Both Eastern and Western Traditions hold that bodily, mental and spiritual energies mainly exit the body through the top of the head and the hair.
Usually we find that spiritualists whose religious path includes elaborate rituals tend to embrace the shaven head technique as it affords a level of ritual cleanliness, while those mystics who adopt meditative or otherwise non-ritualistic paths prefer to disregard the hair altogether and thus develop Dreadlocks.ĭreadlocks are more than just a symbolic statement of disregard for physical appearance. The counterpart to Dreadlocks is the shaven head, which has the same aim: disregard for vanity associated with physical appearances. In the East, Yogis, Gyanis, and Tapasvis of all sects are the most famous bearers of Dreadlocks.ĭreadlocks, then, are universally symbolic of a spiritualist's understanding that vanity and physical appearances are unimportant. In the West, the Nazarite is most widely known for developing Dreadlocks. And so, throughout the world, such seekers often cease to comb, cut, or otherwise dress their hair: This is how "dreadlocks" are born. Spiritualists of all faiths and backgrounds incorporate into their paths a disregard for physical appearances and vanity. Upon seeing Dreadlocks, most people think of Bob Marley, reggae, and Rastafarianism, unaware that the roots of Dreadlocks go back much further, to at least 2500 BCE with the Dreadlocked Vedic deity Shiva and his followers.ĭreadlocks are a universal phenomenon in the East as well as in the West. Left to its own devices, hair will naturally knot together and form mats or "dreadlocks". This essay on the history of dreadlocks is written by our own Knotty Vic Dicara, from the hardcore bands Beyond, Inside Out with Zack de la Rocha and 108. They can make a political statement, or simply be a fashion preference. They can be an expression of deep religious or spiritual convictions, a manifestation of ethnic pride. Sporting locks himself, he prompted an international interest in the style, and the anti establishment philosophy of Rastafarian culture.ĭreadlocks became increasingly popular and there are many reasons in various cultures for wearing them. The hairstyle was later brought into mainstream culture through the worldwide success of reggae artist Bob Marley. Their dreadlocks were thought to be disgusting and frightening, hence the term 'dread' which was later reclaimed by the 'Rasta' community. Rastafarians smoked cannabis because they thought it prompted a clearer state of well - being. It was therefore, seen as a threat to Christianity and came under attack by the authorities that tried to suppress the 'Rasta' movement and imprisoned those who possessed 'ganja'. The religion resonated with the ideologies of the day, for example socialism, Marxism, nationalism and black power.
When the emperor was forced into exile during an invasion, guerrilla warriors swore not to cut their hair until the emperor was reinstated. It was born in the 1930s when Ras Tafari was crowned emperor of Ethiopia. Rastafarianism however is something entirely separate. The Old Testament also recounts the tale of Samson and Delilah in which a man's potency is directly linked to 'the seven locks on his head' and according to Roman accounts, the Celts were described to have 'hair like snakes' Germanic tribes, Greeks and the Vikings are all said to have worn dreadlocks too. Mummified remains of ancient Egyptians with dreadlocks have even been recovered from archaeological sites. The first known examples of the hairstyle date back to ancient Egypt, where dreadlocks appeared on Egyptian artifacts. The following blog excerpt contains an overview of the history of dreadlocks by Knotty EmX. Please contact the authors directly with your questions or comments about their articles. The views expressed in the following articles are not necessarily those of Knotty Boy. In the many years of Knotty Boy, we have learned that it is nearly impossible to nail down any kind of exact account of the history of dreadlocks.īecause of this extreme variance in these different accounts, Knotty Boy has chosen to include documentation written by a variety of authors to give an overview of dreadlock origin and history.
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