| Date: | 01/23/2004 |
| Title: | kings will come from africa |
| Location: | addis abeba, ethiopia (2447 m) |
| Text: | 52 164 kilometres on the road i had always been surprised at how little wannabe rastas all over the world knew about their cult and its origins. for most of them being a rasta just meant to wear dread locks, smoke ganja and to be super cool. they would drink alcohol (which is not exactly on a real rasta's agenda), sell drugs and talk too much about themselves. hardly any of them knew where the word rasta originated from. "it stands for peace, man. yeah, peace, brother" was a common answer. they did not know that rastafarism was named after an ethiopian called ras tafari makonnen. a member of the royal ethiopian family ras tafari makonnen was crowned emperor haile selasse in 1930; he was the last ethiopienan emperor. his coronation inspired many jamaicans, namely followers of marcus garveys 'back to africa' movement (ethiopiansism), who saw in it the biblical prophecy 'kings will come form africa'. selassi himself had reportedly been a bit embarrassed by the cult evolving around his person. but he gave the rastas several hundred acres of land in shashmene, south of addis abeba, to where many of blacks from all over the world could 'return'. |