Rastafarians in the “promised land” of Ethiopia

May 11th, 2009 | EthioPolitics.com |

(Picture - Restaurant run by Rastafarians in Shashemene, Ethiopia)

APA - These days, it is usual to see many Rastafarianism in Ethiopia, mainly in Shashemene, located some 240 kilometres east of Addis Ababa, where few of them have resettled since the past three to four decades.

The Rastafarians comprise people of different nationalities, including some Africans, including Ethiopians, Europeans and United States citizens.

But the majority of the Rastafarians are Jamaicans who regarded Ethiopia as their promised land.

The Rastafarian community who started to settle in Ethiopia have a great respect and adoration to former Emperor Haile Silassie who ruled Ethiopia in the mid-1970s.

For the Rastafarians, Emperor Haile Selassie who was deposed in 1974 by the military regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam, is a living legend.

While Emperor Haile Selassie’s body was buried inside the palace until the present government took power in Ethiopia some 17 years ago, he was re-buried at the Trinity Church in Addis Ababa in the presence of members of his family who live in the United Kingdom and Ethiopia. However, this was not acceptable to the Rastafarians who still believe that Haile Selassie is still alive and is being regarded by them as an angel.

“We believe Haile Selassie is alive, he did not die, did anyone see his body?” asked Seife Selassie, a 48 year old Rastafarians living in Shashemene.

Selassie is not his first name but he and all Rastafarians are using assumed names, which they chose after arriving in Ethiopia, their promised land.

All Rastafarians prefer to be called by their new Ethiopian names rather than their original names.

However, their belief in Emperor Haile Selassie is not accepted by the majority of Ethiopians who believe that Haile Selassie is a dead.

However, despite this difference with the community, the Rastafarians are living a peaceful life in Ethiopia.

“We have a good neighborly relationship with our Ethiopian sisters and brothers. We all are the same and a family,” said Selassie who has a long hair.

One can simply identify the Rastafarians with their long dreadlock hair and beards with T-shirts having Haile Selassies’s picture on it.

Like Selassie, the over 200 Rastafarians living in Shashemene share the Ethiopian community’s way of life in their eating habits, running small businesses and other social activities.

However, a good number of Rastafarians are visiting Ethiopia (their promised land) annually, visiting Shashemene and their relatives.

Despite all this deep rooted love for Ethiopia, the majority of the Rastafarians could not get Ethiopian citizenship. There are few cases, in which the Rastafarians have obtained Ethiopian citizenship through marriage.

“This is the major problem. All the Rastafarians are trying their best to get citizenship,” said Berhane Selassie, a 56 year old Rastafarians who is living ere since the past 12 years.

In January 2005 there were reports in the media that Bob Marley’s remains were to be exhumed and then reburied at Shashemene. His wife Rita Marley described Ethiopia as his spiritual home, provoking controversy in Jamaica, where his remains lie. It was the time when Bob Marley’s families celebrated his 60th birthday in Ethiopia, for the first time outside Jamaica.

Rasafarianism is said to be the fastest growing social and religious movement in the world. Estimates range from over 200,000 following in Jamaica alone, which is roughly about15 - 20% of the population. It is somewhat unclear how the name “Ras Tafari” was adopted over the (more spiritual and prestigious) coronation name “Haile Selassie” which means the power of Trinity. “Ras” in Amharic is the title given to Ethiopian royalties, and Tafari was Emperor Haile Selassie’s given name, which can be translated as “the one that is revered and/or feared”.

This name has become not only a holy appellation and a ritual invocation, but also the name of the movement itself. “Rastafari” is a Jamaican rendering of “Ras Tafari” and is the name given to the members of the movement.

The name “Haile-Selassie” is used mostly in prayers and songs. The other name reverenced in the movement is “Jah” or also “Jah-Ras-Tafari”. The origin of this word is obviously from the Biblical “Jehovah”.

In November 1930 Ras Tafari was crowned Negus of Ethiopia, taking the name Haile Selassie, to which was added “King of Kings” and the “Lion of Judah,” placing him in the legendary line of King Solomon.

Haile Selassie visited Jamaica in 1966 where he invited the Jamaicans to migrate to Ethiopia, where he gave them a plot of land in Shashemene.

But before his visit in 1966, Emperor Haile Selassie donated in 1948, 500 acres (2.0 km2) of his private land to allow Black officers, members and other settlers from Jamaica including other parts of the Caribbean to return to their ancestral homeland in Africa, through auspices of the Ethiopian World Federation (EWF) founded in 1937 by the Emperor’s special emissary to Black America, Dr. Melaku E. Bayen.

In 1961, the Jamaican government sent a delegation composed of both Rastafari and non-Rastafarian leaders to Ethiopia to discuss the matter of emigration, among other issues, with the Emperor. He reportedly told the Rastafarian delegation, “Tell the brethren not to be dismayed, I personally will give my assistance in the matter of repatriation”.

On his 1966 visit to Jamaica, Emperor Haile Selassie reportedly encouraged Rastafarian leaders to repatriate to Shashemene, but stressed that there was still important work to do in liberating Jamaica. It was within a couple of years that a moderate trickle of Rastafarian immigrants began to arrive, with the population swelling past 2000 at one point. In fact, it was recently reported that their numbers have now dwindled from more than 2,000 to fewer than 500.