By Dakika Esrael

Far far across the valley comes the sound of an almighty procession Zion bound. Chanting chanting Iyabinghi drums yunder and yant the call to redemption, Babylon doomed to fall, Iyudgmant to come through Ivine intervention. Funde dance, Kette skip, Bass yunder, riddims praise Rastafari, the prophesied Anointed One, Jah the Redeemer in his biblical and kingly character. The year is 1930, and revelation of the newly crowned Black King of Ithiopia is proclaimed by the Brethren of Rastafari unto the world as the fulfillmant of biblical prophecies relating to the second coming of Christ on earth in his Ivine lineage.

Realizations of Afrika, specifically Ithiopia, the ancient Kingdom of Afrikanity being the Hola citadel of Jerusalem: Mount Zion to the tribes of Rastafari. Spiritual allegiance was given to the newly crowned King of Ithiopia by the Brethren as the rightful creator and ruler of the physical universe, the Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords manifest in the physical appearance of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I: light and inspiration to the dispossessed mass of suffera Jamaicans of Afrikan ascent reaching for salvation from the depths of slavery and degradation. A glorious king whose coming is to conquer, Negus Tafari Makonnen, godhead to the Movemant of Rastafari, domiciled on the island of Jamaica.

Just prior to and during the 1930s, there were various “witnesses” professing and expounding the belief that H.I.M. was indeed the prophesied King of Israel alluded to in several passages of the Hola Bible.

A cornerstone influence at the foundation of the doctrine was Marcus Mosiah Garvey, the first acknowledged international spokesman of Black Consciousness who foretold the event of the crowning of a Black King in Afrika who would herald the impending redemption of the Black race scattered throughout the world. Garvey is considered a supreme Black Zionist who articulated a philosophy of righteousness for the Black race which was to become a source of deep inspiration and guidance to the emerging Rastafarian consciousness and doctrine of the formative groundations; a John the Baptist prophet of the culture of Rastafari.

At the same time, there were others in agreement with Garvey’s prophecies, and around these first orators was gathered a growing number of followers in the poverty-stricken ghettos of western Kingston and the rural areas of the island. H. Archibald Dunkley (King of Kings Missionary Movement), Joseph Nathaniel Hibbert (Ethiopian Coptic Faith), Leonard Howell of Pinnacle (Ethiopian World Federation) and his deputy Robert Hinds, were all part of eclectic missions that preached the initial doctrines of Rastafari at what is considered the inception of the movemant. Leonard Howell established the communal Ethiopian World Federation in the Sligoville area of St. Catherine, known as Pinnacle, and it is partly through these portals that the growing awareness of Rastafari and Selassie began to spread into the colonial society of the ’30s and ’40s.

Communities sprung up in the poorest tin and board ghettos of western Kingston; the notorious Dungle, Back 0′ Wall, Shanty Town, Moonlight City and up in the Wareika Hills overlooking the city of Kingston. From these humble beginnings the Rastafari Movemant has risen and spread its cultural consciousness through other West Indian Islands, into parts of the United States of America and Canada, into the United Kingdom and certain areas of Europe; to Afrika itself and other regions of the world just becoming acquainted with the vision of Rastafari, Jamaica, Selassie I and Afrika as a redemptive reality in the world today. Ongoing manifestations of the Spirit of I & I, the evolution of a practical “living way of life” based on the essentially revolutionary Christian doctrine of peace and love and the brotherhood of man existing in the “here and now” and not in some future or in an unseen “afterlife”; the reality of Zion upon this our one earth.

Picture colonial Jamaica of the 1930s, an axis of 400 years of exploitation of the masses in the name of the “motherland” England, a Crown colony maintained by the then British ruling class. Social rituals founded upon Anglo-Saxon ethics of church, state, morality, education and finance (social or otherwise) there on the island as in other colonies were nothing more than Britain removed to the Caribbean, “chips off the old block.”

Colonial society by then was socially and financially ordered according to “class and station” of White, Chinese, Syrian, Black, Jewish, Indian and Creole, down to the rock-bottom dispossession of the Black suffera masses. Thus it was upon the poor Black psyche that the initial outpourings of the spirit of Rastafari was accepted and taken to heart; it offered salvation to those whose lot was little better than nothing—poverty in the extreme with little or no hope of change for the better.

Theirs is to be the apocalyptical Exodus and Movemant of Jah people from all Babylonian Empires and the return to each man’s vine and fig from where the ancestors were taken and cast in the West into slavery. Micah 4:4: “But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid.”

Rastafari transcends life in the spirit of a Jah-inspired life, setting aside all limitations. I & I walk in the knowledge of the temple as witness to the love that the “I am that I am” bears unto his children.

