Revivalist Movements
Overview
Major cultural stressors can impact the development of various new religious movements. Slavery in the Americas played an important role in the development of several new religious movements, including Rastafarianism. The historical trajectory of the enslaved West African population in the Carribean islands of modern day Haiti and Jamaica, combined with contact with various European cultures, resulted in the development of Vodun in Haiti and Rastafarianism in Jamaica. Vodou and Rastafarianism illustrate the response of people subjugated to slavery and colonialism through religion. The focus on this page will be on Rastafarianism, and how it was shaped through historical and cultural agents.
Rastafarianism
Very early history of Jamaican slavery is similar to Haiti. Slaves were transported to the Caribbean island of Jamaica by Spanish colonizers from West Africa. Under Spanish rule slaves were forced to learn and convert to Christianity. During this period there were indigenous populations on the island, who were eventually wiped out by disease and violence from contact with the Europeans. European Jews also travelled to Jamaica around this time as indentured servants to work in sugar production, fleeing the Spanish Inquisition during this period.
In 1655 English forces took over the island from the Spanish. Under English rule slaves were prevented from learning Christianity by English plantation owners. The slaves and former slaves continued practicing African religions during English rule.
In 1838 slavery was abolished in modern day Jamaica. Shortly after the Great Awakening, a Christian evangelical movement, swept North America during 1860s. During this period black churches formed in the region and thousands of ex-slaves attended church.
Jamaica remained under British colonial rule until 1962. During colonial rule there was a small white elite ruling population, along with a small black elite population. However, the impoverished black population made up the majority of the people on the island. During this period rasta ideology began to form among the impoverished black population.
Marcus Garvey (1887 – 1940)
Marcus Garvey was a political activist, a journalist, and a publisher in Jamaica in the early 20th century. He was born in Jamaica to a working-class family. In the hierarchy according to color of skin, Garvey and family would be considered on lowest end of the hierarchy. In 1914 Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). This was a worldwide fraternity of Black people that promoted race pride and sought to restore the lost dignity of black people. The main belief was that Africa was the place for repatriation for black people, especially those in the Americas. One of the things Garvey told his followers is to “look to Africa for the crowning of a king to know that your redemption is near”.
Prince Ras Tafari
In 1930 Prince Tafari Makonnen was crowned as the king of Ethiopia. He claimed himself as Emperor Haile Selassie, which means Power of the Trinity. The followers of Marcus Garvey saw this as fulfillment of Garvey’s prophecy in the Americas. Selassie was worshipped by Garvey's followers as a living god, considered to be the king of Juda and the King of Kings. He was believed to be a descendant of King Solomon and Queen Sheba. During this period the Rastafarian movement begins and gains followers.
Leonard Howell (1898 – 1981) aka The Gong
Leonard Howell was a Jamaican preacher of the Rastafarian movement. He preached in the 1930s that Haile Selassie was “the Messiah returned to earth” and that Ethiopia was the promised land. He was arrested and jailed for two years with the accusation that he expressed hatred and contempt for the Jamaican government in his preaching. Howells followers withdrew to rural Jamaica and formed the Pinnacle Commune shortly after his arrest.
Examining the sociocultural context as a revivalist movement
The society in Jamaica was borne out of slavery and colonialism. Jamaican black people were in the periphery of the colonial world, and were economically depressed. The rise of black nationalism began in response to these conditions and to resist globalization and British Protestant rule.
Rasta Symbols
- The “Lion of Judah” - represents maleness of the movement
- History as a symbol – African history deeper than Christianity, older than Judaism
- Sins of Babylon – the place of bondage
- White political power structure holding the black race down for centuries is the bondage.
- Jah – Rastafarian name for God
- Symbol of triumph over tribulations of everyday life.
- The Holy Herb – Ganja
- Ganja is not smoked recreationally. It is considered to be a sacrament and is smoked ritually for spiritual reasons and medicinal purposes. The smoking of Ganja as a sacrament is based on some Biblical texts embraced by Rastas as reasons for use of the herb
- “…thou shall eat the herb of the field.” (Genesis 3:18)
- “He causeth the grass for the cattle, and herb for the service of man.” (Psalms 104:14)
- Dreadlocks – symbolize Rasta roots
- These are worn representing the symbol of the Lion of Judah. Dreadlocks are also a form of rebellion of the system and the “proper” way to wear hair according to colonialists, so it has become a sign of resistance and outsider status among the Rasta.
- Ganja is not smoked recreationally. It is considered to be a sacrament and is smoked ritually for spiritual reasons and medicinal purposes. The smoking of Ganja as a sacrament is based on some Biblical texts embraced by Rastas as reasons for use of the herb
Exodus and Jamaican Rasta captivity
Rastafarians in Jamaica identified with captivity of Jewish slaves in Egypt and Babylon in mid 20th century. The story of Exodus was a central Biblical myth for Rastafarians. This became the narrative in the call for freedom from oppression in Jamaica.
The reggae song Exodus by Bob Marley and the Wailers revolves around this Biblical story, as it calls for people to escape from the bondage of colonialism.