Villagers carried two 7-year-old girls on their shoulders and two frogs on garlanded sticks as they walked them to a temple where they were married. Afterward, the girls returned to their parents while the frogs were thrown into a muddy pond.
The ceremony goes back to a centuries-old tradition. The Hindu god Shiva is said to have turned himself into a frog after a fight with his wife, causing her to cry for days and create a health hazard with her dirty tears. Disease control not being what it is today, Shiva decided to marry a young girl to stop the disease. His wife made herself young again, and he agreed to marry her again. After the wedding, they returned to their original forms and good health reigned in the village.
While any old frog will do, a girl who has yet to reach puberty is required. Proud parents offer up daughters because, in their minds, they are saving their village from disease. But the Indian government holds its head in embarrassment at this backroad tradition, calling it ignorant and blaming illiteracy. It has sent psychologists, sociologists, and religious leaders to villages to persuade people to stop.
Though human-animal marriages are not legally recognized by any country, frogs aren't the only animals getting hitched. To see what else humans have been forced (or just chose!) to marry, read more.
Goats: The Sudanese government forced a man to marry a goat after he was caught having sex with it in 2006.
Dogs: Girls can be forced to marry dogs in India to ward off bad omens. A surprisingly adorable ceremony of a puppy-girl (or maybe not that surprising!) wedding can be watched here.
Horse: An Indian woman married a snake by choice in 2006. She "fell in love" with it after recovering from an illness upon giving the snake milk. However, an investigation by Harper's magazine suggested the snake never existed and the incident was staged in a local power struggle between two religious leaders.
Ahh, well. These other stories appear to be (un)real!
G Star
Now that I've picked my self up off the floor from hysterical laughter. Odd yes but never the less harmless superstitious cultural rituals IMO.
1Agreed, hypno!
2But I am wondering if this is considered a REAL marriage by the villagers....can the girls get married later in life, or are they "married" to these frogs forever??
I was wondering that too MartiniLush
3Wow. Kiss a frog prince.
4
5I'm not going to laugh. It sounds silly but this kind if stuff is important to them. :shrugs: What can ya do?
6its different
i dig it. It wouldnt be so funny or wierd if it was
practiced in america or anywhere else...
7Im just happy we dont have traditions like that..sheesh!
8I don't know if i should laugh or cry, really don't!
9So the wife's tears are "dirty" and a health hazard? Yeah, boo women! And to fix it, he decides to move on to a younger gal? Pre-pubertal girls only, no less. Because you know, once they hit puberty those dirty tears start up...
10Ha! those crazy foreigners and their silly customs!
It makes so much more sense to wear clothes resembling burkhas (oooohhhh...muuuuslims!!), having Jesus as a husband and making jam for the rest of your life.
In fact, when I was but a teeny bud of a child, a huge hairy dude in a bejeweled LBD took me from my mother's arms, dipped me in water, while a grown woman was spitting like mad in order to show that she was willing to fight off a horned fallen angel eager to steal my pure baby soul.Then he rubbed some oil on my forehead, chest and feet which was a bit ticklish, but at least I got that water out of my nostrils. Then the guests had some sugar coated almonds while I was covered in layers of white and pink polystyrene/cotton mix and was made to kiss pictures of the son of a woman who never had sex and a few of his friends.
11I've had a few frogs ask me, but.....well, I just didn't love them.
12Just in case that story didn't make sense, I was referring to my Orthodox Christian christening/baptism when I was just over 12months old;
13a bit late by most people's standards, because according to 'our' religion had I caught some nasty cold, or dropped on my head by mistake and died before I got baptised, I'd go straight to baby-hell which sounds a bit wrong, even by some people's standards.
I'm just so happy not have religion and superstition in my life.
14To answer your question, MartiniLush, I read that this was just a ritual. People would forget about this thing once they were young women, when they'd be allowed to marry a (human) man like any other girl.
I think that although it's really silly, as long as it's just a village ritual that doesn't ruin the girls' life, it should be left alone.
And it's some remote village; it's not like the average smart person in India also practices this ritual. Every society has some arcane ritual or the other tucked away in a faraway corner. I've heard of a lot of weird Amish rituals; I think this frog marriage stuff should be taken in the same light. Obviously, it's not common practice in India.
15Well that doesn't seem so bad, then.
16Well, if it is just a ritual and isn't a permanent thing, it doesn't seem so bad...
17Oh, thanks, Austerity for the answer!
18Uh-oh. You allow frog marriage, and it's a slippery slope to gay marriage. And then what are we teaching the children?
19np Martini
20Oh my goodness. Some people have some strange cultures in this crazy world.
21I Agree with hypno odd, but who is it really hurting? What's far more damaging and should really have the Indian Goverment holding there head in shame is arraganged/forced marriage of young girls but I guess that's the culture too ???
22I Agree with hypno odd, but who is it really hurting? What's far more damaging and should really have the Indian Goverment holding there head in shame is arraganged/forced marriage of young girls but I guess that's the culture too ???
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