rasta

A Rastafarian: an adherent of the Rastafari movement, a Jamaican-born religious and cultural tradition that emerged in the 1930s among the descendants of enslaved Africans. The name comes from Ras Tafari Makonnen, the pre-coronation name of Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie I, whom Rastas regard as the messianic returned Christ and the living embodiment of Jah (God). Core practices and themes include the wearing of dreadlocks, an Ital (natural, often vegetarian) diet, the sacramental use of ganja for meditation, and a strong identification with Africa, repatriation and liberation from "Babylon" — the oppressive Western/colonial system. The word is also used loosely (and sometimes loosely enough to annoy actual adherents) to describe anyone with locs, reggae taste or a vaguely Afrocentric aesthetic.