Impact
Rita Marley, Bob Marley's wife, converted to the Rastafari faith after seeing Haile Selassie in his motorcade en route to the King's House. She claimed, in interviews and in her book No Woman No Cry, that she had seen a stigma on Haile Selassie's hand as he waved to the crowd, and was instantly convinced of his divinity.
For years afterward, Planno, who became a spiritual guru of Bob Marley, would give out enlarged photographs of himself with the Emperor on the steps of the airplane.
The great significance of this event in the development of the Rastafari religion should not be underestimated. Having been outcasts in society, they gained a measure of respectability for the first time. By making Rasta more acceptable, it opened the way for the commercialisation of reggae, leading in turn to the further global spread of Rastafari.
Haile Selassie is thought to have encouraged the Rastafari elders to learn about the Ethiopian Orthodox faith while in Jamaica, and in 1970, he dispatched Archbishop Laike Mandefro to establish a mission in Jamaica. Mandefro was formally invited by Joseph Hibbert, one of the original founders of the Rastafari Movement, to teach the Rasta community, and in 1971 Mandefro named Hibbert as a "Spiritual Organizer". During this time, Mandefro pointedly refused calls to demand that the Rastafarians renounce their faith in Haile Selassie's divinity, and some 2,000 Rastas accordingly received Orthodox baptisms.
Because of Haile Selassie's visit, April 21 is celebrated as Grounation Day. The "Abu Ye! Abu Ye Abu ye! Abu ye!" chant is an element of Grounation Day festivities.
Read more about this topic: Grounation Day
Famous quotes containing the word impact:
“The question confronting the Church today is not any longer whether the man in the street can grasp a religious message, but how to employ the communications media so as to let him have the full impact of the Gospel message.”
—Pope John Paul II (b. 1920)
“Too many existing classrooms for young children have this overriding goal: To get the children ready for first grade. This goal is unworthy. It is hurtful. This goal has had the most distorting impact on five-year-olds. It causes kindergartens to be merely the handmaidens of first grade.... Kindergarten teachers cannot look at their own children and plan for their present needs as five-year-olds.”
—James L. Hymes, Jr. (20th century)
“Conquest is the missionary of valour, and the hard impact of military virtues beats meanness out of the world.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)