DESCRIBE FOUR WAYS IN WHICH RASTAFARIAN CULTURE HAS IMPACTED THE SOCIETES OF

METROPOLITAN COUNTRIES

Imagine you’ve booked a holiday. You’re off to the Caribbean; maybe visiting friends on another
island. But when you arrive you find your destination has mysteriously changed. It’s an island all
right, and it’s hot, and you can hear bass notes thumping reggae-style over the aircraft engines. But
it’s not Trinidad, or Jamaica, Barbados or St Lucia . . .The airport building, however, is painted in
familiar colours: red, gold, and green. Inside, you find an unusually pungent scent in the air though,
of course, it may be quite familiar. You look around for a no-smoking zone. There isn’t one. But there
is a great selection of places to eat: plenty of vegetarian snacks, no salt but very tasty. Dozens of
paintings adorn the wall along one side of the concourse: reggae singers Bob Marley, Peter Tosh,
Burning Spear; and famous civil rights and black nationalist heroes Mandela, King, Marcus Garvey.
The remaining walls, from floor to ceiling, are murals: the eastern wall is dominated by an enormous
portrait of His Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I gazing out of Africa, and a panorama of Biblical
history spreads halfway around the terminal. Instead of “Have a nice day”, it’s “Jah guide” as you
head out to your hotel.

Rastafari has metamorphosed to the extent that it has become a truly global phenomenon with an
appeal which crosses all boundaries. Rasta organisations and communities now exist in places as
unlikely as Japan, Moscow, Sweden, Poland — even Tibet, I’ve been told. Most Rastafarians are of
African descent, a small minority of whom remain anti-white, but there are many Caucasian and
Asian Rastas, too. I was told of diehard white Rastas in Sweden and Amsterdam, “barefoot hard-core
Biblical brothers deep in the faith”. For most Rastafarians all people are totally equal and bound
together by one God Jah. They practise what Haile Selassie preached: “That until there are no longer
any first class and second class citizens of any nation; that until the colour of a man’s skin is of no
more significance than the colour of his eyes; that until basic human rights are equally guaranteed to
all without regard to race, until that day, the dreams of lasting peace, world citizenship and the rule
of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained”. Which
on a very practical level was the beginning of an amazing culture. So, in fact I’m going to point out
for of the main driving forces that this culture has on the world.

Firstly, hair /fashion major statements on there own but together you easily identify that a person is
familiar with the Rastafarian religion or culture. The easiest one to come across is dreadlock hair.
Dreadlocks are the result of hair that is left completely natural; cleaned, but never combed. You can
start them off by twisting the hair around your fingers. If you want neat, even ones, you should pull
them apart every couple of days or so. Dreadlocks grow quickly because the hair that falls out
becomes part of the dread instead of falling to the floor. Rastafarians often use natural ingredients
like cocoa butter, aloe vera and “slime” from a type of cactus plant when washing and maintaining
their locks. Dreadlocks were so called because of non-believers’ a version to their appearance. Not
all Rastafarians wear dreadlocks, which is why it is so difficult to put an accurate figure on
Rastafarian numbers, anywhere. “Baldhead” or “clean-faced” Rastas look entirely conventional, a
necessity for some of those holding down professional occupations. Youthful Rastas favour
“ragamuffin” style, cut short with a small “ras” on top, often tucked into a cap. Which in this day and
age is still used as a sign of carefree and rebellious living!

Next, is music It’s safe to say that without the Rastafarian religion, reggae music would never have
become the international cultural phenomenon it is today. It’s equally safe to say that without
reggae music, the Rastafarian religion wouldn’t have progressed from a tiny, loosely-knit Jamaican
cult, viewed with a mixture of hostility and suspicion by virtually everyone who wasn’t in it, to a
movement of considerable global significance and substance. Reggae and Rasta. Rasta and Reggae.
Throughout history, virtually all religions have had their hymns and their chants. Worship and music
have gone together like Astaire and Rogers, Ramadhan and Valentine, ackee and saltfish. But never
have the two been so inexorably linked, both in public perception and reality, as reggae, with its
heartbeat drum and bass rhythms, and the Rastafarian religion, with its heartfelt, fundamental
philosophies. And never has a religion used music to carry its message to so many people around the
world. If you’ve listened to more than half a dozen reggae songs, you’ve learned, through them,
something about Rasta. It’s religion you can dance to, and that’s all part and parcel of reggae’s
seductive appeal. But when the dancing’s done, reggae also has the power to make listeners think.
And, in many cases, to think again about a lot of things they’ve taken for granted in the past. Reggae
has never been a music that paid much attention to facts and statistics, and there’s no way to pin
down any hard and fast figures about what proportion of reggae musicians are actually members of
the Rastafarian religion. But after following the music for more than a quarter-century, I’d estimate
that at least 80% of all reggae musicians are either serious followers of Rasta or have been strongly
influenced by the religion. The most famous reggae artist, of course, is Bob Marley. I use the present
tense for the simple reason that Robert Nesta Marley has become immeasurably bigger since he
died than he ever was when he was alive . . . and he was a major-league international superstar
then. Marley was a musician of global stature when he died in 1981. Since then, he’s become much,
much more than simply a charismatic singer-songwriter. In death, Marley’s reputation has reached
almost mythic proportions. His dreadlocked image has undoubtedly adorned more T-shirts arguably
the ultimate international yardstick of recognition than any other single personality. His songs of
freedom, hope, love and liberation sprinkled with a healthy dose of anger and rebellion have
become international anthems. Even as Marley’s influence — and the influence of Rasta-inspired
reggae continues to spread, a talented new generation of singers and songwriters is taking care of
Bob’s unfinished business. He truly did leave his mark on the world and well it’s will be an interesting
watch to see what is next for this art form.

