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24-05-07, 07:39 PM
Dreadlocked Miss Jamaica puts Rastas in new light
Sun May 20, 2007 1:03PM EDT
By Catherine Bremer MEXICO CITY, Mexico (Reuters): With dreadlocks down
to below her buttocks, the first Rastafarian to
compete for the Miss Universe title is out to smash
the stereotype that Rastas are only interested in
reggae and marijuana. Zahra Redwood, 25 and the first Miss Jamaica to be
crowned from the country's minority Rastafarian faith,
is also shaking up a years-old view among many Rastas
that beauty pageants should be shunned as degrading to
women. "Not all Rastafarians smoke" marijuana, Redwood, a
classically beautiful Jamaican with a degree in
biotechnology and zoology, told Reuters. "People criticize what they don't know or understand
and develop preconceptions, and so given that, I have
gone against what they've developed as a stereotype,"
said Redwood, who is in Mexico for the Miss Universe
final on May 28 in Mexico City. Rastafarians -- who worship the late Ethiopian Emperor
Haile Selassie as a God they call "Jah" -- stress
peace, love, spiritual goals and natural living,
Redwood said, denying a clash between Rasta culture
and being a beauty queen. "The Rastafarian culture and beauty pageants have a
great deal in common because they both promote decorum
in the attitude of the female and the female as a role
model in society. You're looking at beauty of the
mind, body and soul," she said. Rather than discrimination, the main reason for a
dearth of Rasta beauty queens on the international
circuit is the movement's rejection of the more
corrupt or gaudy facets of modern society, which they
call "Babylon," Redwood said. MADE FAMOUS BY BOB MARLEY Made famous around the world by Bob Marley's reggae
songs, the Rasta culture emphasizes human dignity and
self-respect. "Rastafarians have been a very conservative group so
modeling and pageants have been considered Babylonian
to some extent," Redwood said. But the reaction from fellow Rastafarians to her
competing to be Miss Universe against women from some
75 other countries has been overwhelmingly positive,
partly because black women with dreadlocks are so
rarely seen in beauty contests, she said. "They've been very, very happy for what they consider
a psychological breakthrough. For them it's a huge
thing," Redwood said. The Rastafari movement was born in Jamaica in the
1930s after Haile Selassie's coronation in Ethiopia.
Followers started to worship Haile Selassie, who died
in 1975, as a type of messiah, in light of a 1920
prophecy by Jamaican civil rights leader Marcus Garvey
that a black man would be crowned king in Africa. Roughly a 10th of Jamaicans are Rastafarians, many of
whom also take literally a biblical verse in the book
of Leviticus that instructs against taking a razor to
one's head. In the Miss Universe 2007 line-ups, Redwood's twisty
black dreadlocks, often massed into a huge bun, stand
out from the lacquered manes of the other contestants.
"For the final I'm still not sure what style I will go
with. But of course the locks have to show," she said.
Smoking marijuana, known in Jamaica as ganja, is a
sacred rite for many Rastas, but Redwood said she does
not smoke it.
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