Steven Kaplan

The Exaltation of Holy Cross and the Deposition of the Emperor of Ethiopia: L'ij Iyasu and a Masqal Drama

Steven Kaplan - Professor of Comparative Religion at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel), msstkapl@mscc.huji.ac.il

On September 16, 1916 the Ethiopian ruler Iyasu was excommunicated and deposed. Although there is a great deal of literature concerned with the local and international political forces behind this coup, its timing has been considered only in passing. This article focuses on the fact that this event coincided with the major Christian festival of Masqal (The Festival of the Cross), an early Christian celebration, which was elevated to the de facto status of a major feast by the Ethiopian Church in the 15th century. The article analyses the coup in the light of three key Masqal themes of: (1) Christianity's superiority over Islam; (2) imperial presence (or absence) and power; (3) appointment and dismissal. Using both historical accounts and ethnographic reports, each of these themes is explored in an attempt to deepen our understanding of the religious-cultural aspects of what may appear, at first glance, to be an exclusively political episode.

Keywords: Ethiopia, Christianity, Ethiopian Orthodox Tawahido Church, Islam, ritual.

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The SHORT and unsuccessful reign of Iyasu V (1910-1916), often called lij (lit. "child")1 Iyasu, remains one of the most interesting and controversial episodes in Ethiopian history. His accession to the throne due to a serious illness and the subsequent death of his grandfather Menelik II (1889-1910) led to strife and misunderstandings. In addition, his overthrow, carried out by leading hierarchs of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (Tewahdo) and representatives of the aristocracy, was a landmark event in the history of Ethiopia in the XX century.

This article is devoted to this event. My task, however, is not to offer a new perspective on the political and social forces that precipitated this event, or to examine its consequences in detail. Both of these tasks were perfectly performed by many researchers. Indeed, the recent publication of The Life and Times ofLij Iyasu, a collection of scholarly works led by Eloi Fiquet and Wolbert Smidt, provides much new information about Iyasu's reign and its imminent overthrow.2
My goal is rather to deepen our understanding of the overthrow of Iyasu as a religious and social drama. By drawing attention to the date of the coup-the feast of the Finding of the Holy Cross-I hope to show that long-held religious beliefs, symbols, and ritual acts can offer clues to the many salient features of this event.

Iyasu

I would like to start with a few introductory remarks about Iyasu and how he succeeded to the Ethiopian throne.

Iyasu, the son of the daughter of the reigning Emperor Menelik II Schauaregg and her husband Ras Mikael of Wallo, was born on February 3, 1897.3 Although there were several other potential and perhaps even more worthy candidates for the throne, after suffering a stroke in June 1908, Menelik appointed Iyasu as his prelate.-

1. Title of the heir to the throne. - Approx. ed.

2. Ficquet, E., Smidt, W. G. C. (eds) (2014) The Life and Times of Lij Iyasu: New Insights. Berlin: LIT.

3. See Bahru Zewde (2007)" Iyasu", in S. Uhlig (ed.) Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, vol. III, pp. 253 - 256. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, and the bibliography given in this edition.

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emnikom. While Menelik's health continued to decline, some courtiers, including Empress Taitu (who was not Iyasu's grandmother), tried to subject this decision to review. But in the end, Menelik was no longer able to run the country, and in 1910 he was forced to leave the country. Iyasu became the nominal ruler of Ethiopia, although he was not yet (and in fact never) crowned emperor.

It is hardly worth dwelling on the details of Iyasu's fleeting failed reign. From his proclamation as de facto ruler in 1910 to his overthrow in September 1916, he made many grave mistakes. Even before Menelik's death in December 1913, Iyasu's wayward actions turned him away even from those who were willing to support him out of respect for his grandfather. He was dismissive of the ailing monarch and did not even declare an official period of mourning after his death. His attempts to take over the levers of government were haphazard, and, accordingly, even his best intentions aimed at implementing reforms did not bring proper results.

