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The Classical Period

_____From 1930 until the mid '60s, Rastafari was a local Jamaican religious movement with few outside influences. Several Garveyite leaders had independently declared that Haile Selassie fulfilled Garvey's prophecy, and the movement remained dominated by independent "Elders" with widely varying views. Not only did no Jamaica-wide "Rastafarian Church" develop, but there was not even agreement on basic doctrine or a canon of Scripture--both the Holy Piby and the King James Bible were used by various Elders, but were freely emended and "corrected". OVERSTANDING: This "anarchy" was considered a virtue by classical Rastas. Rastafari was not a religion, a human organization, or a philosophy, but an active attempt to discern the will of JAH (God) and keep it. Classical Rastas were mainly uneducated Third World peasants, but they approached Rastafari in an almost Talmudic spirit, holding "reasonings" --part theological debate, part prayer meeting-- at which they attempted to find the Truth.
Their attitude differed, however, from that of Protestants interpreting the Bible. They were certain that they would arrive, by divine guidance, at an "overstanding" (rather than understanding) of the Truth. The Truth cannot be known by human effort alone, but "Jah-Jah come over I&I", one can participate in the One who is Truth.

 

Mysticism

_____Early Rasta mystical experience emphasized the immediate presence of JAH within the "dread" (God-fearer). The doctrine of theosis was expressed with great subtlety (although not all Elders correctly distinguished essence from energy). Through union with JAH, the dread becomes who he truly is but never was, a process of self-discovery possible only through repentance. (For this reason, Rastas did not proselytize, but relied on compunction sent by JAH.) The mystical union was expressed by the use of the pronoun "I&I" (which can mean I, we, or even you, with JAH present) or simply "I" in contrast to the undeclined Jamaican dialect "me".

 

Community

_____Many Rastas lived (and live today) in the bush in camps ruled by an Elder. Some of these camps are segregated by sex and resemble monasteries (down to the gong at the gate); more often, they are reconstituted West African villages. The dreads observe the rules of "ital", a dietary code based on the Pentateuch with various additions, and otherwise observe a spiritual rule. Males are usually bearded (uncommon in Jamaica during the classical period, and a cause of social and religious discrimination, so that Rastas who held jobs often were "baldfaces" who kept their affiliation secret.)
The famous "dreadlocks" were worn during the classical period only by a minority of dreads, mostly those who had taken the oath of Nazirite. Very recent historical research suggests that the dreadlocks were popularized by a monastic movement which opposed the unrestrained and potentially corrupting power of the Elders. These celibate and almost puritanical "nyabinghi warriors" objected particularly to "pagan holdovers" in Rastafari, the continued use by dreads of ritual practices associated with the voudoun-like folk religion of the Jamaican peasantry.

 

"GROUNATION DAY"
_____Presumably because of the spread of the Ethiopian Church in Trinidad, Haile Selassie was invited to visit that country in 1966. Jamaica was then in the throws of an ongoing national social crisis in which Rastas were perceived by the establishment as a revo- lutionary threat which had to defused; a team of social scientists had advised the government that one way to do this was to foster close ties with the real Ethiopia. Accordingly, the Emperor was invited to make a stop in Jamaica.
On April 21 -- "Grounation Day" to Rastas ever since -- Haile Selassie arrived in Kingston. Contrary to the widely repeated claim that the Emperor was "amazed" or "bemused" upon "discovering" the existence of the Rastafarians (the greater number of whom by 1966 believed him to be God in essence), there is much evidence that Haile Selassie's whole purpose in visiting Jamaica was to meet the Rasta leadership. Greeted at the airport by thousands of dreads in white robes chanting "Hosanna to the Son of David", Haile Selassie granted an audience to a delegation of famous Elders, including Mortimo Planno and probably Joseph Hibbert. The precise details of this historic meeting cannot be reconstructed, and there exist countless variants in Jamaican oral tradition. Almost certainly, he urged them to become Orthodox and held out the possibility that Jamaican settlers could receive land-grants in South Ethiopia. Most traditional versions of the meeting specify that he also gave the Elders a secret message, very much in keeping with the Emperor's known policies on Third World development: "Build Jamaica first."

 
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