Babylon & Zion
Sometimes the Rastafarians call themselves “Israelites”. With this name, they want to express that they are the chosen folk of God that in truth does not come from Israel, but from Ethiopia were the Mount Zion was found, the holy mountain that is the symbol for the land of God.
“Babylon”
and “Zion” are beneath “Jah” the most frequently mentioned words in
Reggae. An old folk song, that was remade by many Reggae musicians says in a few
words what these words that I have already explained from the linguistic-
historical point of view mean: “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down,
yeah we wept, when we remembered Zion. When the wicked carried us away in
captivity (...)”. Babylon is the country where the Rastafarians live at the
moment. But they are not content with living there, because their forefathers
were brought there against their will and now they are still oppressed.
“Babylon” can be Jamaica or the United States, in anyway a country that is
– seen from the Rastafarian’s point of view–capitalistic, corrupt, not
interested in their citizens and, of course, not African! Often “Babylon” is
also used to designate the police, a political institution or the edges of
churches which are regarded as wicked. Songs like “Chant down Babylon” by
Bob Marley and “Babylon, Babylon” by Ini Kamoze warn of the wickedness of
Babylon and set their audience against it.
Nevertheless, every Rastafarian hopes that the power of Babylon will end, like
the bible says it in the Revelation of Johannes. When Babylon is fallen, every
righteous human will be able to go “back” to Zion and live there in peace
and harmony, that means he will be redeemed. Zion is equivalent to Africa. Not
the Africa that we know today, but a united Africa where all the tribes have one
aim and one destiny. With the song “Africa Unite!” Bob Marley resumed these
beliefs: “Africa unite, ‘cause we’re moving right out of Babylon, and
we’re going to our father’s land.”17
The term “our father ‘s land” already shows that Bob Marley, like all
Rastafarians, set great store by the fact that he had African ancestors. (Incidentally
his mother was a black Jamaican, his father was English.)
A
symbol that shows this pride of being black are the so-called “Dreadlocks”.
Relying on a law from the bible that forbids the faithful to cut or comb their
hair, the Rastafarians let their hair grow and mat in plaits. For them, this
symbolises the mane of a
lion, the animal that is equated with Africa. Also the characteristics that
Rastafarians regard as desirable make one remember the characteristics
attributed to a lion: pride, dignity and strength .
There are rarely songs sung directly about this topic, but in many songs the
“dreadlocks” or the “lion” is mentioned in passing.