The most important thing in a country with a monarchy and a church (Ethiopian Orthodox Church-Tewahdo)As two great national institutions, the Iyasu not only showed special favor to its Muslim subjects, but also openly sought to improve the situation of the adherents of Islam. Although the claim that Iyasu converted to Islam himself is still controversial, 5 there is no doubt that he sought alliances with Muslim rulers through marriages to their daughters, and also built mosques in strategically important areas. For the actual head of the church, such actions were considered highly suspicious, if not outright heretical. The following will show how suspicions about Iyasu's love of Islam played a crucial role in his overthrow on September 27, 1916 (17 maskaram [September]).

4. For a general overview of the Church and religious situation in Ethiopia, see: Erlich, H., Kaplan, S., Salamon, H. (2006) Ethiopia: Christianity, Islam, Judaism, pp. 33-206. Ranana, Israel: The Open University. Russian translation: "Ethiopia: Christianity, Islam, Judaism". Open University of Israel, 2012: [http://online-books.openu.ac.il/russian/ethiopia-christianity-islam-judaism/доступ from 05.10.14].

5. Smidt, W. G. C. (2014) "Glossary of Terms and Events of the L'ij Iyasu Period: Controversial and Non-Controversial Facts and Interpretations", in Ficquet E., Smidt, W. G. C. (eds) The Life and Times, p. 185.

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1909 according to the Ethiopian calendar), on the day of the great Christian holiday Maskel (Feast of the Cross).

The scope of this article does not allow us to fully consider the question of the significance of the Maskel holiday for the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. In another article, I described in detail some aspects of the content and meaning of Holiday 6. However, as will be shown later, the time of Iyasu's overthrow deserves much more attention than is usually given to it. Too often, the fact that he was deposed on one of the most important days of the Christian year is ignored or mentioned only in passing. Here are some examples. The article about Iyasu in the Encyclopaedia Aeth-iopica simply states that he was deposed on September 27, 1916, and says nothing about the importance of this date for the Ethiopian Christian calendar. 7 Harold Marcus, in the first volume of his study on the biography of Haile Selassie I, notes that the aristocracy and ecclesiastical authorities gathered for the Feast of the Holy Cross, but does not attempt to connect the significance of this date with the subsequent events. 8 Haggai Erlich, in his essay in the above-mentioned collection of scientific works, rather vaguely states that Iyasu he was deposed "during an official Christian ceremony" on September 9, 27, 1916. Although a number of other authors from the same collection mention the coup, many of them ignore the significance of its date and do not try to understand the essence of question 10.

Below I will try to prove that many key points, as well as the fact of linking to the day on which the coup took place, can be better or at least with more reason understood through the prism of the ideas of the Maskel holiday. In particular, I intend to show that the key ideas of the Maskel holiday are (1) superior-

6. Kaplan, S. (2008) "Finding the True Cross: The Social-Political Dimensions of the Ethiopian Masqal Festival", Journal of Religion in Africa 38: 447 - 465.

7. Bahru Zewde, "Iyasu", p. 255.

8. Marcus, H. (1995) Haile Sellassie I The Formative Years 1892 - 1936, pp. 17 - 18. Lawrenceville, N. J.: The Red Sea Press, Inc.

9. Erlich, H. (2014) "From Wello to Harer: L'ij Iyasu, the Ottomans and the Somali Sayyid", in Ficquet, E., Smidt, W. G. C. (eds) The Life and Times, p. 145.

10. Sohier, E. (2014) "Portraits of an Ethiopian prince, Lrj Iyasu", in Ficquet, E., Smidt, W. G. C. (eds) The Life and Times, p. 61 ("The day of the feast of the finding of the True Cross, the 27th of September 1916..."); Shiferaw Bekele (2014) "Dirre Dawa, Harer, and Jigjiga in the Weeks before and after the Overthrow of Iyasu on 27 September 1916", in Ficquet, E., Smidt, W. G. C. (eds) The Life and Times of Lij Iyasu: New Insights, pp. 151 слл. Berlin: LIT.

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the importance of Christianity over Islam, (2) the presence (or absence) of the emperor and his authority, and (3) the appointment and removal of the emperor are crucial for understanding the connection between the overthrow of Iyasu and the day on which he lost power.

I want to make it clear: I am not trying to claim that the numerous meanings of the holiday were directly related to the fact of the overthrow of its participants. However, as is often the case, the characteristic cultural and religious vocabulary of this holiday is key to understanding the role it played.

