Mexican mayor weds alligator dressed as bride to secure prosperity
Residents of San Pedro Huamelula, a southwestern Mexican city, were blessed by “prosperity” last week after their mayor Hugo Sosa “married” an alligator.
Mr Smosa wedded the small reptile on Thursday in a ceremony that dates back hundreds of years to pre-Hispanic times and to Mexico’s indigenous communities.
The mayor kissed and danced with the 7-year-old reptile — who was dressed in a white bridal dress — as a prayer for nature’s bounty.
The alligator, with its mouth bound shut, is believed to be a deity representing mother earth. The marriage symbolizes the connection between humans and the divine.
“We ask nature for enough rain, for enough food, that we have fish in the river,” Reuters reported Sosa said during the ceremony in the small fishing village near Oaxaca.
During the procession, trumpets blared and locals carried the bride in their arms and fanned her with their hats.
Elia Edith Aguilar, known as the godmother of the alligator who organised the wedding, told Reuters she spent a lot of time carefully picking garments for the alligator to wear for the ceremony.