Children married off to puppies
From correspondents in New Delhi
February 23, 2005
From: Agence France-Presse
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12352894-13762,00.html
TWO small boys and two girls were married off to puppies by tribal villagers in the small northern Indian state of Jharkhand to ward off evil, a report said today.
Local officials in Kuluptang village in Jharkhand said the "kukur vibaha" or dogs' marriages, were organised on the last day of a local tribal festival, the Press Trust of India news agency said.
One of the tribeswomen, 54-year-old Sonamuni, who blessed the marriage of her three-year-old grand-daughter Priya, said the wedding was no less important than other such ceremonies and all customs normally associated with marriage were followed.
The mother of "groom" Durga, aged one, said if the first tooth of a baby came out in the upper jaw it was considered "inauspicious" for the child as well as the family and dog marriages had to be performed.
After a bath in a nearby river, the children are taken to a place of worship in a procession accompanied by a band.
Neighbours and relatives of the four children danced to music performed by the band before the marriages were solemnised with puppies of the opposite sex, the report said.
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