Two Minors Married Off to Frogs

By Jill Harness in Animals & Pets, Everything Else, Travel on Jan 19, 2009 at 3:56 pm

In a strange traditional ceremony, two 7 year-old girls in Tamil Nadu, India were married off to two frogs.

The ceremony, an annual feature during the Pongal (harvest) festival, is conducted “to prevent the outbreak of mysterious diseases in the village”.

The girls, Vigneswari and Masiakanni, dressed up in traditional bridal finery — gilded sarees and gold jewelery — married the frog ‘princes’ in separate, elaborate ceremonies at two different temples in the presence of hundreds of villagers.

These are two frogs that will not be turning into fairytale princes, they actually got released back into temple ponds after the ceremony. I wonder if the girls are still allowed to get married when they grow up.

Link Image Via Somegl [Flickr]

Tags: ceremonies, fairy tales, frogs, india, luck, princesses, weird

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zav
Jan 19th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
Argh. This angers me. It’s hard enough for frogs to earn enough to get by these days. And now they have to support their child-wives and child wives eat so much. How many bugs do these husband frogs have to catch each day to feed their family now? Unconscionable, I say.
SenorMysterioso
Jan 19th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Did the frogs have to fork over $16k, 100 cases of beer and a crate of meat for their young brides?
sw
Jan 19th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
what a sweet tradition! but what happens if there is an outbreak of disease anyway?
seekshelter
Jan 19th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
obviously, the girls when then have to marry larger amphibians….
Michigan J
Jan 19th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Did the girls at least get to choose their frog husband? If it were me, I’d require he should at least look fine with a top hat and cane or rep his own cereal.
arrghiamapirate
Jan 19th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
My 4 year old was impressed. She wants to marry a frog now.
ted
Jan 19th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
Well, at least they didn’t have to marry the same frog. That would be wrong.
johzephine
Jan 19th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
I would also like to marry a frog.
zav
Jan 20th, 2009 at 12:02 am
Just remember that frog marriages lead to frog divorces. And this leads to more work for frog/child divorce lawyers. We must fight to prevent frog/child marriages.
Christophe
Jan 20th, 2009 at 12:16 am
Can you eat your husband legs?
Johnny Cat
Jan 20th, 2009 at 1:12 am
what awesome comments on this story. I’ve seen so many others sweating this small stuff story of cultural nuance. neatorama ftw.
tavago1
Jan 20th, 2009 at 1:24 am
When I first read the title of the post, I was sure it had been misspelled. Silly me!
Evilbeagle
Jan 20th, 2009 at 4:02 am
Christophe… with butter and garlic.
gopalan
Jan 20th, 2009 at 5:03 am
i am from the area, and i know a little bit. the village astrologer would have told that she would lose her husband early and remarry; to avoid that now she is married off to a frog. the frog will soon die, and then she will marry again when she grows up; voila!
the indian miss universe 1993, aishwarya roy, who is now a famous actor, married another famous actor (who is the son of another very famous actor, whew!) a few years ago. but before the ceremony she ‘married’ a banana tree, which was promptly cut down after the ceremony, thus rendering her a ‘widow’; then she married the actor. as simple as that.
gopalan
Jan 20th, 2009 at 5:04 am
by the way, you cannot cover all such weird practices here; you dont have the space.
sw
Jan 20th, 2009 at 10:58 am
life would be so much simpler if one’s spouse was a tree . . .
ted
Jan 20th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Yup, trees don`t get headaches.
Evilbeagle
Jan 20th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Trees don’t get headaches, ted, but then…

…you know what, I’m just going to keep my sick thoughts to myself this time.
ted
Jan 21st, 2009 at 9:54 pm
Something about knots and splinters, evilbeagle?
ted
Jan 21st, 2009 at 11:20 pm
Or maybe, when the actress’ tree-husband died, she was “mourning wood”?

No, that was bad.

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