Thirdly, are herbs and yes, I’m including herbs mainly because it is seen as a huge part of the
Rastafarian culture. and by herbs I meant the use of Marijuana, ganja, the wisdom weed, the herb
found growing on Solomon’s grave, is the Rastafarian’s holy sacrament; a communion wine, if you
like, but with a kick no vintage can match — essential and central to their beliefs. It is the vehicle
which carries the Rastafarian closer to God, to the universe He created, and to an understanding of
himself. When he takes the herb, it empowers him with the heights of reasoning, liberating his mind
from the shackles of earth. With the herb inside him the Rastaman is one with Jah, each new
thought and idea a voice from the Almighty himself. And though he would wish it were not the case,
the herb nevertheless symbolises his independence from the establishment, from Babylon which, of
course, forbids its use. Any Rastaman you care to speak to will readily engage in passioned argument
about the herb and its outlawed status, its spiritual and medicinal properties. I was instructed in this
by one devout Rastafarian who cuts an imposing figure, reading the papers on the roadside in red,
gold and green robes and colourful turban. He needed no second invitation to talk and took me for a
walk into a wooded valley outside the city. Like many true Rastas his replies to questions on life are
interpreted in a Biblical context. For him, there are no grey areas in the Bible; it is the word of God
and irrefutable. In this culture it is strongly believe that by part taking of those herbs you may go to a
heaven realm where you may see the creator. It is also sort as a gift from God himself to provide
healing and relief of stress from your everyday battles you may face.

Lastly is history, on April 21, 1966, was a day like no other for the Rastafarian in Jamaica. It was a day
which would be forever marked by the visit to their island of their God, His Imperial Majesty Haile
Selassie. And it was a day His Majesty probably never forgot, either. Thousands of curious non-
believing poor Jamaicans had also taken the day off, curious to see this “black messiah” and not
taking a chance on the possibility of deliverance. Haile Selassie couldn’t leave his plane, even if he
had wanted to, which he didn’t. It was only after an address to the crowd for calm by a respected
Rastafarian Elder that His Majesty was able to reach the car for his journey to the capital.
Rastafarians, like many people of African descent in Jamaica and the united states of America,
followed the teachings of Marcus Garvey, founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association
in the United States. To them, Garvey was a prophet who had foretold: “Look to Africa when a black
king shall be crowned, for the day of deliverance is near.” Garvey preached black nationalism and
racial pride: “Africa for the Africans at home and abroad.” His was the Biblical view, that “every
nation must come to rest beneath their own vine and fig tree”. He believed that without the
liberation of the African continent from colonialism there would be no uplifting of black people.
Garvey sought to establish a black state in Africa where Africans in the West would be transported,
even starting a shipping line to do it. The Black Star Line failed, but his message did not. However,
on1960 a report on the Rastafari movement in Kingston by the University College of the West Indies
urged Prime Minister Norman Manley to make the problems of the brethren a priority for
treatment, remarking that “the movement was large and in a state of great unrest”. The report
concluded that Rastafarians were stereotyped by society as bearded layabouts who stole, smoked
ganja and were liable to sudden violence. The authors warned that if they continued to be wrongly
treated as such, more would become extremist. What had struck them most in their investigations
was the Rastafarians’ deeply religious nature; how meetings began and ended with hymns and
psalms, and were punctuated by prayer. “A movement which is so deeply religious need not become
a menace to society,” they advised. Negative attitudes prevailed, though: criminals and opportunists
had infiltrated the burgeoning Rastafarian movement where the supply and consumption of ganja
was accelerating far beyond Rasta circles. Dreadlocks were an easy disguise with which to obtain
information about marijuana. The media fed the myth of Rastas as crazy, gun-toting drug dealers.

Then came the Bob Marley era in the 1970’s which prove those myths as false. With his death finally
paved the road to where we are at where everyone has some sort of knowledge of black history
because of how massive this piece of history was to the world.