"IAAF have had their own regional cross country championships on an annual or biennial basis, Africa did not have a regular competition in this mould for a long period. This may have been due to a number of factors including: the high status of annual cross country meetings such as the Kenya National Cross Country Championships and the Jan Meda International Cross Country (which doubles as the Ethiopian championships), the size of the region, the prominence of smaller regional championships, and the comparative lack of resources available to the Confederation of African Athletics. The fact that the majority of the"
"they call Jah. Rastas see Jah as being in the form of the Holy Trinity, that is, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Rastas say that Jah, in the form of the Holy Spirit, lives within the human. Afrocentrism is another central facet of the Rastafari culture. They teach that Africa, in particular Ethiopia, is where Zion, or paradise, shall be created. As such, Rastafari orients itself around African culture. Rastafari holds that evil society, or ""Babylon"", has always been white-dominated, and has committed such acts of aggression against the African people as the Atlantic slave trade. Despite this Afrocentrism"
"Rastafari Rastafari, sometimes termed Rastafarianism, is an Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. Scholars of religion and related fields have classified it as both a new religious movement and a social movement. There is no central authority in control of the movement and much diversity exists among practitioners, who are known as Rastafari, Rastafarians, or Rastas. Rastas refer to their beliefs, which are based on a specific interpretation of the Bible, as ""Rastalogy"". Central is a monotheistic belief in a single God—referred to as Jah—who partially resides within each individual. Haile Selassie, the Emperor of Ethiopia between"
"of traditional religions are in the SNNPR (about 993,000 people) and Oromia (895,000). Ethiopia is the spiritual homeland of the Rastafari movement, whose adherents believe Ethiopia is Zion. The Rastafari view Emperor Haile Selassie I as Jesus, the human incarnation of God. The Emperor himself was the defender of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, that also has a concept of Zion, . It is also used to refer to Axum, the ancient capital and religious centre of Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, or to its primary church, called Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion. Freedom of religion is provided by the constitution"
"divinity within every individual. Rastafari is Afrocentric and focuses its attention on the African diaspora, which it believes is oppressed within Western society, or ""Babylon"". Many Rastas call for the resettlement of the African diaspora in either Ethiopia or Africa more widely, referring to this continent as the Promised Land of ""Zion"". Other interpretations shift focus on to the adoption of an Afrocentric attitude while living outside of Africa. Rastas refer to their practices as ""livity"". Communal meetings are known as ""groundations"", and are typified by music, chanting, discussions, and the smoking of cannabis, the latter being regarded as a"
"Biblical King Solomon and Makeda, the Queen of Sheba, who had visited Solomon in Israel. The Rastafari movement encompasses themes such as the spiritual use of cannabis and the rejection of western society, called 'Babylon'. It proclaims Africa, also known as 'Zion' as the original birthplace of mankind. Another theme is Royalty, with Rastas seeing themselves as African royalty and using honorifics such as Prince or King in order to give royalty to their names. Many Rastas say that it is not a ""religion"" at all, but a ""Way of Life"". Rastafari are generally monotheists, worshipping a singular God whom"
"introduced by Arab traders to Central and Southern Africa, where it is known as ""dagga"" and many Rastas say it is a part of their African culture that they are reclaiming. It is sometimes also referred to as ""the healing of the nation"", a phrase adapted from Revelation 22:2. There are various methods of transmission that might explain how cannabis smoking came to be part of Rastafari. One possible source was the African diasporic religion of Kumina, based on the practices of Bakongo enslaved people and indentured labourers who were brought to Jamaica in the mid-nineteenth century. In Kumina, cannabis"
"as ""groundations"", and are typified by music, chanting, discussions, and the smoking of cannabis, the latter being regarded as a sacrament with beneficial properties. Rastas place emphasis on what they regard as living ""naturally"", adhering to ital dietary requirements, twisting their hair into dreadlocks, and following patriarchal gender roles. Rastafari originated among impoverished and socially disenfranchised Afro-Jamaican communities in 1930s Jamaica. Its Afrocentric ideology was largely a reaction against Jamaica's then-dominant British colonial culture. It was influenced by both Ethiopianism and the Back-to-Africa movement promoted by black nationalist figures like Marcus Garvey. The movement developed after several Christian clergymen, most"
