"2.6% of the population (mainly in the far south and southwest) follow traditional religions; other religions (Bahá'í, Judaism, etc.) make up the remaining 0.6%. Ethiopia is the site of the first hijra in Islamic history and the oldest Muslim settlement in Africa at Negash. Until the 1980s, a substantial population of Ethiopian Jews resided in Ethiopia. The country is also the spiritual homeland of the Rastafari religious movement. Ethiopia is one of the oldest Christian states in the world. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church is an Oriental Orthodox Church, which is the largest Christian denomination in Ethiopia. It was part of"
"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"
"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"
"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"
"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"
"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"
"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"
"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"
"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"
"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"
"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"
"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"
"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"
"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 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"
"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."
"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"
"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"
"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"
"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"
"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"
"the company of another close friend, Maira Fenci, travelling first to Casablanca, and from thence to Accra, Ghana. He died on April 20 at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra of liver failure, and is buried in Akuma Village on the outskirts of Accra. His wake and burial were performed in accordance with blended Ghanaian and Rastafari funeral rites, and included crowds of guests from Accra's Rastafari community. Jack Tafari Jack Tafari (born 31 October 1946 in Gravesend, Kent, United Kingdom, died 20 April 2016 in Accra, Ghana, Africa), was a sometimes homeless Rastafari activist who advocated for himself and"
"Biblical prophecy. By the 1950s, Rastafari's counter-cultural stance had brought the movement into conflict with wider Jamaican society, including violent clashes with law enforcement. In the 1960s and 1970s it gained increased respectability within Jamaica and greater visibility abroad through the popularity of Rasta-inspired reggae musicians like Bob Marley. Enthusiasm for Rastafari declined in the 1980s, following the deaths of Haile Selassie and Marley. The Rasta movement is organised on a largely cellular basis. There are several denominations, or ""Mansions of Rastafari"", the most prominent of which are the Nyahbinghi, Bobo Ashanti, Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church, and the Twelve Tribes"
"world's great philosophies and ideologies. Even if Rastafari is not universally embraced, concepts of it are widely accepted and appreciated, due largely to the popularity of Bob Marley and reggae music. Marley is considered in many Rasta circles to be a prophet, and holds a similar standing with many people throughout the world who do not identify themselves as Rastafari. Rastafari movement in the United States The Rastafari Movement in the United States is the Rastafari Movement, founded in Jamaica, manifestation in the United States. The name ""Rastafari"" is taken from ""Ras Tafari"", the title (Ras) and first name (Tafari"
"people"". The Rastafari movement began among Afro-Jamaicans who wanted to reject the British imperial culture that dominated Jamaica, while at the same time making a determined effort to create an identity based on a re-appropriation of their African heritage. Rastas equate blackness with the African continent and thus endorse a form of Pan-Africanism. Practitioners of Rastafari identify themselves with the ancient Israelites—God's chosen people in the Old Testament—and believe that black Africans or Rastas are either the descendants or reincarnations of this ancient people. Rastafari espouses the view that the true identity of black Africans has been lost and needs"
"rights groups, such as Human Rights Watch, as autocratic and illiberal. Among the Rastafari movement, whose followers are estimated to number between 700,000 and one million, Haile Selassie is revered as the returned messiah of the Bible, God incarnate. Beginning in Jamaica in the 1930s, the Rastafari movement perceives Haile Selassie as a messianic figure who will lead a future golden age of eternal peace, righteousness, and prosperity. Haile Selassie was an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian throughout his life. The 1973 famine in Ethiopia led to Haile Selassie's eventual removal from the throne. He died on 27 August 1975 at 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"
"Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church The Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church is an offshoot of the Rastafari movement that flourished in the 1970s in Jamaica and was incorporated in Florida in 1975. Members of the movement say it is based on the teachings of Marcus Garvey and that they use cannabis as the Rastafari sacrament. In 1979 the group was accused, tried, and convicted of smuggling massive amounts of potent cannabis from Jamaica to Miami in actions that kept the Jamaican economy afloat that decade. The then-Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga told a U.S. interview ""It's just a little ""sinsemilla"" that it"
"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,"
"can be described as practicing ""common law repatriation"". In comparison, one of the central tenets of the Rastafari movement is the desirability of the repatriation of black people from the Americas and elsewhere back to Africa. While Ethiopia specifically has land available in Shashamane to encourage this project, black people who are citizens of countries outside Africa do not have the right of return to Africa, although as individuals they are free to try to emigrate. Repatriation is often the ""forgotten"" phase of the expatriation cycle; the emphasis for support is mostly on the actual period abroad. However, many repatriates"
"Bobo Ashanti Bobo Ashanti (""Ashanti"" to pay homage to their Asante ancestors of the Akan tribe in present-day Ghana), also called the Ethiopian International Congress, is a religious group originating in Bull Bay near Kingston, Jamaica. The Bobo Ashanti are one of the strictest Mansions of Rastafari. They cover their dreadlocks with turbans and wear long robes. While some Nyabinghi and Twelve tribe Rastafari drink wine and are either vegetarians or omnivores (eating plants, animals, and fungi), the Bobo Ashanti are all strictly vegan and stick to the biblical restrictions regarding their vow; they also add extra restrictions to their"
"practised in the country of Jamaica include Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam. Originating in the 1930s, one of the most prominent, internationally known aspects of Jamaica's African-Caribbean culture is the Rastafari movement, particularly those elements that are expressed through reggae music. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Bob Marley became the most high-profile exponent of the Rastafari culture and belief system. His reputation as an innovative musician devoted to his faith has continued to grow since his death, so that by 2004 his greatest hits compilation, Legend, had sold 20 million copies worldwide, making him arguably the world's most famous Jamaican,"
"Mansions of Rastafari Mansions of Rastafari is an umbrella term for the various groups of the Rastafari movement. Such groups include the Bobo Ashanti, the Niyabinghi, the Twelve Tribes of Israel, and several smaller groups, including African Unity, Covenant Rastafari, Messianic Dreads and the Selassian Church. The term is taken from the Biblical verse in John 14:2, ""In my Father's house are many mansions."" Many individual Rastas are only loosely affiliated with these Mansions, or not at all, in keeping with the principle of freedom of conscience, a general distrust of institutionalism shared by many, and the teachings of Haile"