Rasta is not concerned with the insanities perpetuated in the name of Christ and the fallen sinful nature of man. He lives within the tribulation of these times yet his “cloth” is washed pure in the rivers of salvation.

Rev. 7:13-14: “And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?

“And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

Rastafari is love of one and all; do unto others as I & I would have others do unto I & I. The more immediate, open and conscious I & I live, the more I & I experience the life-giving spirit of Christ dwelling within. Rasta knows through the 5×5 God-given faculties that life is a supreme gift to the universal earth functioning as a sacred bond with I Faada, the almighty and living Jah.

Rastafari defends the belief of the Black Christ of the ancient Solomonic house of Ethiopia, the supreme Adonai and creator of Heaven and Earth as the sole and true spiritual ruler of the creation manifested as the Hola One of Israel. Knowledge of the origins through the Black Christ of Rastafari stretching from antiquity and the union of King Solomon and Queen Makeda of Sheba whose son, Menelik I, established the first divine Solomonic throne in Ethiopia centuries ago. Black historical facts, hidden, denied and desecrated throughout time, now to be established through the awareness of historical fact and reality.

This I-sense (essence/inner sense) for Rastafari is an I-sense of natural intuitive intelligence, it involves full use of the 5×5 I-senses of the physical temple being attuned to the spirit to receive ongoing cycles of creative energy. A living sea of awareness, both inner I of the Irit, and outer I of the material world.

Let all hearts, open and receptive to the uprising of Rastafari, come and take rest in the gardens of truth; the rebirth of those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Perhaps then truth shall once again prosper as Jah knoweth and liveth.

This article was originally published in the April 1983 issue of High Times Magazine.

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Ganja in Jamaica is more than just the cannabis plant; it’s a culture, a way of life, and an expression of people from varying cultural backgrounds who ended up on the Caribbean Island via the plantation model. The British monarchy was responsible for the cultural clash that saw enslaved Africans and indentured laborers co-mingling and participating in the smoking of ganja after a day’s work in the sugarcane plantations. This unique phenomenon gave birth to Rastafari, a religious and political movement rooted in African culture with Emperor Haile Selassie I from Ethiopia as its redeemer, the red, green, and gold colors, and the use of the chillum pipe. Furthermore, the profound impact of Indian influence on the vegan diet, the growing of dreadlocks, and the use of ganja as a sacramental herb have contributed to ganja being an endemic part of Jamaican culture.

Jamaica lies 18° north of the Equator, a tropical paradise surrounded by the Caribbean Sea where the sun shines perpetually with slight variations in photoperiod throughout the year. The island’s biogeography presents ecologically diverse habitats from high elevations to coastal plains, rainforests to dry limestone forests, and expansive freshwater ecosystems. The islanders’ symbolic love for patronizing the cannabis plant through the expression of performing arts from reggae icons like Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and so many more has situated ganja synonymously with Jamaica.

The artisanal production of ganja in Jamaica represents the ingenuity of the cultivators who reside in these various microclimates throughout the island catering to a plethora of different demographics of consumers located in tourist areas on the north coast, rural townships, urban ghettos, and middle- to upper-class communities. The cultivation methods, post-harvest practices, types of genetics, pricing structure, farm sizes, and distribution method present varying disparities in quality dynamics intended for the various local markets.

Sunny Hill, St. Thomas

The lush rainforest habitat to the southern, eastern side of the island is one of the rural areas where ganja farmers tend to trek into the hills to cultivate on lands cleared to facilitate maximum sunlight throughout the day. The farmers grow genetics they have replicated in regular seed production for several generations and cultivate directly into the local soil substrate. The intended market is the local townships in the parish.

Nine Mile, St. Ann

The farming community of Nine Mile, located in the limestone hills of the parish of St. Ann Jamaica, is the birthplace and resting place of reggae superstar Bob Marley. The Bob Marley Mausoleum is situated on the property where Marley spent his formative years as a young boy growing up. The ganja farmers in this community grow an equatorial cultivar that has a long flowering time with the purpose of the collection of charas finger hash, which is primarily marketed to the consistent busloads of tourists who visit Marley’s shrine daily.

Slipe, St. Elizabeth

The community of Slipe is located on the island’s south coast in the Black River Morass, Jamaica’s largest freshwater wetland ecosystem. The ganja farmers of this community use an interesting mode of transportation—canoes—to tend to their plants daily. This community has developed a hydroponic method of cultivation where the peat from the bog is raised above the water table in long snakelike beds, and the ganja plants are cultivated densely. The seeds are germinated near households and transported as hardened seedlings by canoe through tiny channels cleared from the tall sawgrass to traverse the river. The farmers of this community typically get their germplasm from the neighboring parish of Westmoreland. The plants don’t tend to pass 4 feet in height, with seedling to harvest taking place in 10 to 12 weeks.

