The Mansions

 

The Rastafari Movement has grown over the years to develop a number of houses or mansions (as the Movement calls them) developed largely over the past forty years. Its leadership sought to tackle issues related to administration and organization of its membership. Three distinct mansions have since emerged to dominate the landscape as it relates to Rastafari organizations. The dominant mansions are Bobo Shanti, Nyahbinghi and the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Whereas there are many associations of Rastafari outside of these mansions, if one were to gather Rastafari worldwide, these three groups would account for the majority of the community within organizational structures. In addition to these Rastafari Mansions, the Ethiopian World Federation and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church also factor significantly within Rastafari but are not strictly speaking, Rastafari Mansions.

 

Notwithstanding the following description of the Mansions, organisations and centralisation initiatives of Rastafari, it should also be noted that for as many of the Movement's members who claim to belong to a mansion an equal number claim no affiliation but still deem themselves Rastafari by virtue of their focus on Africa and regard for Emperor Haile Selassie's leadership.

 

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Nyahbinghi

 (Theocracy Reign Order of the Nyahbinghi)

 

The Nyahbinghi Order is one of the first houses of Rastafari to emerge from the new dreadlocks movement developed throughout the 1950s. This group was represented by Bongo Watto, Bongo Thyme and others who in the late 1940s developed what they called the Youth Black Faith. The Nyahbinghi Mansion, established in the early 1960s, was focused on the construction and achievement of a "theocratic government" to engender the transformations necessary among mankind to attain a higher level of progress. One of the chief methods of attaining this level of 'theocracy' or reign of god was through the production of the Nyahbinghi that is a ritual operating around music and chanting (sometime called Yanting) proceeds for between 1 and 21 days at a time. The ritual is one of giving Praises or 'Ises' to the Almighty organized on specific occasions. Dancing, smoking of the holy sacrament ganja, - and the ceremonial fire that stays burning for the duration of the celebration are key features of this ritual.

 

victory in major battles. The Queen Nyahbinghi, a spirit medium or transmitter, was the leader of a resistance anti-colonialism Movement which manifested from around the last decade of the 19th century up to the time of the coronation of Emperor Haile Selassie I. Another account says that the spirit of Nyahbinghi came from the Amazon to possess an African woman named Muhumusa. It is said that those inspired by her were unbeatable in war.

 

The combinations of this African system along with the Caribbean struggles for freedom came to define the Nyahbinghi as a new Rastafari association championing the cause of African Liberation.

 

Since its founding, the Nyahbinghi has developed a national and international presence, operating as an ecumenical Rastafari assembly and is inclusive with respect to participation of Rastafari from other mansions. This Mansion has within its membership the largest number of Elders or Ancients, and since 1996 has been embarking on a programme to repatriate or settle members of its community of elders to Shashamene, Ethiopia.

 

Within the Nyahbinghi Mansion - the Nyahbinghi or Binghi ritual is considered as a 'divine duty, one that is embarked on to achieve universal cooperation and coordination. Members of this mansion are guided on how to conduct their lives in order to strengthen the Nyahbinghi purpose that seeks to destroy wickedness and injustice in high and low places. Males in this mansion are required to wear their heads uncovered in ritual and ceremonial gathering, females are asked to cover their heads and not to attend to the assembly or enter the tabernacle during their time of menstruation and after childbirth, in keeping with the guidelines of the Old Testament. The Nyahbinghi views itself as the warrior priests within Rastafari and to this extent this mansion is known for its defiant and seemingly unruly membership. Among those who have been associated with the Nyahbinghi mansion are, Mortimo Planno, Sam Brown, Bongo Rocky & Mama Baby I who are the leading elders of the Order in Shashamane, Ethiopia and Pa and Ma Ashanti as well as the late/early Dr. Ras Ikael Tafari who was instrumental in introducing the Nyahbinghi Order in Barbados. This led to the establishment of the Nyahbinghi Order in the Eastern Caribbean in the late 1970s early 1980s, sealed by the trod through the islands by an emissary of Nyahbinghi Elders led by the Patriarch Ras Boanerges (Bongo Watto). The

 

 

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Bobo Ashanti

(Ethiopia Africa Black International Congress, EABIC)

 

The Bobo Ashanti Mansion, is a strict, Sabbath observing Priestly Order afthe Rastafari movement. which emphasizes Black Royalty and Black Supremacy. Prince Emmanuel Charles Edwards, considered by many to be the Black Christ, founded it in 1958. The word Bobo means black brother.

 

Ashanti is the name of an African tribe from Kumasi in Ghana. The Bobo Shanti movement is concerned with fulfilling Marcus Garvey's 'Back to Africa' vision with a strong focus on West Africa, Ghana in particular, where a significant repatriated community of Bobo Shanti reside.