Finding the Holy Cross of the Lord

I'll start with a few words about the holiday itself. According to a legend that has been widely known throughout the Christian world since the second half of the fourth century, the Life-giving Cross on which Christ was crucified (unlike the other two crosses on which the robbers were crucified) was discovered by Queen Elena, the mother of Emperor Constantine the Great, during her journey to Palestine. Despite the obstacles put up by Gentiles and Jews, the Cross was recovered, and its miraculous power proved its authenticity.11
This finding of the Cross was the catalyst for the introduction of a new celebration in the church calendar. The feast was established on September 13 and 14 in honor of the consecration of the Basilica of Martyrion on Calvary and the rotunda of Anastasia of the Holy Sepulchre. Although the relationship between the consecration of these churches, the acquisition of the Cross, and its exaltation is rather confusing, there is no reason to dispute Tongeren's claim that "The exaltation of the Cross and the consecration of [churches] are indeed connected through the acquisition of the Cross."12 Furthermore, there is strong evidence that at least from the beginning of the fifth century onwards. The cross was shown to the people of Jerusalem on the second day of the feast of Consecration. In the end, it was this "exaltation" of the Cross that came to the fore, and not the consecration of basilicas. So the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross appeared.

Although it is impossible to say exactly when Ethiopian Christians first began to celebrate the holiday marking the discovery of the Holy Spirit.

11. Tongeren, L. V. (2000) Exaltation of the Cross: Toward the Origins of the Feast of the Cross and the Meaning of the Cross in Early Medieval Liturgy (Liturgia Condenda 11). Leuven: Peters.

12. Ibid., p. 27.

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Of course, there is no reason to believe that this event occurred much later than the institutionalization of Christianity in this country between the fourth and sixth centuries. 13 However, the earliest documentary evidence of this holiday dates back to the thirteenth century. At the beginning of this century, a Coptic priest left the following entry in Arabic concerning the corresponding Ethiopian ritual::

The liturgy is served at the Ark four times a year in the palace of the king; it is covered with a canopy and carried from the church where it is located to the church at the palace of the king: namely, on the great feast of Christmas, on the glorified feast of Epiphany, on the holy feast of the Resurrection and on the feast of the glorious Cross 14.

In the first three, you can easily recognize Christmas, Timkat (Epiphany: literally "Epiphany") and Easter, but it's a little more difficult to find out in the fourth Maskel. Not only do the Ark and its replicas not play an important role in this celebration, as stated in many other sources; this evidence predates the Ethiopian holiday in its current form by more than a century and a half. In Ethiopia, as in the main part of the Christian world, there are actually several feasts of the Cross within the liturgical year. Thus, it is possible that these 13th-century records actually indicate the Feast of the Cross (also known as Maskal), which is celebrated on March 19 during Lent. [15]

13. The fact that the manuscript EMML 1763 contains several sermons on the feast of Maskal, one of which belongs to Minas, Bishop of Aksum, can be accepted as evidence that the celebration of the Feast of the Cross dates back to Aksumite times (private correspondence with Getachev Haile dated April 18,2008). However, this does not contradict the statement that the Feast of the Cross is celebrated in the that it was largely redesigned and became a central holiday at a later time.

14. Abu Salih (1895) The Churches and Monasteries of Egypt and Some Neighbouring Countries / Ed. and transl. by B. T. A. Evetts, with notes by A.J. Butler, pp. 105 - 106. Oxford: Clarendon. The traditional claim of Armenian authorship of this work has recently been challenged, Muth, F. C. (2003) "Abu salih", in Uhlig, S. (ed.) Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, vol. I, pp. 54-55. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

15. Kaplan, S. (2005), "Feasts, Christian", in Uhlig, S. (ed.) Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, vol. II, pp. 510 - 514. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. It is interesting to note that the Maskal holiday, which is celebrated by the Ethiopian Church, is one that falls in spring, on the 10th day of the month of Maggabit (March 19). According to some traditions, the March date marks the finding of the Cross, and the September date marks the beginning of excavations: The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church: Faith, Order of Worship and Ecumenical Relations (1996), p. 93 (Amharic text), p. 99 (English). Addis Ababa:

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Victory over Islam

Whatever our verdict on the early history of this holiday, there is no doubt that during the reign of Emperor David II (1380 - 1412), that is, in the XIV-XV centuries, serious changes took place in Ethiopia.16 According to several sources, David received a fragment of the Holy Cross from the Coptic patriarch as a reward for his release when he was taken into custody by the "king of Egypt."17 David led his troops down the Nile until the terrified Muslims surrendered. The grateful patriarch offered him a reward of 120,000 dinars, but David refused the gold, saying: "God did not save us with gold and silver, but with the blood of the Cross." Then the patriarch gave him a piece of the Holy Cross.

However much we may doubt the historical validity of this event (the idea that the Ethiopian army was moving north, ready for a major clash with the Egyptians, seems unlikely), the receipt of the Cross apparently led to the postponement of the holiday to the 17th day of the month of Maskaram (September 27). The general Christian imperial legend about the establishment of the holiday by Queen Helena was supplemented by the Ethiopian imperial legend about the victory over the Muslim enemy.

The close connection between the Maskal festival and David's victory over Islam is, of course, important for a deeper understanding of the true meaning of Iyasu's overthrow. There is no better day to overthrow a ruler who has failed in his duty as a Christian advocate and who has shown clear favoritism towards the church.-

Tensae Publishing House. (This volume was prepared under the auspices of the Patriarch, by a committee headed by Abuna Makarios, Archbishop of Aksum and Tigray.)

16. Kaplan, S. (2002) "Notes toward a History of Ase Dawit (1380 - 1412)", Aethiopica 5: 71 - 88.

17. Basset, R. (1882) Etudes sur Ibistoire d'Ethiopie, p. 11 (текст), p. 101 (пер.). Paris: Ernest Leroux; Conti Rossini, C. (1962) Vitae Sanctorum Indigenarum I: Acta Marqorewos, pp. 42 - 44. (Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orietalium 33 Scriptores Aethiopici 16). Louvain: CSCO; Caquot, A. (1955) "Apercu preliminaire surle Mashafa Tefut, de Gechen Amba", Annates d'Ethiopie 1: 100 - 102; Pere Azais, "La fete de la croix au Harar" (1923), Revue d'Ethnographie et traditions populaires 14: 185 - 188; Budge, E.A.W. (1928) The Book of the Saints of the Ethiopian Church, vol. I, pp. 59 - 61. Hildesheim-New York: Georg Olms Verlag.

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than the day of the festival celebrating the victory of the great Emperor over the Muslim enemies 18.

Throughout September, while Iyasu spent time in Harare and other southern regions of Ethiopia populated largely by Muslims, it was rumored that he intended to make an alliance with the Somalis and other opponents of the European powers, who showed increasing interest in the region. In addition, it was claimed that "he adopted the Ethiopian flag with a Red Crescent and the Muslim symbol of faith" (shahada?)19.

It is noteworthy that although many different charges of political crimes were brought against Iyasu, "the key charge was religious treason, which was proved by sufficient arguments and statements of the main witnesses"20.

Metropolitan Abuna Mateuos, 21 who was a confidant of Grandfather Iyasu and served in Ethiopia for more than 35 years, was originally from Egypt and therefore considered a foreigner.22 Because of the seriousness of the act, he did not dare to excommunicate Iyasa based on hearsay evidence. His nominal subordinate, Walde Giyorgis, an influential Ethiopian dignitary, did not have such torments, and in his speech he proclaimed:: "Iyasu is a Muslim, a true Muslim, he doesn't deserve to be a Christian king. He's an enemy of Christians, and he's going to betray our government. Therefore, I excommunicate Iyasa, all his followers, and all those who obey him as an unbeliever. " 23
18. The question of loyalty to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church previously arose during the reign of Emperor Susenios in the 17th century. He was deposed for becoming a Catholic, which is pretty much part of our topic. Ras Tafari (the future Haile Selassie) was charged with being a Catholic because he was educated under a Capuchin. To dispel these suspicions and remove any doubts about his Orthodoxy, he was baptized again in an Ethiopian church.

