Subculture and ethnos: Rastaman is who?

When in 2000, a strange guy with a mane of hair combed into a multitude of braids, in a tricolored beret, calling himself incomprehensible, but sonically "DeTsel", began talking on TV screens about him, they started talking about him as a new manifestation of the youth culture. Has added fuel to the fire and the "aquarist" Grebenshchikov, also often beating on shocking and also wearing a hat-tricolor. And the mysterious word "rastaman" went to the people.

History of the phenomenon

Asking the question "Rastaman is who", do not rush to address to explanatory dictionaries. There is no such concept, alas, yet. As well as in dictionaries of jargon, idiomatic expressions , etc. But the youth quite willingly juggles with them, and journalists and writers, reflecting our daily reality, picking it up, carry it to the pages of the media and to their works. But serious culturologists and ethnographers can shed light, explaining to us, rastaman is who. This is the name of rastafarian, or rasta, and in simple terms - Africans living in America or Europe, born outside their native continent and having citizenship of other countries. Those. Representatives of a special culture, which they inherited from the ancestors of slaves brought to the Old and New World in the times when a person was equated to a normal commodity. This movement originated in the center of the slave trade, in Jamaica and Haiti. His supporters struggled to the ends of their Africa with all their might. Her heart was Ethiopia. Consequently, rastaman is someone who supports the ideology of the return of blacks to their historical homeland. In a broader sense, the main idea of the movement is the opposition of its values and the culture of the civilization of the Whites. It is associated with ethnic religious aspirations, dedicated to the god Jha, and with the mythology going into the deepest antiquity. Therefore, there is nothing surprising that the answer to the question "rastaman is who" is the African who advocates the painless, non-violent return of the "Ethiopians" (all blacks) to their own "promised land," and for the liberation of all mankind, all creatures Living plants, etc. From all possible forms of oppression. In connection with this definition, one can not help recalling the famous Ethiopian king, who ruled in the middle of the twentieth century - Rastafaray. By his name got its name is the social-philosophical doctrine and current.

From philosophy to the street

Coming to the masses, the African-American subculture has embarked on a wide march to march around the world. Like the hippies, its bearers proclaimed a free way of life, a protest against the foundations and morals of society, actively smoked cannabis and propagated it as one of the manifestations of the independence of the individual. In music, even a special style - reggae, emerged from the religious tunes of Africans. The brightest representative of the current was Bob Marley. And in Russia, the external attributes and rhythmic stream were picked up by the Aquarium, Sunday, and some other groups, of course, having reinterpreted them in their own way. The same DeTsel became famous as a benchmark. And the motto of the rastamans around the world "from Babylon, we must return to the country of our ancestors" in this case is no longer relevant. And in 90-2000, Russia was captured by "rastamaniya". And the image of smoke from the "Give the Youth" program turned out to be very vital.

Street children

Freedom of expression sometimes takes on very bizarre forms. Especially young are exposed to it. And because one time very relevant was the question: "How to become a rastaman?" What are the external attributes and distinctive features of the clan? It turns out, it's quite simple! Raise yourself a head of hair, which, once braided into dreadlocks, you can not untwine months 5-6. By the way, it is also not necessary to wash. The more it is disintegrated, the more resembles the African braids and the lion's mane more vividly. Stretch a large beret, consisting of red, yellow and green stripes. These are the colors of the national Ethiopian flag. And of them, he takes rastaman. A wide tunic shirt, the same pants, strapped at the waist strap, and sandals on bare feet - the "outfit" of the street child is ready! Oh, yes, do not forget about the pot with the grass, otherwise the image will be incomplete.

Dress up in it and feel your freedom and kinship with the black brothers! Just do not play around for a long time!