 

The Bobo have one of the longest surviving residential Rastafari settlements. Bobo Hill, as it is called, is home to priests and their families. Elements of their daily life reflect Old Testament Jewish Mosaic Law. These include honouring the Sabbath from sundown on Friday, refraining from work on the Sabbath and special group greetings. The Bobo Shanti practice a strict principle of separation, where men and women are separated during a woman's menses for a period of 21 days. This separation may last up to 21 days at a time. This principle is said to have been established to preserve the core purpose of the Bobo as that of Repatriation and it also seems to serve as a practical method of natural birth control.

 

Unlike the Nyahbinghi Order, the Bobo Shanti do not forbid the practice of polygamy, though negative sanction among Rastafari in general has not eliminated the practice of a man having relationships and children with several women.

 

In anticipation of repatriation the Bobos live an acetic life on the flanks of the hills at the edge

Kingston city. They make a living by producing mats, brooms, sandals and souvenirs. Unlike the other mansions of Rastafari, the Bobo display the Ethiopian tri-colour flag in an inverted fashion where the red appears on top and the green on the bottom. They defend this position based on Ethiopia's tradition of inverting its flag during times of war and adversity. This is how the Bobo Shanti interprets their exile in modern day Babylon. In addition to the Ethiopian tri-colour flag the Ghanaian state and flag also hold key interest for this population and Ghana's Black Star in tribute to Marcus Garvey is often depicted in the Bobo Shanti flags. The red, black and green flag of Marcus Garvey's UNIA is also flown at Bobo Hill.

 

The Bobo Shanti also conduct worship in a tabernacle, commonly referred to as Jerusalem's Schoolroom. Unlike that of the Nyahbinghi mansion where the tabernacle is circular, among the Bobo the structure is rectangular, faces the East and has flag bearers standing guard at the four cardinal points. Within the Tabernacle, men and women worship seated in separate sides of the altar. Within the practice of the Bobo members of the community are properly registered upon admission; members are expected to attend to and worship in the tabernacle daily; there are explicit training and subsequent ranking of the membership into categories of 'prophet' and 'priest'. Turbans form a part of the practice of gradation, where women are required to always have their heads covered in public and likewise men holding the designation of ‘Priest! Uninitiated males are required however to have their head uncovered. The colours of their robes as headgear also have ceremonial significance.

 

This house may be regarded as both radical and conservative and bears this out in its uncompromising stance on Black Supremacy, Repatriation, the Ethiopian Flag inversion, while at the same time holding to many Old Testament customs and traditions especially concerning the priesthood's livity. Further, the Bobo diet is not necessarily ital, meaning vegan and salt abstention, but is guided by principles regarding food deemed ft for human consumption or 'clean' and 'unclean' foods in this regard there are noticeable New and Old Testament influences.

 

Since the early 1990s the Bobo Shanti have moved to capture more public attention primarily though the rise of Bobo Shanti musicians such as Junior Reid, Anthony B, and Sizzla, reggae artistes of international renown. This Mansion has a strong following in South American countries such as Columbia and Chile and much of the Bobo Shanti literature has been translated to Spanish.

 

 

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Twelve Tribes of Israel

 

The Twelve Tribes is one of the foundational

Mansions of Rastafari that now operates in Africa, Europe, North America, New Zealand and the wider Caribbean - with its Headquarters based in Jamaica. Prophet Gad, formerly known as Vernon Carrington, in 1968, founded it. Originally, the Twelve Tribes was a charter or division in the Ethiopian World Federation that practiced the Ethiopian Orthodox form of Christianity. During the 1960s this group came under the influence of the emerging Rastafari movement. It was at this time that the group began to develop its unique philosophy and practices of Rastafari livity. Among the important practices and beliefs is the significance this Mansion places in the children of Jacob (who later became Israel) and the number Twelve. For the Twelve Tribes, all people are members of one of the twelve lost tribes of Israel. Each person knows which tribe they belong to based on the month in which they were born. Each month is named for one of Jacobs's twelve sons, and is said to reveal character much like astrology. There are also twelve male and twelve female community leaders, each from one of the twelve tribes. Each tribe has its own colour.

 

Since the early 1970s the TTI has been focused on the business of Repatriation to Africa, and this has gradually developed into a significant settlement of its membership in Shashamane Ethiopia. This has meant also a decline in the association's operations in Jamaica. Among those who have been associated with the TTI mansion are: Bob Marley, Dennis Brown, Jacob Miller (all now deceased pioneer reggae artistes), Allan 'Skill' Cole, celebrated Jamaican legendary footballer, Dub Poet Mutabaruka and

Bongo Jerry Small.

 

Though originally founded in Trench Town, in downtown Kingston, the Twelve Tribes developed their Headquarters in uptown Kingston in the 1970s. The 'downtown' and 'uptown' designation refers to both a physical location, and a socio-economic designation. Their investment in Reggae music production and sound systems is believed to have opened the way for the inclusion of Jamaican middle class youths as well as non-black people, particularly from Europe, who found themselves more accommodated within this mansion.