Color can tend to possess symbolic meaning in art. The colors behind the Rastafari movement mean more than you might think and they have a strong hand in Rasta art. Here’s a simple breakdown:
GREEN stands for the land and their connection to it. Rastas are strongly connected to nature which is seen strongly in their lifestyle.
GOLD represents the gold that British colonizers of Jamaica stole. This is not a discussion of wealth but more of history– the meaning behind the gold is that it symbolizes rebellion. The Rastafari religion came to be in Jamaica because a culture formed that rebelled against establishment.
REDÂ symbolizes the bloodshed and people lost while Jamaica was a British colony. Again, this represents rebellion against a domineering colonizer, an encompassing establishment, more than anything.
These colors have a strong place in the Rasta religion and therefore have a strong hand in Rastafarian art. They are the colors that created the commercialized Rasta image that Americans readily recognize, but it should be known that in their traditional context their meaning is much stronger than Americans have made it.
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Sources
Rastafarian talk on April 10, 2014 with Herbert Seignoret and Tau Battice.
Thank you.
No, green is for Africa, yellow is for the richness of the land of Africa, and red represents blood shed of black martyrs and the blood that connects all Africans of the diaspora to Africa
I agree
I thought the Rastafarian colour comprises of Black, Green, Yellow, Red.
Black= The colour of all melanated
Africans.
Green= Fertility of the African
continent.
Yellow= the wealth and treasures of
African continent
Red= The blood that connects
Africans all over the globe
Red gold green are the colors of ethiopian flag…
No one of us the blood color is red!?.. that means we all the same blood.. only skin color it the test how become we unite red blood.. what we are creating for..
Professional training assists your career.
Omg some of y’all in these comments are so ignorant, this is about JAMAICA. Jamaica is not a part of the continent AFRICA, some of y’all need to do your research or go back to school. And to that one person who said ” red, gold, and green are the colors of the ethiopian flag” newsflash NOBODY CARES, no disrespect but this is about the rastas in the country Jamaica. WHICH IS A PART OF THE CHAIN OF CARIBBEAN ISLANDS CALLED THE GREATER ANTILLES.