NARIS­SA FRAS­ER

Free­lance con­trib­u­tor

Mem­bers of the Rasta­fari com­mu­ni­ty gath­ered for var­i­ous events across the coun­try last Thurs­day, in cel­e­bra­tion of the 134th earth­strong (birth­day) of the late Ethiopi­an Em­per­or Haile Se­lassie I. They sought to urge the pop­u­la­tion to show more love and re­spect for one an­oth­er, re­mind­ing them that sal­va­tion is the on­ly way to Zion.

Se­lassie I, whom they con­sid­er King of Kings, Lord of Lords and Con­quer­ing Li­on of the Tribe of Ju­dah, was born on Ju­ly 23, 1892. He is a pil­lar of the Rasta­fari com­mu­ni­ty and doc­trine. His earth­strong, as well as the an­niver­sary of his coro­na­tion (No­vem­ber 2), is ob­served an­nu­al­ly by mem­bers of the com­mu­ni­ty.

Guardian Me­dia vis­it­ed one of the cel­e­bra­tion cer­e­monies held by mem­bers of the Bobo Shan­ti (Ethiopia Africa Black In­ter­na­tion­al Con­gress) faith in Up­per El Do­ra­do Heights, Tu­na­puna.

Brethren, sistren and chil­dren rea­soned with one an­oth­er, chant­ed Psalms, sang hymns and played the sa­cred heart­beat rhythm of the Nyabinghi drums dur­ing their cel­e­bra­tion. They gave thanks for the Holy Trin­i­ty of the prophet Mar­cus Gar­vey, the priest, King Eman­nuel Charles Ed­wards and the King, Se­lassie I.

Bobo Shan­ti Priest Car­los ex­plained, “(Na­tions) had op­por­tu­ni­ties to even dis­pute or re­but His Majesty’s claim to the throne and every­one bowed. No ifs, buts or maybe, Se­lassie is the Con­quer­ing Li­on of the Tribe of Ju­dah.”

He re­called that be­ing told he was roy­al­ty was some­thing that stuck with him on his Rasta­fari jour­ney. It was some­thing he thought was on­ly re­served for Eu­ro­peans when he was younger.

“So Haile Se­lassie be­ing the high­est king on the earth was a re­al turn­ing point. We are roy­al­ty, which is why we call each oth­er my lord, em­press, princess…”

Al­so touch­ing on his Rasta­fari jour­ney, Priest Jah Irock said when he first learnt about this liv­i­ty (way of life), “it was clear to (him) that this is the way.”

He said, “We live right­eous and true… (Oth­ers) preached a false doc­trine to us and that is brain­wash­ing plen­ty youths right now. Rasta­fari is about know­ing your re­al self and liv­ing in a way where we show one an­oth­er love and to­geth­er­ness.”

Asked for their views on how African his­to­ry is taught in to­day’s ed­u­ca­tion­al sys­tems, sev­er­al mem­bers said it is poor. They ex­pressed their dis­ap­point­ment in the lack of teach­ing about Haile Se­lassie I, Mar­cus Gar­vey and many oth­ers.

“They not teach­ing you those things just so,” one chimed in.

“And that’s ba­sic African cul­ture and his­to­ry.”

They be­lieve that al­though black peo­ple have been eman­ci­pat­ed from slav­ery, colo­nial chains still ex­ist in the minds of many.

“And you can feel it when you come in con­tact with peo­ple who haven’t seen them­selves yet,” one mem­ber said.

“You have to learn to build spir­i­tu­al pow­er and this is what it’s all about. This is not a dance­hall thing, this is about sal­va­tion or­der. You can­not go to Zion with­out sal­va­tion.”

They all showed grat­i­tude for the gath­er­ing and fel­low­ship, re­it­er­at­ing the im­por­tance of uni­ty, es­pe­cial­ly in “times like these.”