Humble & Free Wadadli: Antigua’s Growing Rastafari Community Reclaims Former Plantation & Makes It Home
For followers of Rastafari in Antigua and Barbuda, the Ras Freeman grounds is a sacred communal haven that offers the freedom to practice the depths of their livity.
Its location in Liberta’s agricultural district has significant cultural and historical roots. On a former plantation where enslaved Africans were forced to plant corn, the community is now able to farm on their own terms, exercising their devotion to a natural way of life.
Apart from the island’s Rastafarian population of roughly one thousand, the grounds are also open to local and foreign visitors as a heritage site.
For Ras Richie, co-founder of the Humble and Free Wadadli group which hosts eco-tours on the farm grounds, it is an opportunity for outsiders to learn more about the Rastafari livity directly from those who practice it, fostering tolerance in the process.
“People are starting to see a lot of the things that they were saying about us didn’t really come from us,” he tells Your Caribbean Guide during a tour of the site, alluding to the demonisation the group has faced since its inception.
“It was from the system that used to pressure Rastafari into going further and further into the bushes, creating communities that the police would still come and destroy.”
Visitors are required to abide by the rules of the grounds, as a mark of respect for its inhabitants.
“One of the main (rules) is the dress code, especially for the empresses. Once you’re coming onto the Headquarters grounds you would have to follow the guidelines of wrapping your hair and making sure that your dress is below the knees. For the men, you dress modest, respectful, you know, keeping your shirt on for service. The guidelines set from inside the tabernacle governs the grounds,” Ras Richie explains.
Founded in the 1930s in Jamaica, the Rastafari movement preaches a message of black liberation and colonial resistance and aims to connect Africans across the diaspora to the Motherland which they refer to as Zion, specifically Ethiopia where Haile Selassie I, whom Rastafarians revere as God, ruled from 1930-1974.
At the tabernacle on the grounds, members meet for a weekly service on Sundays held under the Nyabinghi order, the oldest and strictest Mansion of Rastafari.
During these sessions, they recite prayers and sing chants accompanied by drumming, some smoking marijuana as a means of connecting more intimately with the Most High and reasoning amongst each other.
Though an important element of their tradition or journey, Ras Richie tells YCG that contrary to the stereotypical view, marijuana use is but a singular aspect of their way of life- and not all Rastas smoke, either.
“Some people normally would always tie smoking to Rastafari when our culture is not built off of smoking. It’s about the natural way of living, making use of the produce from the ground, eating what you grow, having strict discipline in terms of how you eat, how you carry yourself in the outside community and just respect for every man,” he shares.
In 2018, Antigua and Barbuda became one of the first Caribbean nations to decriminalise the use of the herb, engaging its Rastafari population to assist in the drafting of the legislation.
“Before 2018 it was deemed illegal. Now that it’s decriminalized it’s much more comforting to us, there’s a lot more work to be done, we want it to be legal. But for now, it being decriminalized and having sacramental rights on our grounds, it gives us a much better chance of containing our tradition in a comfortable way,” Ras Richie says.
Even with there being a greater acceptance of Rastafari compared to the recent past, Ras Richie acknowledges that in many ways, Rastafarians are still treated as second-class citizens. He admits, too, that more government support is needed, though he prefers to focus on the strides made in shifting the tide this far while hoping for continued dismantling of misconceptions about their group.
“For what we have been through and where we are today, we have to say give thanks. We are very accepted these days compared to what the elders used to tell us about before when they couldn’t even get into the schools. They are more understanding, much more lenient with us, we are much more respected in this time. It’s just about finding a balance even when they (the government) make certain laws, certain legislations, respect us as the indigenous people and we will always respect them,” he says.
The overarching dream, Ras Richie shares, is unity and respect.
“We are normal people just like everyone else,” he laughs. “We just have some principles and some guidelines that help us to be much better people. We know for years it has been like Rastafari has been away from the regular happenings but (our aim is) to build a strong community that one day we know for sure we can incorporate with the outside, trade with the outside community…and then we have the tours where you can also come and see what’s really going on here on our property,” he expresses.
