The source of Rastafari lies in a specific geographical area, the Nile Valley, a huge region that includes Egypt in the North and Ethiopia in the south. The philosophy at the heart of Rastafari is gathered from the soul of this part of Africa. For example, it acknowledges Ra, revered by the Egyptians as the god of the sun, as a life-giving force, and accepts that mankind is not separate or different from God, or Jah, an abbreviation for Jehovah.

King Solomon In the time of King Solomon, Queen Makeba ruled over the empire of Sheba, which consisted of Ethiopia, Egypt and parts of Persia. The Queen's visit to the wealthy and wise Solomon in Jerusalem had been planned for many years. In Jerusalem, Solomon converted her to the God of Abraham; she had until then worshipped the sun in the person of Ra the sun-god. When she returned to her land, Queen Makeba changed the religion of her empire to Judaism.

On her return, Makeba was pregnant by Solomon; she had promised him that if she bore a son she would send the boy to Jerusalem for instruction by his father. Accordingly, her son Menelik journeyed, as a young man, to meet Solomon, having sworn to his mother that as heir and successor to the kingdom he would return to Ethiopia.

When Menelik was leaving Jerusalem, King Solomon saw to it that he was accompanied by the sons of his priests: he wanted to ensure that the religion of Abraham would continue in Ethiopia. As a result, this religion existed there in an undiluted form.

Christianity/Judaism At the heart of Rastafari lie the Egyptian mysteries, the sort that may be found in The Egyptian Book of the Dead. The elements of Judaism within Rastafari are themselves an offspring of Egyptian mysticism. This became institutionalised by Moses; when adopted by the High Priest's daughter in Egypt, he was taught the principles of Osiris, Isis and other Egyptian gods.

For his final initiation he traveled to Ethiopia. The source of Judaism was the teaching of Moses. As tradition has it, Moses was author of the first five books of the Bible (the sixth and seventh books of Moses are considered to be too complex for the common man to comprehend; there is a famous obeah textbook entitled The Sixth and Seventh Book of Moses).

During the time of Christianity, however, Paul the Apostle converted an Ethiopian eunuch to Christianity. This eunuch was a high-placed, respected rabbi of orthodox Judaism. When he returned to Ethiopia, he in turn converted the country to Christianity.

So began the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, a pure form of Christianity that kept its connection with its Judaic and Egyptian pasts, all elements within Rastafari. This church had considerable influence on the 225th king (descended directly from King David, who, in turn, was descended from Moses). This member of Ethiopian royalty was Ras Tafari, Emperor Haile Selassie I. Before his visit to Jamaica on 21 April 1966, Haile Selassie had already established the Ethiopian Orthodox Church there, in answer to a request from the island's Rastafarians.

Rastafarians acknowledge that their religion is the blending of the purest forms of both Judaism and Christianity; they also accept the Egyptian origins of both these religions. In affirming the divinity of Haile Selassie, Rastafari rejects the Babylonian hypocrisy of the modern church. The church of Rome, and even the council of Rome, are considered to be particularly Babylonian: was it not from this city that Mussolini invaded the holy land of Ethiopia in 1935? Religions always reflect the social and geographical environment out of which they emerge, and Jamaican Rastafari is no exception: for example, the use of marijuana as a sacrament and aid to meditation is logical in a country where a particularly potent strain of 'herb' grows freely.

Marijuana: The Weed of Wisdom In fact, the herb "ganja" (marijuana) was regarded as "wisdomweed," and Rasta leaders urged that it be smoked as a religious rite, alleging that it was found growing on the grave of King Solomon and citing biblical passages, such as Psalms 104:14, to attest to its sacramental properties: "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."

"Ital" Diet and Dreadlocks A set of dietary and hygienic laws were formulated to accompany the religion's doctrine. They urged their flocks to shun the ingestion of alcohol, tobacco, all meat (especially pork), as well as shellfish, scaleless fish, snails, predatory and scavenger species of marine life, and many common seasonings like salt. In short, anything that was not "ital," a Rasta term meaning pure, natural or clean, was forbidden.

They also outlawed was the combing or cutting of hair, citing the holy directive in 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 their flesh." Their nappy tresses were allowed to mat and twine themselves into ropy dreadlocks, so called to mock non-believers' aversion to their appearance. (The noun "dread" has also since evolved into a word of praise.)

Babylon Will Fall The Rastas deny allegations by other relgious groups that they were antiwhite or antibrown (mulatto) and invited all to repent and accept Jah (a shortened form of Jehovah). They vowed that at a secret hour known only to a devout few, converts would return to Ethiopia by an undisclosed means, leaving behind the tropical steambath of Jamaica, which they considered to be literally Hell on Earth. Until that time, Rastas would refuse to take part in the machinations of daily life and commerce in "Babylon," the sphere of temporal captivity of the spirit.

The poor flocked to the Rastas' call, since the cult's creed lent a certain nobility to their alienated status. As Rastas, they could now await with dignity the Judgment Day, when the last shall be first and the first shall be last.

Text copyright Chris Salewicz, 1995