MY PROJECT ON RASTAFARIANISM

Name: Antonio Johnson Grade: 8 Hardie Date: 02/13/2013 Subject: Religious Education

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WHO IS LEONARD HOWELL?

Leonard Percival Howell, known as The Gong or G.G. Maragh (for Gong Guru), was a Jamaican religious figure. Howell was born on June 16, 1898 in an Anglican family. He was one of the first preachers of the Rastafari movement (along with Joseph Hibbert, Archibald Dunkley, and Robert Hinds), and is sometimes known as The First Rasta. Born in May Crawle River, Jamaica, Howell left the country as a youth, traveling amongst other places to New York, and returned in 1932. He began preaching in 1933 about what he considered the symbolic portent for the African diasporathe crowning of Ras Tafari Makonnen as Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia. His preaching asserted that Haile Selassie was the "Messiah returned to earth," and he published a book called The Promise Key. Although this resulted in him being arrested, tried for sedition and imprisoned for two years, the Rastafari movement grew. Over the following years, Howell came into conflict with all the establishment authorities in Jamaica: the planters, the trade unions, established churches, police and colonial authorities, and he was allegedly arrested more than 50 times. He formed a town or commune called Pinnacle in Saint Catherine Parish that became famous as a place for Rastafarians. Nevertheless, this movement prospered, and today the Rastafari faith exists worldwide.

Who was Ras Tafari Makonnen?

Haile Selassie I born in 23 July 1892 27 August 1975, born name Tafari Makonnen Woldemikael, was Ethiopia's regent from 1916 to 1930 and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He was the heir to a dynasty that traced its origins by tradition from King Solomon and Queen Makeda, Empress of Axum, known in the Abrahamic tradition as the Queen of Sheba. Haile Selassie is a defining figure in both Ethiopian and African history. Among the Rastafari movement, whose followers are estimated at between 200,000 and 800,000, Haile Selassie is revered as the returned messiah of the Bible, God incarnate. Beginning in Jamaica in the 1930s, the Rastafari movement perceives Haile Selassie as a messianic figure who will lead a future golden age of eternal peace, righteousness, and prosperity. Haile Selassie was an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian throughout his life.

When did Rastafarianism begin?

Rastafarianism began in the 1930s.

How did people treat followers at first?

They were not accepted in Jamaica.

When did religion start to get acceptance in Jamaica

They started to get acceptance in 1977 when Robert Nesta Marley also known as Bob Marley started to sing about the beliefs or doctrines of rastari.

A summary of the life Bob Marley

Nesta Robert Marley, OM (6 February 1945 11 May 1981), more widely and commonly known as Bob Marley, was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae bands The Wailers (1963-1974) and Bob Marley & The Wailers (19741981). Marley remains the most widely known and revered performer of reggae music, and is credited with helping spread both Jamaican music and the Rastafari movement to a worldwide audience. Marley's music was heavily influenced by the social issues of his homeland, and he is considered to have given voice to the specific political and cultural nexus of Jamaica. His bestknown hits include "I Shot the Sheriff", "No Woman, No Cry", "Could You Be Loved", "Stir It Up", "Get Up Stand Up", "Jamming", "Redemption Song", "One Love" and, "Three Little Birds", as well as the posthumous releases "Buffalo Soldier" and "Iron Lion Zion". The compilation album Legend (1984), released three years after his death, is reggae's best-selling album, going ten times Platinum which is also known as one Diamond in the U.S., and selling 25 million copies worldwide. Bob Marley was born in the village of Nine Mile, in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica, as Nesta Robert Marley. A Jamaican passport official would later swap his first and middle names. He was of mixed race. His father, Norval Sinclair Marley, was a White English-Jamaican, whose family came from Sussex, England. Norval claimed to have been a captain in the Royal Marines, and was a plantation overseer, when he married Cedella Booker, an Afro-Jamaican then 18 years old. Norval provided financial support for his wife and child, but seldom saw them, as he was often away on trips. In 1955, when Bob Marley was 10 years old, his father died of a heart attack at age 70. Marley faced questions about his own racial identity throughout his life. He once reflected: I don't have prejudice against me self. My father was a white and my mother was black. Them call me half-caste or whatever. Me don't deh pon nobody's side. Me don't deh pon the black

man's side nor the white man's side. Me deh pon God's side, the one who create me and cause me to come from black and white. The Bob Marley House in Nine Mile is a home that he shared with his mother during his youth Although Marley recognised his mixed ancestry, throughout his life and because of his beliefs, he self-identified as a black African, following the ideas of Pan-African leaders. Marley stated that his two biggest influences were the African-centered Marcus Garvey and Haile Selassie. A central theme in Bob Marley's message was the repatriation of black people to Zion, which in his view was Ethiopia, or more generally, Africa. In songs such as "Survival", "Babylon System", and "Blackman Redemption", Marley sings about the struggles of blacks and Africans against oppression from the West or "Babylon". Marley met Neville Livingston (later changed to Bunny Wailer) in Nine Mile because Bob's mother had a daughter with Bunny's father, younger sister to both of them and also had a relationship with him. Marley and Livingston started to play music while he was still at school. Then Marley left Nine Miles when he was 12 with his mother to Trench Town, Kingston. While in Trench Town, he met up with Livingston again and they started to make music with Joe Higgs, a local singer and devout Rastafari. At a jam session with Higgs and Livingston, Marley met Peter McIntosh (later known as Peter Tosh), who had similar musical ambitions.[16] In 1962, Marley recorded his first two singles, "Judge Not" and "One Cup of Coffee", with local music producer Leslie Kong. These songs, released on the Beverley's label under the pseudonym of Bobby Martell, attracted little attention. The songs were later re-released on the box set Songs of Freedom, a posthumous collection of Marley's work.

What influence did Bob Marley have on the religion?

Bob Marley song about Rastafarian doctrines in his belief. Doing this he gave the people of Jamaica and greater more the world a different sense of understanding the Rasta.

What are four main belief of the Rastafari religion?

1. Rastafarians believe that God is a spirit and that this spirit was manifested in King H.I.M. Emperor Haile Selassie I. 2. Rastafarians believe that Jesus was a direct descendant of King David and was black. 3. Rastafarians believe that Ethiopia is the Promised Land and that it is Heaven on Earth. 4. The White Man took them away from the Promised Land (Ethiopia/Zion) as slaves to Babylon and a Babylonian system.

Write a paragraph about their diet and about Rasta and the use of ganja or marijuana
They don't eat pork or shellfish. In fact, anything in the ocean without scales, they don't eat. So If you check out the book of Leviticus, you will see a dietary law established there. This is what they follow. So, what the Rastafarian diet boils down to is just fruits, vegetables, ground products and "clean meat" excluding red meat of course for some. This is what they call "ital." Ganja is considered the "wisdom weed" by Rastafarians, as its use helps one to gain wisdom. Rastafarians use it as a part of a religious rite and as a means of getting closer to their inner spiritual self, Jah (God) and Creation. Ganja is also seen by Rastafarians as the herb of life mentioned in the Bible. Rastafarians use of ganja is justified by the following Psalms 104:14 that say, "He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle and herb for the service of man, that he may bring forth food out of the earth." Rastafarians also say it was found growing at the grave of King Solomon in the Bible.