The mayor of a small Mexican town recently married a crocodile as part of a 230-year-old ceremony believed to bring abundant good fortune and prosperity to his people. The incident happened in San Pedro Huamelula.
This unique event symbolises the peaceful union of two Indigenous groups: the Chontal people, represented by the mayor, and the Huave Indigenous group, represented by the female reptile.
As onlookers clapped and danced, Mayor Daniel Gutiérrez kissed his bride on the snout and even had the first dance with her. A video of the ceremony is doing the rounds on social media.
Local lore holds that such a sacred bond is essential for ensuring plentiful crops on land and a rich bounty of fish from the sea.
The star of the ceremony, the reptile, is treated with utmost reverence. Before the wedding, the creature, affectionately known as "the princess girl," is taken house-to-house, allowing inhabitants to hold her and dance in a gesture of welcome and blessing. Dressed in a skirt, a colorful hand-embroidered tunic, and a headdress of ribbons and sequins, her snout is carefully bound to prevent any mishaps. She is then adorned in a white bride's costume and escorted to the town hall for the blessed event.
In a similar incident, in 2023, another Mexican mayor, Victor Hugo Sosa, performed the ceremony with a crocodile named Alicia Adriana. During the ceremony, he vowed: "I accept responsibility because we love each other. That is what is important. You can't have a marriage without love. I yield to marriage with the princess girl."
Following the vows, the celebration reached its peak as the mayor danced with his scaly bride to the sounds of traditional music. As the dance concluded, in a moment that captivated onlookers, the mayor planted a symbolic kiss on the snout of the "princess girl." "We are happy because we celebrate the union of two cultures. People are content," Sosa told AFP, reflecting the community's joy and enduring faith in this powerful ancestral ritual.
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