Rastafarianism

[mindstalk]

There's a young woman who works at a local grocery store, whom I've chatted to a bit. She's got an unusual name, about which she first said "It's Ethiopian. Long story." Her face looks a bit exotic so maybe some unusual genetics happened, but my first guess would be that she's whiter than I am, sunburn instead of tan, paleskin and redhead and all. On another day, she said her parents had converted to Rastafarianism, so given their children Ethiopians names. The logic of this escaped me; all I knew of Rasta was that it was out of the Caribbean and had a big role for pot.

I've now gotten around to looking it up. Based in Jamaica, check; Afrocentric, check; pot-centric, check; "Most of its adherents worship Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia (ruled 1930–1974), as Jesus incarnate, the Second Advent, or the reincarnation of Jesus", oh my. I didn't know that.

She's still got unusual parents. Or genes. Or adoption, I just thought of that.