The Rastafari movement or Rasta is a monotheistic, new religious movement that arose in a Christian culture in Jamaica in the 1930s. Many of its adherents worship Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, former Emperor of Ethiopia (1930–1974), as God incarnate, the Second Advent, or the reincarnation of Jesus, while other adherents believe that Selassie is simply their earthly king chosen by God, and are known as Rastas, or Rastafari. The movement is sometimes referred to as “Rastafarianism,” but this term is considered derogatory and offensive by some Rastas, who dislike being labeled as an “ism.”
Today, awareness of the Rastafari movement has spread throughout much of the world, largely through interest generated by reggae music. The most notable example is Jamaican singer/songwriter Bob Marley (died 1981). By 1997, there were around one million Rastafari faithful worldwide. In the 2001 Jamaican census, 24,020 individuals (less than 1 percent of the population) identified themselves as Rastafarians.[10] Other sources have estimated that, in the 2000s, they formed, “About 5 percent of the population,” of Jamaica, or have conjectured that “there are perhaps as many as 100,000 Rastafarians in Jamaica”.
Rastafari are monotheists, worshipping a singular God whom they call Jah. Jah is the term in the “KJV (King James Version of the Bible) Psalms 68″ Rastas see Jah as being in the form of the Holy Trinity, that is, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Rastas say that Jah, in the form of the Holy Spirit (incarnate), lives within the human, and for this reason they often refer to themselves as “I and I.” Furthermore, “I and I” is used instead of “We,” and is used in this way to emphasize the equality between all people, in the recognition that the Holy Spirit within us all makes us essentially one and the same.
The Lion is a symbol of Haile Selassie. Jesus Christ is described as “the Lion of Judah” in the Bible, and for this reason Haile Selassie is seen as the reincarnation of Jesus. However, in the Nyabinghi order and the Bobo Shanti sub-division, the Lion of Judah is seen as a symbol of God or Jah; therefore, Haile Selassie I is seen as God or Jah.
The wearing of dreadlocks is very closely associated with the movement, though not universal among, or exclusive to, its adherents. Rastas maintain that locks are supported by Leviticus 21:5 (“They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in the flesh.”) and the Nazirite vow in Numbers 6:5 (“All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.”).
