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Thursday, July 27, 2006


Mzunguras!

Mambo vipi?
Fists meet to join our hearts
No meat, no booze
All right

I’m searching for the holy one
Emperor Haile Selassie I
Jah Ras Tafari

Have you seen him?
Nah blaza, you got a light?
To show our way
From black to white

We are on the path
To chant down Babylon
To shake our dreads to da Reggae music
Deep into the night

Go with love and peace
Just beep me once ya done
I’m waitin for the holy one

Jah Bless

Rasta, or the Rastafari movement, is a religious movement that accepts Haile Selassie I, the former emperor of Ethiopia, as Jah (the Rasta name for God incarnate, from a shortened form of Jehovah found in Psalms 68:4 in the King James Version of the Bible), and part of the Holy Trinity as the messiah promised to return in the Bible. The name Rastafari comes from Ras (Duke or Chief) Tafari Makonnen, the pre-coronation name of Haile Selassie I. The movement emerged in Jamaica among working-class and peasant black people in the early 1930s, arising from an interpretation of Biblical prophecy partly based on Selassie's status as the only African monarch of a fully independent state, and his titles of King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and Conquering Lion of Judah (Rev. 5:5). Other factors leading to its rise include the sacred use of Cannabis, Afrocentric social and political aspirations, including teachings of Jamaican publicist and organiser Marcus Garvey (also often regarded as a prophet), whose political and cultural vision helped inspire a new world view. The movement is sometimes called "Rastafarianism" by non Rastas although some Rastas themselves regard that term as improper and offensive.
The Rastafari movement has spread throughout much of the world, largely through interest generated through reggae music—most notably, that of Jamaican-born singer/songwriter Bob Marley. By 2000, there were more than one million Rastafari faithful worldwide. About five to ten percent of Jamaicans identify themselves as Rastafari. Many Rastafarians follow an ital diet which essentailly means living by the dietary Laws of Leviticus and Deuteronomy in the Old Testament.

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