THE preparations for the biggest gathering of royalty since the downfall of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia are nothing if not fitting.
Alongside the huge vats of tejj (mead) and tella (barley wine) lie exotic mounds of carefully selected herbs and spices. This morning the old women will begin baking the injera (pancakes) while the menfolk see to the slaughter of dozens of oxen. The occasion is the return home of the body of the late Crown Prince Amha Selassie who died in the United States last month aged 80. He was the eldest and only surviving son of the emperor whose dynasty was violently overthrown in 1974.
The heirs of the Conquering Lion of Judah, Elect of God, Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, trace their lineage back to Solomon and Sheba. Yet, instead of being openly celebrated, the ancient monarchy is today treated with much circumspect ion.
The republican regime of Meles Zenawi is trying to forge a bright, modern future for the country. Ethiopians are still trying to recover from the terrible years of the Marxist Dergue which ruled from 1974 to 1991. But while some look back with nostalgia to the preceding 44 years of Haile Selassie's rule, the monarchy is widely seen as a period of feudalism and backwardness.
So it was with delight, and perhaps a small degree of surprise, that surviving members of the royal family greeted the government's decision to allow the funeral service of the late crown prince to take place on Ethiopian soil.
"Amha Selassie was a very kind man who was devoted to the service of his country", said his stepson Dedjazmatch Zewde Gebre Selassie who is organising this weekend's events. "Even in exile he was very much preoccupied with the situation here. Some people might be critical that he didn't do enough, but under the circumstances of his illness he did as much as he could".
Destined himself to become King of Kings, Amha Selassie lived most of his life abroad, first in England, then later in the United States where he felt himself more at home because of the US's large Ethiopian community.
Lacking the charisma of his famous father, Amha Selassie served as governor of Wollo province but never ascended to either high office or royal prominence. Forced by rebels to broadcast a prepared text during a failed coup which took place in the emperor's absence in 1960, Amha Selassie was marginalised by his father for his perceived betrayal.
The crown prince was 57 years of age when, in 1973, he suffered a stroke and was flown to London for treatment. He emerged from this partially paralysed. A year later, Haile Selassie was toppled from power by the Dergue and died in detention in suspicious circumstances. Amha Selassie declined to assume the title of emperor on Haile Selassie's death.
By the time the country's underground Crown Council proclaimed him emperor in 1989, the monarchy had long been suppressed and the title made him little more than a figurehead for a persecuted and disempowered minority. "This weekend's ceremony will be a quiet family matter", Mr Zewde Gebre Selassie told The Irish Times, "We don't want this event to be politicised."
This evening the body of Amha Selassie will be brought to a house in the Addis Ababa suburb which was granted to members of the "royal family when they were released after 14 years of imprisonment under the Dergue regime. By yesterday afternoon, large numbers of friends and relatives, well wishers and old family retainers were pouring into the garden where a large marquee had been erected.
The body of the late crown prince will be transported with minimum pomp and circumstance from the airport this evening and laid out for the first part of the funeral service which will continue all night. Tomorrow the coffin will be taken to the city's Holy Trinity Cathedral in whose royal vault it will be laid to rest.