"mobilisation. In 1982, the first international assembly of Rastafari groups took place in Toronto, Canada. This and subsequent international conferences, assemblies, and workshops have helped to cement global networks and cultivate an international community of Rasta practitioners. Within Rastafari, there are distinct groups which display particular orientations. There are often referred to as ""houses"" or ""mansions"", in keeping with a passage from the Gospel of John (14:2): as translated in the King James Bible, Jesus states ""In my father's house are many mansions"". The three most prominent branches are the House of Nyabinghi, the Bobo Ashanti, and the Twelve Tribes"
"a largely cellular basis. There are several denominations, or ""Mansions of Rastafari"", the most prominent of which are the Nyahbinghi, Bobo Ashanti, and the Twelve Tribes of Israel, each offering a different interpretation of Rasta belief. There are an estimated 700,000 to 1 million Rastas across the world; the largest population is in Jamaica although communities can be found in most of the world's major population centres. The majority of practitioners are of black African descent, although a minority come from other racial groups. Scholars of religion have categorised Rastafari as a new religious movement, a new social movement, or"
"sacrament with beneficial properties. Rastas place emphasis on what they regard as living 'naturally', adhering to ital dietary requirements, allowing their hair to form into dreadlocks, and following patriarchal gender roles. Rastafari originated among impoverished and socially disenfranchised Afro-Jamaican communities in 1930s Jamaica. Its Afrocentric ideology was largely a reaction against Jamaica's then-dominant British colonial culture. It was influenced by both Ethiopianism and the Back-to-Africa movement promoted by black nationalist figures like Marcus Garvey. The movement developed after several Christian clergymen, most notably Leonard Howell, proclaimed that the crowning of Haile Selassie as Emperor of Ethiopia in 1930 fulfilled a"
"development. Other Rastas do engage in political activism; the Ghanaian Rasta singer-songwriter Rocky Dawuni for instance has been involved in campaigns promoting social justice, environmental justice, and democratic elections. In the example of Grenada, many Rastas joined the People's Revolutionary Government which was formed in 1979, although Marxist-Leninist factions later turned against them. The cultural and religious practices of Rastafari are referred to as ""livity"" by Rastas. Rastafari has no professional priesthood, with Rastas believing that there is no need for a priest to act as mediator between the worshipper and divinity. There are individuals who are regarded as elders"
"and certainly the nation's biggest-selling recording artist. Rastafari itself is a monotheistic belief system, based on teachings found in the Old Testament and the New Testament – particularly the Book of Revelation. However, what distinguishes Rastafari from Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, (which also cite Abrahamic beliefs), is that Rastas believe in the divinity of the Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia. Hailed by Rastas as H.I.M. (His Imperial Majesty), Haile Selassie I is regarded as God himself, the true descendant of Solomon, and the earthly embodiment of Jah (God) – in what believers see as a fulfillment of prophecy regarding the"
"all the Rastafari mansions, named after Queen Niyabinghi, a 19th-century Ugandan ruler who fought against the British Empire. It may also be spelled in a variety of other ways, such as ""Nyabinghi"", ""Nyahbinghi"", ""Niyahbinghi"" and so on. It was first used to describe an East African possession cult located in the areas of south Uganda and north Rwanda in 1700 C.E. (Hopkins, p. 259). Early missionaries and anthropologists named the Uganda/Rwanda clans, the Niyabinghi Cult, because their culture was based on the veneration of the goddess spirit, Niyabinghi. The Niyabinghi Cult is said to have thrived due to the possession"
"1930 and 1974, is given central importance. Many Rastas regard him as an incarnation of Jah on Earth and as the Second Coming of Christ. Others regard him as a human prophet who fully recognized the inner divinity in every individual. Rastafari is Afrocentric and focuses its attention on the African diaspora, which it believes is oppressed within Western society, or ""Babylon"". Many Rastas call for the resettlement of the African diaspora in either Ethiopia or Africa more widely, referring to this continent as the Promised Land of ""Zion"". Rastas refer to their practices as ""livity"". Communal meetings are known"