19. Marcus, H. Haile Sellassie, p. 17.

20. Bahru Zewde, "Iyasu", p. 255.

21. Kaplan, S. (2007) "Matewos", in S. Uhlig (ed.) Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, vol. III, pp. 867 - 868. Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz Verlag.

22. Throughout Ethiopian history until the mid-twentieth century, the head of the church was usually an Egyptian monk appointed by the Patriarch of the Egyptian (Coptic) Church in Alexandria.

23. Marcus, Haile Sellassie, p. 19. The meeting ended not without confusion, both as to the legal status of this coup, and even more so as to its practical consequences. It was immediately clear that the plan to capture Iyasa had failed, and he continued

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Thus, we see that, whatever the" facts " of the charge against Iyasu, at least the formal basis for his overthrow was the idea underlying the Ethiopian celebration of Maskel: the superiority of Christianity over Islam. In the words of a hymn composed for this feast in the fifteenth century.:

Mary's son is worthy of worship,
Fear has seized our enemies,
The infidel tribes [Muslims] were horrified
Arrival of the Cross 24.

On Maskel Day, Christianity once again triumphed over Islam, and the true faith over apostasy.

Ritual change

Since the 15th century, Maskal has become not only an opportunity to remember and celebrate the triumphs of the emperors of the past, but also an occasion for a solemn demonstration of imperial power in the present. The emperor's participation in the celebration of Maskel is first mentioned in the chronicles of the first year of the reign of Baede Mariam (1464-1474); where it is noted that the king "with great majesty made a circuit around the fire lit in honor of the Feast of the Cross"25. Also in the Chronicle of Iyasu I (Adyam Sagad), it is said that he participated in the celebration several times, including in 1687, when "on the 15th day of the month [maskaram], the king returned to his palace to celebrate the feast of the glorified Cross, to which one should pay homage in the same way as previous ones did kings... " 26.

Coming back to our topic: Father Azais, who witnessed the ceremony in the days of Menelik II, recorded the following: "He [Me-

He continued his activity, although with very little success, for another five years. He was arrested in January 1921 and was imprisoned for more than ten years, after which he escaped, was recaptured, and died in 1935.

24. Getatchew Haile (1983) The Different Collections of Nags Hymns in Ethiopic Literature and ther Contribution, pp. 47 - 48. (Oikonomia 19). Erlangen: F. Lilienfeld.

25. Perruchon, J. (1893) Les Chroniques de Zar'a Ya'eqob et de Ba'eda Maryam rois d'Ethiopie de 1434 a 1478, pp. 114 - 115. Paris: Emile Bouillon.

26. Guidi, I. (1955) Annales Iohannis I, ' Iyasu I et Bakaffa, pp. 107 (text), 110 (transl.), cf. p. 89 (text), 90 (transl.). (CSCO 22-25). Louvain: CSCO.

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neelicus] ordered all our enemies to be defeated. A coward is one who does not avenge his homeland with the blood of the enemy, who returns home without exploits and without victory, he is no longer a man, but an object of universal contempt!"27. It was on the Maskel holiday that the ill emperor decided to appear in public in 1908, which was happening less and less often, in order to calm the public down.

Conversely, Iyasu was nowhere to be seen in 1916. As Shiferrau Baekkele has documented (in some detail), Iyasu secretly left the capital almost two months before the Maskal festival - on the night of July 28-29. [28] Although the emperor's trips to the countryside were not unheard of-in fact, this was long considered the norm in Ethiopian history. [29] - Iyasu's absence was noticeable for several reasons. Whereas in the past, emperors traveled on a grand scale, surrounded by a huge retinue and guarded by personal guards, Iyasu was accompanied only by a small group of servants. Thus, his trip was not a show of strength, but was nothing more than one of his eccentricities, including his absence from the Maskal celebration.

