Rastafari is a religion that developed among impoverished and socially disenfranchised Afro-Jamaican communities in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is both a new religious movement and a social movement. There is no central authority and much diversity among practitioners. Rasta beliefs are based on a specific interpretation of the Bible; a belief in a single God, Jah, who partially resides within each individual, is integral. Rastas accord central importance to Haile Selassie (pictured), Emperor of Ethiopia between 1930 and 1974; many regard him as the Second Coming of Jesus and Jah incarnate; others see him as a human prophet. Rastafari is Afrocentric and focuses on the African diaspora. In the 1960s and 1970s, it gained increased respectability and greater visibility abroad through the popularity of Rasta-inspired reggae musicians, most notably Bob Marley. There are an estimated 700,000 to 1,000,000 Rastas across the world, the majority of whom are of black African descent.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rastafari

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1890:

American journalist Nellie Bly completed a circumnavigation of the globe, inspired by Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days, in a then-record 72 days. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Bly

1971:

Idi Amin seized power from Ugandan president Milton Obote in a coup d'état, beginning eight years of military rule. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971_Ugandan_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat

2006:

Mexican professional wrestler Juana Barraza was arrested in conjunction with the serial killing of at least ten elderly women. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juana_Barraza

2011:

The Egyptian revolution began with protests on the "Day of Anger", eventually leading to the removal of President Hosni Mubarak after nearly 30 years of rule. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Egyptian_revolution_of_2011

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

Burns night: An event held on the evening of 25th January in celebration of the Scottish poet and lyricist Robert Burns (born on that day in 1759), usually involving Scottish foods and recitals of his poetry. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Burns_night

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Life is not a series of gig-lamps symmetrically arranged; life is a luminous halo, a semi-transparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of consciousness to the end. Is it not the task of the novelist to convey this varying, this unknown and uncircumscribed spirit, whatever aberration or complexity it may display, with as little mixture of the alien and external as possible? We are not pleading merely for courage and sincerity; we are suggesting that the proper stuff of fiction is a little other than custom would have us believe it.   --Virginia Woolf https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf