Rastafari
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50 free Rastafari trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Rastafari began among poor communities in 1930s Jamaica and grew into a faith and way of life recognised around the world. It has no central authority and no single creed, which is part of why real Rastafari knowledge is harder to pin down than the red, gold and green of a souvenir stall suggests. This quiz covers the ground a curious reader would expect: what Rastas believe about God and Haile Selassie, the words and symbols they use, what they eat and how they wear their hair, the preachers who started the movement, the emperor's own story, and the reggae artists who took the message abroad. It is written for anyone who wants to understand the faith rather than the stereotype, whether you are studying religion, love roots reggae, or grew up around Rasta culture. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you learn something even when you miss.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which short name for God, printed once in the King James Bible, do Rastafari use in prayer and song?
Jah
Jah is a shortened form of Jehovah, and Rastas speak of knowing him rather than believing in him, since they hold that God lives within each person.
Q 02Which biblical city's name do Rastafari give to Western society and to the police who serve it?
Babylon
Babylon was chosen because the Israelites were held captive there in the 6th century BCE, an exile Rastas compare to that of the African diaspora.
Q 03Which biblical figure's uncut hair do Rastafari cite when calling dreadlocks a sign of strength?
Samson
Samson is the model, and Rastas also cite the Book of Numbers, treating dreadlocks as a mark of their covenant with God and a rejection of conventional grooming.
Q 04Which animal, a symbol of Ethiopia's emperors, appears on Rastafari flags of red, gold and green?
Lion
The Lion of Judah was a hereditary title of Ethiopia's emperors and sat on the country's flag from 1897 to 1974. Some Rastas style their dreadlocks after its mane.
Q 05Which phrase do Rastafari say in place of 'we', since they hold that God lives within every person?
I and I
I and I replaces 'we' because Rastas treat the self as divine, and the same thinking turns 'receive' into 'I-ceive' and 'Amen' into 'I-men'.
Q 06Which European country invaded Ethiopia in the 1930s, forcing Haile Selassie into years of exile?
Italy
Italy occupied the country from 1936 until Allied forces drove its troops out in 1941, and many Rastas read the emperor's return to his throne as biblical prophecy fulfilled.
Q 07What do Rastafari call their natural diet, which typically avoids added salt, sugar and additives?
Ital
Ital comes from the word 'vital' with the first letter dropped, and most versions of the diet are strictly vegetarian.
Q 08Which Bob Marley album, recorded in London after a 1976 shooting, did Time name best of the century?
Exodus
Exodus stayed on the British album chart for 56 consecutive weeks and carried the hits Jamming, Waiting in Vain and Three Little Birds.
Q 09Which nickname, inspired by hairstyle, do Rastafari commonly use for people outside their faith?
Baldheads
Baldheads are non-Rastas, while a cleanface is a Rasta without dreadlocks and a nubbie is a newcomer who has only just started to grow them.
Q 10Which Rastafari holy day, held each 21 April, marks Haile Selassie's 1966 arrival in Jamaica?
Grounation Day
Grounation Day recalls a crowd so vast that the emperor stayed aboard his plane until a Rastafari leader calmed the people. He then declined to walk on the red carpet.
Q 11In which English city did Haile Selassie spend his 1936–41 exile, living at Fairfield House?
Bath
Bath was the emperor's home in exile, and after returning to his throne he gave Fairfield House to the city as a residence for the aged.
Q 12In which capital was Haile Selassie crowned emperor in 1930, an event early Rastas read as prophecy?
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa staged the coronation at its Cathedral of St. George before royals and dignitaries from around the world, including a son of Britain's King George V.
Q 13What does the throne name Haile Selassie, adopted by Tafari Makonnen in 1930, mean in English?
Power of the Trinity
Q 21What do members of Rastafari's Bobo Ashanti branch wear over their dreadlocks, along with robes?
Turbans
Turbans and robes set the Bobo Ashanti apart. Emanuel Charles Edwards founded the group in 1958, and its commune at Bull Bay became a refuge offering free shelter and food.
Q 22By what personal detail does Rastafari's Twelve Tribes of Israel branch assign each member a tribe?
Birth month
Birth month decides the tribe, and each one is linked to a colour and a part of the body. Vernon Carrington, known to followers as Prophet Gad, founded the group in 1968.
Q 23Which word do Rastafari use for their whole way of living, from diet and hair to daily conduct?
Livity
Power of the Trinity is the meaning in Ge'ez, the old church language of Ethiopia, and the phrase had long been his baptismal name.
Q 14Which Jamaican preacher, known as the First Rasta, began proclaiming Haile Selassie divine in 1933?
Leonard Howell
Leonard Howell was jailed for two years for his preaching, yet the movement kept growing, and his followers knew him as Gangunguru Maragh, or simply The Gong.
Q 15Which Jamaican parish, called the Garden Parish, was the birthplace of Marcus Garvey and Bob Marley?
Saint Ann
Saint Ann is also where Marley was buried, in a chapel near his Nine Mile birthplace, with his red Gibson guitar and a Bible open at Psalm 23.
Q 16Which shipping company did Marcus Garvey launch in 1919 as part of his Back-to-Africa campaign?
Black Star Line
The Black Star Line was meant to carry goods and passengers for the cause but folded within a few years, undermined in part by infiltration from federal agents.
Q 17Which biblical name for an idealised Jerusalem do Rastafari apply to Ethiopia or to all of Africa?
Zion
Zion is the ideal Rastas aspire to, and while early believers pressed for a physical return to Africa, some use the word for Jamaica or for a state of mind.
Q 18Which word from a verse in John's Gospel do Rastafari use for the separate branches of their faith?
Mansions
Mansions echoes the saying that a father's house has many of them, and splitting into several with no single leader made the early movement harder to suppress.
Q 19Which knitted cap, often red, gold and green, do many Rastafari wear over their dreadlocks?
Tam
A tam, also called a rastacap, is a practical way to keep dreadlocks contained and protected, and reggae carried the look far beyond the faith.
Q 20Which branch of Rastafari, regarded as the oldest, is named after a legendary queen of East Africa?
Nyabinghi
Nyabinghi also names the faith's great gatherings, which can run for three to seven days of drumming, chanting and dancing around bonfires at night.
Livity is the Rasta ideal of righteous living close to nature, which for many includes eating food grown organically and leaving their hair uncut.
Q 24What do Rastafari call the water pipe passed counter-clockwise around the circle at gatherings?
Chalice
A chalice cools the smoke through water, while Rastas who roll the herb into a large cigarette call it a spliff and light it only once a prayer is finished.
Q 25What do Rastafari call the group discussion of faith and daily events that is central to gatherings?
Reasoning
Reasoning is meant to be non-combative: each speaker pushes the talk further until the whole group has gained insight, sharing what came to them in meditation and dreams.
Q 26Which word do Rastafari commonly use in place of 'oppression'?
Downpression
Downpression is preferred because oppression bears down on people rather than lifting them up; likewise 'dedicate', with its echo of 'dead', becomes 'livicate'.
Q 27Which word ending makes many Rastafari reject a common name for their faith, as implying doctrine?
-ism
The -ism in 'Rastafarianism' suggests an organised creed, and many believers also dislike the labels 'movement' and 'religion', preferring to speak of a way of life.
Q 28Which book of the Bible sets out the dietary laws that lead most Rastafari to avoid pork?
Leviticus
Leviticus guides most Rastas' plates, and many go further by giving up meat altogether, a habit mocked in Ghana with the gibe that they eat like sheep and goats.
Q 29In which Jamaican city did street preachers first proclaim Haile Selassie the returned Christ?
Kingston
Kingston was where the message began, and it spread fastest among poor communities that had been hit hard by the Great Depression.
Q 30Which body did Haile Selassie address in Geneva in 1936, pleading his invaded country's case?
League of Nations
The League of Nations had admitted his country in 1923, yet its promise of collective security proved useless, and the speech made him an icon for anti-fascists worldwide.