"they regard as having collaborated with the commercial music industry. According to Cashmore, the Nyabinghi House is ""vehemently anti-white"". It is probably the largest Rastafari group. The Bobo Ashanti sect was founded in Jamaica by Emanuel Charles Edwards through the establishment of his Ethiopia Africa Black International Congress (EABIC) in 1958. The group established a commune in Bull Bay, where they were led by Edwards, who served as the group's high priest, until his 1994 death. The group hold to a highly rigid ethos. Edwards advocated the idea of a new trinity, with Haile Selassie as the living God, himself"
"and became one of the principal organizers of worldwide gatherings of the Rastafari faithful. Christian moved to Shashamane, Ethiopia in 2010, to further her work in repatriating the African diaspora to the mother country, from where she continues her writing and social activism. It is her belief that repatriation is protected under the United Nations principal and laws governing the right of return. Ijahnya Christian Ijahnya Christian (born 1957) is an Afro-Anguillian social activist and noted member of the Rastafarian community. As a member of the pan-African and repatriation movements, Christian travels world wide to help preserve the African languages,"
"Rastas, and their Ethiopia-born children, as foreigners. The Shashamane community peaked at a population of 2000, although subsequently declined to around 200. By the early 1990s, a Rasta community was present in Nairobi, Kenya, whose approach to the religion was informed both by reggae and by traditional Kikuyu religion. Several Rastafari orders have also been established in Zimbabwe, all of which send representatives to the Rastafari Association of Zimbabwe. At an African Union/Caribbean Diaspora conference in South Africa in 2005, a statement was released characterising Rastafari as a force for integration of Africa and the African diaspora. During the 1950s"
"15, 2015. Persecution of Rastafari Persecution of members of the Rastafari movement, a group founded in Jamaica in the early 1930s and who worship Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia as Almighty God, has been fairly continuous since the movement began but nowadays is particularly concerning their spiritual use of cannabis. The first Rastafari to appear in a court was Leonard Howell in Jamaica in 1934 who was charged with sedition for refusing to accept George V of the United Kingdom as his King, instead insisting that he was only loyal to Haile Selassie and Ethiopia. He was found guilty and"
"Persecution of Rastafari Persecution of members of the Rastafari movement, a group founded in Jamaica in the early 1930s and who worship Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia as Almighty God, has been fairly continuous since the movement began but nowadays is particularly concerning their spiritual use of cannabis. The first Rastafari to appear in a court was Leonard Howell in Jamaica in 1934 who was charged with sedition for refusing to accept George V of the United Kingdom as his King, instead insisting that he was only loyal to Haile Selassie and Ethiopia. He was found guilty and sentenced to"
"were given positions in the Grenadine government until it was overthrown and replaced following the U.S. invasion of 1983. Reggae was introduced to Cuba in the 1970s by Jamaican students. By the 1980s, underground reggae parties were being held in Havana and Santiago. Foreign Rastas who were studying in Cuba during the 1990s connected with this reggae scene and helped to ground it in Rasta beliefs. Since the founding of Rastafari, some practitioners have followed through with their belief in resettlement in Africa. The West African states of Ghana and Nigeria have been particularly favoured. Ghana's status as the first"
"all of Africa falls under the Biblical understanding of ""Ethiopia""; thus, Rastas in Ghana for instance described themselves as already living within ""Ethiopia"". There is no uniform Rasta view on race. Rastas typically believe that black Africans are God's chosen people, meaning that they made a deal with him and thus have a special responsibility. This is similar to beliefs in Judaism. Influenced by Garvey, many Rastas endorse black supremacy, believing the black African race to be superior to other racial groups. This has opened the religion up to accusations of racism from its critics, including black Jamaicans. Cashmore noted"
"of the view that because of its stances on capitalism, European hegemony, and white racism, Rastafari is ""easily incorporated into other nations with similar histories of European oppression"". According to sociologist of religion Peter B. Clarke, Rastafari ""helped to provide many people of African descent with a deeper sense of their African identity"". Men dominate Rastafari. In the religion's early years, most of its followers were men, and the women who did adhere to it tended to remain in the background. This picture of Rastafari's demographics has been confirmed by ethnographic studies conducted in the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries."
