Mexico Mayor Marries Alligator in Age-Old Ritual, Kisses Bride After Nuptials. Watch Viral Video
Trending News: In an age-old tradition for securing abundance, the mayor of a small town in Mexico married a seven-year-old alligator on Thursday. The mayor married the alligator, which was dressed as a bride with a white and veil, in a colorful ceremony as traditional music rang out and revelers danced while imploring the indigenous leader to seal the nuptials with a kiss.
A video tweeted by Reuters is going viral where San Pedro Huamelula Mayor Victor Hugo Sosa can be seen bending down to plant his lips on the small alligator’s snout, which had been tied shut presumably to avoid unwanted biting.
Watch the video below:
In an age-old ritual, a Mexican mayor married his alligator bride to secure abundance. Victor Hugo Sosa sealed the nuptials by kissing the alligator's snout https://t.co/jwKquOPg93 pic.twitter.com/Vmqh4GpEJu
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 1, 2022
The ritual marriage likely dates back centuries to pre-Hispanic times among Oaxaca state’s Chontal and Huave indigenous communities, like a prayer pleading for nature’s bounty.
“We ask nature for enough rain, for enough food, that we have fish in the river,” said Sosa, mayor of the small fishing village on Oaxaca’s steamy Pacific coast.
Oaxaca, a small fishing village located in Mexico’s poor south, is arguably the country’s richest in indigenous culture and home to many groups that have stubbornly maintained their languages and traditions.
The age-old ritual in San Pedro Huamelula, now mixed with Catholic spirituality, involves dressing the alligator or caiman in a white wedding dress plus other colorful garments.
(With inputs from Reuters)