In what some might call an unlikely romantic match, a Mayor of a small Mexican town and a ‘princess girl’ caiman wearing a wedding dress have tied the knot.
Victor Hugo Sosa, mayor of San Pedro Huamelula, a town of Indigenous Chontal people in the Tehuantepec isthmus of Mexico, explained ‘you can’t have a marriage without love’ after he said ‘I do’ to the reptile named Alicia Adriana.
As onlookers clapped and danced in celebration, the mayor and others embraced Alicia, who was wearing a floral headband, as part of the 230-year-old ancestral ritual.
The caiman, which is similar to an alligator, appeared relaxed before she entered into holy matrimony with Mr Sosa. The pair then change into their white costumes before the pair marry.
Victor Hugo Sosa, mayor of San Pedro Huamelula, kisses his ‘princess girl’ bride after they are wed
Before the wedding ceremony, the mayor and caiman parade round the town
The caiman seemed pretty relaxed as she married the mayor of the town
Sosa swore to be true to what local lore calls ‘the princess girl.’
‘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,’ he said during the ritual.
Marriage between a man and a female caiman has happened in San Pedro Huamelula for 230 years to commemorate the day when two Indigenous groups came to peace – with a marriage.
Tradition has it that frictions were overcome when a Chontal king, now represented by the mayor, wedded a princess girl of the Huave Indigenous group, represented by the female alligator.
The wedding allows the sides to ‘link with what is the emblem of Mother Earth, asking the all-powerful for rain, the germination of the seed, all those things that are peace and harmony for the Chontal man,’ Jaime Zarate said, chronicler of San Pedro Huamelula.
Before the wedding ceremony, the reptile is taken house to house so that inhabitants can take her in their arms and dance.
Marriage between a man and a female caiman has happened in San Pedro Huamelula for 230 years
During the service the creature’s snout is bound shut to avoid any scraps
Before the wedding ceremony, the reptile is taken house to house so that inhabitants can take her in their arms and dance
The caiman is passed around the village members as part of the ritual before the wedding
The alligator wears a green skirt, a colorful hand-embroidered tunic and a headdress of ribbons and sequins. And the creature’s snout is bound shut to avoid any pre-marital scraps.
Later, she is put in a white bride’s costume and taken to town hall for the blessed event.
As part of the ritual, Joel Vasquez, a local fisherman, tosses his net and intones the town’s hopes that the marriage may bring ‘good fishing, so that there is prosperity, equilibrium and ways to live in peace’.
After the wedding, the mayor dances with his bride to traditional music.
‘We are happy because we celebrate the union of two cultures. People are content,’ Mr Sosa said.
As the dance winds down, the king plants a kiss on the snout of the ‘princess girl’.
