What do Rastafari believe?

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Why: The only reggae song I like so far is "One Day." I guess I like "Redemption Song," even though that's not really reggae (even though it was written and performed by a man who didn't really do anything else except reggae; he was Rastafarian).

Answer: The Rastafari movement is a monotheistic, Abrahamic religious movement that accepts Haile Selassie I, the former (and final) Emperor of Ethiopia, as the incarnation of God, called Jah. Haile Selassie is also seen as part of the Holy Trinity.

Other characteristics of Rastafari include spiritual pot-smoking, wearing of dreadlocks, rejection of Western society, and Afrocentric social and political aspirations, like the teachings of Marcus Garvey.

The name Rastafari is a portmanteau of "Ras" (literally "Head," an Ethiopian title equivalent to Duke), and the first name of Selassie's pre-regnal given name, Tafari Makonnen.

The Ethiopian flag is also the Rastafari flag. The lion represents Selassie, who - as an incarnation of Jesus - is the "lion of Judah."


Source: Wikipedia

The More You Know: Bob Marley's father was a white captain in the Royal Marines and his mother was young Afro-Jamaican. Marley had 13 children with 8 different women. He died in 1981 at age 36.