‘Twelve Tribes of Israel’, each of which offers different interpretations of Rasta belief)
(there are an estimated 700,000 to 1 million Rastas across the world; the largest population is in ‘Jamaica’ although communities can be found in most of the world’s major population centres)