Jamaican Religion: Rastafaris

The first things which comes to your mind when you think about Rastafaris are dreadlocks and marijuana. Maybe you think that been a rastafari is a matter of appearance, but the true is that it is a matter of religion.

Created by Haile Selassie I, said to be the third reencarnation of Jesus, this religion has nowadays about 700.000 followers.

It was born in Kingston by 1930 and we are going to talk about his distinctive features

As we said dreadlocks are usually identified with rastafari people, but the fact of wear dreadlocks in your hair dont makes you a rastafari, you dont even need dreadlocks for being a  rastafari.

As you can notice in this video, Rasta people speak english in their own way. They call it "Rastafarian English" or "Lyaric". Lyaric is easier to learn than Creole, because it's based on the elimination of negative words of the vocabulary.

Let's see some examples:

• English "Banana" replaced by "Inana" (pronounced eye-nana)
• English "Creation" replaced by "Iration"
• English "Unity" replaced by "Inity" ("you" and similar sounds are usually replaced by "i")
• English "Time" replaced by "Iwa"
• English "Politics" replaced by "Politricks"
• English "Dedicacion" replaced by "Livication"
• English "Oppression" replaced by "Downpression"

Babylon vs Zion.

Babylon is a term used to refer to the governments and systems of the human beings, contraposed to Zion, the reign of "Jah". "Jah" is the word they use to refer to the creator, to God.

Know replaces Believe.

As Bob Marley sang, "Know" replaces "Believe". This means that Rastafarians do not believe that they are the chosen people, they simply know it. They never will admit to believe this.

The same thing happens with Haile Selassie, they dont believe that he is God, they know it.

Marijuana and Rastafaris.

Marijuana is fully related to rastafarians. They use it spiritually, in order to know themselves or to meditate.

They dont usually refer to the plant as "marijuana", they prefer to call it the "wisdom weed" or the "holy herb".

But Hey! Smoking Marijuana in Jamaica is illegal too. 

Posted by: Jose Miguel Rodríguez Jimenez.