My Second meeting

The second meeting with the Rastafarians showed me the trust and dedication they had for my project. Four elders had walked over several kilometres to meet at Jased’s house to talk on their way of life. I must admit, the more they told me about their culture, the more I respected them.


Benjamin, Jased,Judah,the youngster and a woman were cramped in the small room. They were all listening to a recorded tape of one of the Jamaican Rastafarian elders. It just hit home how serious the Rastafarians took their religion. I interviewed all of the people in the room. Sister Grace was still learning about the Rastafarian way, and had just married Jased. For fifty four minutes I spoke to the Rastafarians about all aspects of their religion. Firstly, they do not smoke Ganja out of pure entertainment. They insist that weed “baptizes” them. They also call the bong a “chalice”. They seemed very upset that we are not allowed to smoke weed legally, and feel it is a law bought in from the white man. They also emphasize their seperatness between them and the “Babylon”society. Even to the point that they do not like the idea of Rastafarians being “a fashion statement”. To them the dreadlocks represent the lions mane, and their beards represents manhood. The longer I interviewed them, the more smoke they “licked”. Benjamin was the most affected by the weed. I noticed this through the intense passion he suddenly had for the Rastafari religion. He said that a Rastafari lives, eats and breathes the words of jah. He said a ‘Babylon” man is only religious on the Sunday,on this day he suits up and acts like a respectable, humble man. Yet for the other six days he is a hypocritical drunk.
The Rastafari man always wears his religious gear, seven days a week. He is always a “humble” man. I was very impressed with the rigid structure in which the Rastafarian man lives. They never drink, they hate tobacco, and they eat only vegetables. Yet there is one aspect that i disagree with, and this was the intense racial background the Rastafarian culture has. I was given a script to read called “the black times”. This consisted of a newspaper with plenty of images of brutally attacked Africans during the slave trade. It also blamed the white man for AIDS. I understand it is strictly an African religion. But this was a form of propoganda. I made my views clear yet the Rastafarians assured me they weren’t racist, they just do not forget the past. Throughout the whole conversation, the microphone was conveniently nestled on the table in between us, this worked perfectly, as after a time the Rastas seemed to forget the microphone was even there, which allowed them to express their views and open their hearts comfortably. After an hour of in depth conversation it was time to leave. They were very appreciative that I had come.I could safely say i had earned the full respect of the Rastafarian community, and was invited back two days later to record them chant. As I was not allowed to record in the church.