In most cases, the emperor not only witnessed the Maskel celebration, but also took an active part in it. The most important cultural manifestation of the holiday is damara30 -a bonfire that was built in the city center. On the eve of the holiday, representatives of each family and each social group came to the specified central square with long branches decorated with flowers. A large bonfire was built there, which was then lit. There are several interpretations of the symbolic meaning of the damera, but everyone agrees that during the festival, a procession of gathered dignitaries made a detour around the bonfire. In some ways, this is reminiscent of medieval festivals.-

27. Azais, "La Fete de la Croix au Harar", 188. On the topic of masculinity and war in Ethiopia, see Kaplan, S. (2007)" The Glorious Violence of Amda Seyon", in P. Pal Ahluwalia, L. Bethlehem, R. Ginio (eds) Violence and non-Violence in Africa, pp. 12-26. Routledge: London.

28. Shiferaw Bekele (2014) "Dirre Dawa, Harer, and Jigjiga in the Weeks before and after the Overthrow of Iyasu on 27 September 1916", pp. 151 слл.

29. Horvath, R. J. (1969) "The Wandering Capitals of Ethiopia", Journal of Africa History 10: 210 - 219.

30. Mersha Alehegne, Nosnitsin, D. (2005) "Damara", in S. Uhlig (ed.) Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, vol. II, pp. 73 - 74. Wiesbadden: Harrassowitz Verlag.

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Body of Christ (Corpus Christi), since the order of the procession clearly indicates the hierarchical structure of Christian society 31. After the priests had blessed the damara and added incense, each group of the community went around the bonfire three times in order of seniority.

In rural settings, this usually meant that the local ruler or head was followed by "clergy, minor nobility, peasants and peasant women, and finally children" .32 In the central procession, which was led by the emperor, a particularly important role was attributed to some imperial officials.33 As noted above, the emperor's circumambulation of the fire dates back at least to the reign of Beide Mariam (1462-1472): his chronicler noted that the king "made his rounds with great majesty around the fire lit for the Feast of the Cross." 34
Although we have no eyewitnesses to the 1916 celebration, Iyasu's violation of protocol may have been compounded by the fact that he did not lead the procession. Thus, even before his official overthrow, his absence could have given rise to accusations of apostasy. At the very least, such behavior meant abdicating, if not from power, then at least from the performance of proper duties.

In light of the strong evidence that the Emperor's presence and participation was an important part of the Maskel, it is clear that Iyasu's decision not to return to Addis Ababa for the Maskel celebration was not only a major miscalculation or neglect, but a fatal mistake.

Assignment and offset

The third and final aspect of the Maskel celebration that caught my attention is no longer about strict ritual rules. Although the victory over Islam and the procession around the bonfire can be considered integral elements of the holiday, its use for the exercise of imperial power has, perhaps, a second meaning.-

31. James, M. (1983) "Ritual, Drama and Social Body in the Late Medieval English Town", Past and Present 98: 3 - 29.

32. Levine, D. N. (1965) Wax and Gold, Tradition and Innovation in Ethiopian Culture, p. 62. Chicago: University of Chicago.

33. Azais, "La Fete", p. 188.

34. Perruchon, J. (1893) Les Chroniques de Zar'a Ya'eqob et de Ba'eda Maryam rois d'Ethiopie de 1434 a 1478, pp. 114 - 115. Paris: Emile Bouillon.

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power value. However, as will be shown later, it is important to understand the traditions of the holiday and especially the events that took place in 1916.

Since the celebration falls at the end of the Ethiopian rainy season, Maskal has always presented a number of difficulties for the participants of the celebration. Regardless of religion, the rainy season is a difficult time for all of Ethiopia, as traffic is limited and food supplies are rapidly running low in many parts of the country.35
The written monument Syr'ate gybr (15th century) clearly attests that providing food to the royal court during the rainy season was not an easy task. Several groups of soldiers were assigned to bring a certain amount of wood for the bonfires; most of the wood was saved for damara.36
In addition, with the cessation of the rains at the end of September, the rulers of the regions had to pay their respects to the emperor. On this day in the mid-19th century, local rulers went to the royal camp to pay their respects and present annual gifts. Those who didn't show up could be considered rebels. "Honours, positions and awards... [were] granted to the brave and worthy; and in this season of retribution, movable and immovable property will be legally confiscated from the offending officials. " 37
Thus, the Maskel celebration involved not only an organized procession of high-ranking officials around a bonfire, but also the much more chaotic phenomenon of appointing and removing nobles and officials.

