(April 28, 2012, SHASHEMENE, Ethiopia (AFP)--A ceremonial fire burns as dreadlocked
Rastafarians sway to drum beats, chanting "Haile I! Selassie I!" in
praise of the former Ethiopian emperor whom they uphold as God
incarnate.
But some feel Ethiopia has not measured up -- and now want change. "After the visit of Haile Selassie in 1966 in the Caribbean, the Jamaican Rastafarians started to pour in" to Ethiopia, said researcher Giulia Bonacci at the French Centre for Ethiopian Studies in the capital Addis Ababa.
When the movement emerged in the 1930s among descendants of African slaves in Jamaica, it adopted Haile Selassie as the messiah, at a time when he stood out as the only independent black monarch in Africa. They even took their name from his pre-regnal title -- "Ras" for "head" and his birth name "Tafari".
A supporter of decolonization and cooperation among African states when they were still largely under European control, Haile Selassie set aside land south of the capital in the 1950s to welcome back the African diaspora.
The 500-hectare (1,200-acre) plot in Shashemene, 250 kilometres (155 miles) from Addis Ababa, was offered to descendents of slaves who wanted to return "home". It is one of Africa's few Rastafarian communities and residents hold fast to their cultural mainstays: dreadlocks, vegetarian diets, reggae music and marijuana smoking. Read more from Xtra »
But some feel Ethiopia has not measured up -- and now want change. "After the visit of Haile Selassie in 1966 in the Caribbean, the Jamaican Rastafarians started to pour in" to Ethiopia, said researcher Giulia Bonacci at the French Centre for Ethiopian Studies in the capital Addis Ababa.
When the movement emerged in the 1930s among descendants of African slaves in Jamaica, it adopted Haile Selassie as the messiah, at a time when he stood out as the only independent black monarch in Africa. They even took their name from his pre-regnal title -- "Ras" for "head" and his birth name "Tafari".
A supporter of decolonization and cooperation among African states when they were still largely under European control, Haile Selassie set aside land south of the capital in the 1950s to welcome back the African diaspora.
The 500-hectare (1,200-acre) plot in Shashemene, 250 kilometres (155 miles) from Addis Ababa, was offered to descendents of slaves who wanted to return "home". It is one of Africa's few Rastafarian communities and residents hold fast to their cultural mainstays: dreadlocks, vegetarian diets, reggae music and marijuana smoking. Read more from Xtra »
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