Rastafarian Culture

 Bob Marley on Pan African Flag
The Rasta are a group that are recognized and famous worldwide.  They are most often characterized and identified by their dreadlock hairstyle and their use of Cannabis of Marijuana, but the ideology is much deeper than this.  It originally started as a movement that urged the African diaspora to "go back to Africa" physically, mentally, and emotionally.  This movement developed in the 1930s in Jamaica initially under the leadership of Marcus Garvey and it sought to give many blacks around the world, who had been
  Marcus Garvey

displaced because of the Atlantic Slave Trade, a sense of pride in their heritage.  Blacks were urged to reject Babylon ,which represents materialism and oppression, and to take up Zion, which represents Ethiopia or the Promised Land and Heaven on Earth.
 Caribbean Map

Ethiopia is seen as the Promised land because it is the "birthplace of humankind" and because it was the only African country not colonized by European powers.  The name Rastafari itself comes from the Amharic (Official language of Ethiopia) Ras  "head" and Tafari  "man to be feared, hero."  The emperor of Ethiopia from 1930-1974 was Haile Selassie, whom Rastas revere as the reincarnation of Jesus Christ.  Selassie himself never acknowledged this title.
 Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie

The Rastafarian African Spritual ideology is sometimes called an Abrahamic religion.  The adherents  are mainly based in Jamaica which is a predominantly Christian country and Rastas share many of the same beliefs of Jews and Christians.  The dreadlock hairstyle is associated with pride in Afro hair and heritage, as well as, the Nazirites in Judaism, certain biblical verses and Hindu holy men who also wear the matted locks.  Today dreadlocks are a hairstyle that many including African Americans and non-African peoples wear to connect to their heritage or just because they like the way they look.  Not all who wear dreadlocks are Rasta and all Rastas do not have dreadlocks.  Cannabis use is supported by  Bob Marley
biblical verse and associated with early Hindu immigrants to Jamaica who used it.  The use of Cannabis is considered a sacrament and spiritual act.  Rastas  use the pan-African colors of red, green, and yellow while the Jamacian flag colors are green, black, and yellow.  Devout Rastas also eat a raw vegan diet.
  Zahra Redwood, Miss Jamaica (2007)
Rasta culture was spread worldwide through Reggae music.  The most famous musician was Bob Marley a native Jamacian.  His music helped to expand the Rasta ideology from the Carribean country to all corners of the world.  Some of his greatest hits were  "No Woman No Cry"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4kpqDF9j6Q and "Could You Be Loved."http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL_BcaI0i0w Dreadlocks and the music of Marley can be seen and heard in all corners of the globe.  The Rastafari even reached the Promised Land of Ethiopia where many have immigrated.  Today many native Ethiopians and other Africans are also making their own Reggae music in  African languages and trying to continue the pan-African legacy.