In Ethiopia, where the status of the aristocracy was less stable and defined than in some European forms of government, there was often an unexpected rotation of officials.38
35. For directly related aspects of the celebration, see Kaplan (2008), pp. 452-453.

36. Kropp, M. (1988) "The Ser'ata Gebr: A Mirror View of Daily Life at the Ethiopian Royal Court in the Middle Ages", Northeast African Studies 10/2 - 3: 51 - 87, особ. p. 53.

37. Harris, W. C. (1844) The Highlands of Aethiopia Described, vol. II, p. 74. New York: J. Winchester.

38. Recent works on the pros and cons of this reconstruction are listed in: Crummey, D. (2003) "Aristocracy", in S. Uhlig (ed.) Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, vol. I, pp. 335 - 339. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.

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Under normal circumstances, at the Maskal Festival in 1916, Iyasu would have had the opportunity to reward his supporters and remove his detractors from their posts. Indeed, during his absence from the capital, he carried out a number of appointments and removals, including the de facto exile (to the remote province of Kefa) of Tafari Makonnin, the future Haile Selassie.

As Schifferrau notes, " the assignments and offsets were made thoughtlessly. No preliminary meetings were held with the main statesmen of the Empire. In the Ethiopian State, displacements and appointments were expressions of the power and authority of the monarch... In Iyasu's case, it all seemed like spontaneous actions... Some of his appointees turned against him during the announcement of his ouster in Addis Ababa on 27 September. " 39
Thus, we see that Maskal in 1916, instead of being an opportunity for the emperor to demonstrate his power by appointing and removing officials, ironically became an opportunity for high-ranking officials to overthrow him.

Further rulers - perhaps mindful of Iyasu's mistake-performed their duties unquestioningly during the festival. Even during the Italian occupation, Maskal was often the occasion for political events, traditional honors, and dinner parties for Ethiopia's religious and civic elders. 40 In addition, there is ample evidence that Haile Selassie strictly observed the observance of this holiday.41 In particular, he set aside a large piece of land in the center of Addis Ababa for his celebration, and this place became known as Maskel Square. Later it was renamed Revolution Square during the Marxist regime in the country, but after

39. Shifera Bekele, "Dirre Dawa, Harer, and Jig", p. 154.

40. For the celebration of Maskel during the Italian period, see: Shenk, C. (1972) The Development of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and its Relationship with the Ethiopian Government from 1930-1970, pp. 155-159. PhD dissertation, New York University; Viterbo, C. A., Cohen, A. (1993) Ebrei de Etiopia. Due diari (1936 c 1976), p. 50. Florence: Giuntina.

41. For photos of Haile Selassie's participation in the celebrations, see Girma Fesseha (2002)" Die christliche Kirche Athiopiens", in Girma Fisseha (ed.) Athiopiens: Christentum zwischen Orient und Afrika, p. 97, figure 85. Munich: Stadliches Museum fur Volkerdkunde.

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In 1991, its former name and meaning were restored by the head of the church, who oversees the observance of the celebration.

Conclusion

As noted at the beginning of the article, the events associated with the reign, and especially with the overthrow of Lij Iyasu, are of great importance for an adequate understanding of the history of Ethiopia in the XX century. Despite the rich material about the coup d'etat of 1916, little attention is paid to the actual time at which it occurred, and its religious and cultural dimension. Despite the fact that we are talking about a country dominated by Christianity, in this case the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (Tewahdo), the fact that the coup took place on the day of its great holiday was ignored.

As mentioned above, at least three ideas related to the Maskal holiday are directly related to the events of September 27, 1916.First, the overthrow of a ruler who clearly preferred Islam (or converted to the Muslim faith, as some believe) by the Christian authorities once again reminded of the legend of the founding of the Ethiopian holiday. Secondly, Iyasu's refusal to participate in the demar ritual, which put his place at the head of the religious and political hierarchy in jeopardy, was a de facto abdication. Finally, the overthrow of the "emperor" on a day when his predecessor was demonstrating his power by removing and appointing lower-ranking officials added irony to the process.

Translated from English by Sergey Golovanov

References

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