Stories of Faith

Many of the Rastafari stories or mythology surround Haile Selassie. One of the founding myths is that Haile Selassie was descended from the child of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon, who in turn was descended from the biblical King David. Haile Selassie himself claimed this legendary heritage. It is used to back up the claim that the Rastafari are the Israelites (the people of King David) reborn, and therefore God’s chosen people. The first marijuana was grown on the grave of King Solomon, according to another mythological story, connecting this biblical heritage to the plant that Rastafari use as a sacrament. There are stories that, when he visited in 1966, Haile Selassie left a constitution that was kept hidden by the government of Jamaica, guarded from the people, who can be charged under the authority of this document. The constitution sets out the rights of Rastafaris, which is why the government chose to hide it, since it undermined their own (in Rastafari eyes, illegitimate) authority. A story that expressed their millenarian hopes is that of the seven-mile flotilla of ships coming to take them to Africa for repatriation.