Well, here it comes again, that season of the year when merrymaking is in abundance all around town. Addis Abebans soon find themselves busy attending wedding ceremonies, as engagements sometimes overlap and invitations are held on the same day.

On Saturday, January 9, 2010, Alemu Tafesse’s family, a well-known in business circles, wedded their youngest son, Tafesse Alemu, a resident of California, to an Ethiopian Airlines’ cabin crew staff, by the name of Yodit. She is known rather for being a poster child of the airline - clad in the shiny white Ethiopian dress and short hair style and posing with her distinctive smile - during the company’s 60th anniversary, according to gossip.

Next week, on January 16, Million Assefa, a prominent lawyer in town, representing institutions such as the central bank and the electoral board, (he was also recently appointed to serve as a member of the constitutional council) will wed his younger brother, Melaku Assefa, in his native town of Fiche which is 117km north-west of Addis Abeba. Invitees will be treated to a typical traditional wedding party, claims gossip.

The following day, January 17, Sabir Argaw, a famous businessman who owns properties such as the edifices on Chad Street, housing the Ethiopian Commodities Exchange, and a company under Al-Sam Plc, which has acquired Repi Soap Factory from the government a few years ago, will wed two of his older sons, Kamil and Mubarek, to Muna Yassin and Susan Abdushukur, respectively. Sabir has eight children from his wife, Mirtenesh Rahmeto; the youngest being a son of eight years old.

Marrying off his children for the first time, the ceremony will be held inside the Millennium Hall, on the Africa Avenue. It takes little imagination to conjecture how big it will be, for the hall is designed to accommodate as many as 20,000 people. However, contrary to figures (as high as 15,000) flying around town, gossip learnt that close to 2,000 people have been invited to these weddings.

Nonetheless, those at the gossip corridor are more curious about a wedding to be held today in Sodo town, 316km south of Addis Abeba.

Yemiru Nega, a businessman who owns YENCOMAD - a company in the construction industry, and owner of Dembel City Center (named for his grandfather) a landmark property in town located on Africa Avenue, will tie the knot with Mekdes Ayele, a 32-year old former staff member of the Addis Abeba Hilton. Those at the gossip corridors, who cannot help but muse at the age disparity between the couple, claim that Mekdes came back from studying in the United States; her education financed by her would-be husband.

Yemiru has fathered four children and has a grandson born of his oldest daughter, out of wedlock, in her mid 20s, gossip disclosed. His three children were born from his first wife, who now resides in the United States, claims gossip.

Yemiru decided to hold today’s wedding party in his native area, for he has contributed a lot to developing it in more ways than others, his close friends acknowledge. Other businessmen from the area include Getu Gellete and Sabir, while politicians such as Girma W. Giorgis, president of the country, and Girma Birru, minister of Trade and Industry, claims gossip.

Yemiru financed the constructions of a school, clinic, road, and church, earning him the stance of the darling son of his native populace, according to gossip.