Orange Hill, Westmoreland

The community of Orange Hill is located on the western tip of Jamaica near the resort town of Negril. The entire parish of Westmoreland is known for some of the best high-grade ganja on the island. Residents from this western parish tend to flaunt the slogan “The best comes from the West.” The community produces strains of ganja well known to the Western world and modern-day palate with terpene profiles of fruity, gassy, and citrus flavors. The plants are grown in plastic pots or fabric bags using supplemental lighting to generate larger biomass during the vegetative growth period. On harvest day, the plants are placed in temperature- and humidity-controlled rooms to facilitate the drying process. The ganja produced in this area is known to supply the resort towns of Negril and Montego Bay, where the tourists tend to pay, on average, a higher price for the commodity.

Happy Gate, St. Andrew

Happy Gate is situated on the foothills of the Blue Mountain near the capital city of Kingston. The ganja farm is located on the steep slopes of the hillside where the warm orange rays of the sunset dip over the western horizon. The plants grown are hybrids of California origin, where supplemental lighting is used to increase biomass production for the short flowering times of these cultivars. Post-harvest rooms here and in Orange Hill are typically equipped with an air conditioning unit and a dehumidifier for drying and curing.

This article was originally published in the March 2024 issue of High Times Magazine.

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The country of Antigua and Barbuda has become one of the first in the Caribbean to authorize Rastafari to grow and smoke cannabis, an herb that is considered a sacrament by followers of the religion. 

As the Associated Press reported, for decades, many Rastafari have been “been jailed and endured racial and religious profiling by law enforcement because of their marijuana use,” which they say “brings them closer to the divine.” 

Officials in Antigua and Barbuda, an island country with a population of a little more than 90,000, have now sought to rectify the situation. 

According to the Associated Press, the lifting of the ban makes the country “one of the first Caribbean nations to grant Rastafari authorization to grow and smoke their sacramental herb.”

“We’re more free now,” said Ras Tashi, a member of the Ras Freeman Foundation for the Unification of Rastafari, as quoted by the Associated Press, which reported that Tashi recently “led chants and praise in the tabernacle on the foundation’s farm located in Liberta’s lush agricultural district.”

Rastafaris have lobbied for legal cannabis in the country for years. In 2021, the Associated Press reported that adherents were “clamoring for broader relaxation to curtail persecution and ensure freedom of worship.”

The AP offered more background at the time:

“The Rastafari faith is rooted in 1930s Jamaica, growing as a response by Black people to white colonial oppression. The beliefs are a melding of Old Testament teachings and a desire to return to Africa. Rastafari followers believe the use of marijuana is directed in biblical passages and that the ‘holy herb’ induces a meditative state. The faithful smoke it as a sacrament in chalice pipes or cigarettes called ‘spliffs,’ add it to vegetarian stews and place it in fires as a burnt offering. ‘Ganja,’ as marijuana is known in Jamaica, has a long history in that country, and its arrival predates the Rastafari faith. Indentured servants from India brought the cannabis plant to the island in the 19th century, and it gained popularity as a medicinal herb.

It began to gain wider acceptance in the 1970s when Rastafari and reggae culture was popularized through music icons Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, two of the faith’s most famous exponents. Tosh’s 1976 hit ‘Legalize It’ remains a rallying cry for those pushing to make marijuana legal. Rastafari adherents in the U.S., many of them Black, say they have endured both racial and religious profiling by law enforcement agencies due to their ritualistic use of cannabis.”

The change in law in Antigua and Barbuda may lead to a similar domino effect as the one that has unfolded here over the last decade in the United States, where dozens of states and cities have lifted longstanding prohibitions on cannabis within their jurisdictions.

The Associated Press reported last week that “Rastafari elsewhere are pushing for similar religious protections,” and that experts and stakeholders “think the Antigua and Barbuda law could give a boost to these efforts worldwide at a time when public opinion and policy are continuing to shift in favor of medical and recreational marijuana use.”

Under the new law in Antigua and Barbuda, “the island government also decriminalized the use of marijuana for the general public,” according to the Associated Press, while also allowing “people outside the faith [to] grow four cannabis plants each and possess up to 15 grams.”

“We believe that we have to provide a space for everyone at the table, irrespective of their religion,” Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne told the AP. “Just as we’ve recognized other faiths, it’s absolutely important for us to also ensure that the Rastafari faith is also acknowledged … to acknowledge their constitutional right to worship and to utilize cannabis as a sacrament.”

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