Rasta (Mandaeism)
A rasta is a white ceremonial garment that Mandaeans wear during most baptismal rites,[1] religious ceremonies, and during periods of uncleanliness. It signifies the purity of the World of Light. The rasta is worn equally by the laypersons and the priests. If a Mandaean dies in clothes other than a rasta, it is believed that they will not reenter the "World of Light",[2] unless the rite "Ahaba d-Mania" ('Giving of Garments') can be performed "for those who have died not wearing the ritual garment."[3]
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The rasta is expected to be transmuted after death into a "garment of glory" for the soul ("the Perfecter of Souls ... will come out toward you and clothe your soul in a garment of radiance"[4]) – this is equivalent to the perispirit.
A Mandaic hymn states:
"I became a garment to the worlds of Light ...
As for the chosen righteous, who put me on (as a garment),
their eyes were filled with Light."[5]
See also
Notes
- Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley, The Mandaeans: Ancient Texts and Modern People, pg.81, Oxford University Press (2002) ISBN 0-19-515385-5
- Archived November 19, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- "Glossary", in E. S. Drouwer, The Mandaeans of Iran and Iraq: Their Cults, Customs, Magic Legends, and Folklore, Gorgias Press (2002) ISBN 1-931956-49-9
- The Gnostic Society Library, Mandaean Scriptures and Fragments: Ginza Rba, The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans
- Werner Foerster, Gnosis: A Selection of Gnostic Texts, Vol. 2 – Coptic and Mandean Sources, Oxford University Press (1974) ISBN 0-19-826434-8
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