Mexican Mayor marries alligator

A Mexican Mayor, San Pedro Huamelula Sosa, has married his alligator bride in a colourful traditional ceremony in the country.

Although the alligator’s lips were tied to avert any untoward situation, Sosa obliged more than once during Thursday’s wedding, bending down to plant his lips on the small animal’s snout.

Dressed in a flowy white gown paired with a veil, the Mayor was seen holding his bride in his arms, marching through the small fishing village along with the locals, who played music and traditional instruments.

Referred to as a little princess, the reptile is “believed to be a deity representing mother earth, and her marriage to the local leader symbolizes the joining of humans with the divine.”

Speaking on the wedding, Sosa said: “We ask nature for enough rain, for enough food, that we have fish in the river.”

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“It gives me so much happiness and makes me proud of my roots,” Elia Edith Aguilar, known as the godmother, who organised the wedding, said.

Aguilar said she felt privileged to be entrusted with carrying out the ceremony, adding that she spent a lot of time fretting over what the bride would wear.

“It’s a very beautiful tradition,” she added.

According to Reuters, Oaxaca, 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.

The Star