The Rastafari movement stems from the teachings of the great Jamaican leader and motivator of masses, Maces Garvey. Garvey told the African people of the world to unite and to return to African, the homeland. Garvey’s vision was for the “Blacks to overcome their feelings of inferiority and build upon their own unique and evolving culture, and ultimately return to Africa to redeem their homeland and to build a future” In 1930 a man named Tafari Makonne or Ras Tafari (Ras meaning king) claimed himself Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie I as well as the traditional titles “King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and Conquering Lion of the Tribe Judah. To some Jamaican people this meant that Garvey’s prophecy had been fulfilled. In Jamaica some people such as Leonard P. Howell, J.N. Hibert, and Archibald Dunkle, began to spread the word of the Messiah coming to save the African people. To Dunkle Howell, and Hibert Haile, Selassie became their living god. The people who listened to this soon began to call themselves Rastafarians. To these new Rasta’s, Ethiopia became their Zion, and Haile Selassie their Messiah. The Rastafari religion would continue to follow this trend of interpreting the Bible literally which lead to practices that make the Rastafari religion unique from any other.
The Rasta Blog 