"are love of God and love of neighbour. Rastafari promotes the idea of ""living naturally"", in accordance with what Rastas regard as nature's laws. It endorses the idea that Africa is the ""natural"" abode of black Africans, a continent where they can live according to African culture and tradition and be themselves on a physical, emotional, and intellectual level. Practitioners believe that Westerners and Babylon have detached themselves from nature through technological development and as a result have become debilitated, slothful, and decadent. Some Rastas express the view that they should adhere to what they regard as African laws rather"
"For his Pan-African efforts, Nkrumah has come to be regarded as a heroic figure among many Rastas, although other Ghanaians have been critical of what they perceive as excess idolisation of the former president. The largest congregation of Ghanaian Rastas has been in southern parts of the country, around Accra, Tema, and the Cape Coast, although Rasta communities also exist in the Muslim-majority area of northern Ghana, especially in the towns of Tamale and Bolgatanga. The Rasta migrants' wearing of dreadlocks was akin to that of the native fetish priests, which may have assisted the presentation of these Rastas as"
"spiritual assemblies in 2003. Bahá'í Faith in Africa The Bahá'í Faith in Africa has a diverse history. It is the third most widespread organized Abrahamic religion in Africa after Christianity and Islam. The Association of Religion Data Archives (relying on World Christian Encyclopedia) lists many large and smaller populations in Africa with Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Africa and Zambia among the top ten numerical populations of Bahá'ís in the world in 2005, and Mauritius in terms of percentage of the national population. All three individual heads of the religion, Bahá'u'lláh, `Abdu'l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi, were in"
"as a social movement. The scholar of religion Leonard E. Barrett referred to it as a sect, and the sociologist Ernest Cashmore as a cult, while scholar of religion Ennis B. Edmonds argued that it could best be understood as a revitalization movement. Although Rastafari focuses on Africa as a source of identity, the scholar of religion Maboula Soumahoro noted that it was not an ""authentic"" African religion but an example of creolization, a product of the unique social environment that existed in the Americas. Edmonds also suggested that Rastafari was ""emerging"" as a world religion, not because of the"
"a small but growing number of African Americans who participate in African traditional religions, such as West African Vodun, Santería, Ifá and diasporic traditions like the Rastafari movement. Many of them are immigrants or descendants of immigrants from the Caribbean and South America, where these are practiced. Because of religious practices, such as animal sacrifice, which are no longer common among the larger American religions, these groups may be viewed negatively and are sometimes the victims of harassment. It must be stated, however, that since the Supreme Court judgement that was given to the Lukumi Babaluaye church of Florida in"
"lineage heads, are clearly demonstrated during such periods as the Odwira, Homowo, or the Aboakyir, that are organized in activities that renew and strengthen relations with ancestors. The Rastafari movement is a movement that arose in Jamaica in the 1930s. Its adherents worship Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia (1930–1974), as God incarnate, the Second Advent, or the reincarnation of Jesus. According to beliefs, Haile Selassie was the 225th in an unbroken line of Ethiopian monarchs of the Solomonic Dynasty. This dynasty is said to have been founded in the 10th century BC by Menelik I, the son of the"
"These two movements predated Rastafari and can be traced back to the eighteenth century. In the nineteenth century, there were growing calls for the African diaspora located in Western Europe and the Americas to be resettled in Africa. In that century, many members of the African diaspora were moved to Sierra Leone and Liberia. Based in Liberia, the black Christian preacher Edward Wilmot Blyden began promoting African pride and the preservation of African tradition, customs, and institutions. Blyden sought to promote a form of Christianity that was suited to the African context, and believed that black people had to acquire"
"Rastafari movement, it placed strong emphasis on the need for the African diaspora to be repatriated to Africa. To this end, various Rastas lobbied the Jamaican government and United Nations to oversee this resettlement process. Other Rastas organised their own transportation to the African continent. Critics of the movement have argued that the migration of the entire African diaspora to Africa is implausible, particularly as no African country would welcome this. By the movement's fourth decade, the desire for physical repatriation to Africa had declined among Rastas. This change in view was influenced by observation of the 1983-1985 famine in"
"reaching a climax in the 1920s. They provided a way for black Jamaicans—who continued to live with the social memory of enslavement and who were denied any substantial participation in Jamaica's political institutions—to express their hopes, fears, and aspirations. According to the scholar of religion Ennis B. Edmonds, Rastafari emerged from ""the convergence of several religious, cultural, and intellectual streams"", while fellow scholar Wigmoore Francis described it as owing much of its self-understanding to ""intellectual and conceptual frameworks"" dating from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Both Ethiopianism and the Back to Africa ethos remain ""fundamental ingredients of Rastafarian ideology""."
"Ethiopia. Rather, many Rastas saw the idea of returning to Africa in a metaphorical sense, entailing restoring their pride and self-confidence as people of black African descent. The term ""liberation before repatriation"" began to be used within the movement. Some Rastas seek to transform Western society so that they may more comfortably live within it rather than seeking to move to Africa. There are nevertheless many Rastas who continue to emphasise the need for physical resettlement of the African diaspora in Africa. Some Rastas living elsewhere in Africa see no need to migrate to Ethiopia specifically because they believe that"