Mexican mayor marries alligator dressed as a bride in centuries-old ritual

The mayor of a tiny Mexican town married a seven-year-old alligator on Thursday in accordance with an ancient custom for ensuring abundance. In a vibrant ceremony, the mayor married the alligator, which was decked up as a bride in white and veil. Traditional music played in the background and guests danced while asking the indigenous leader to seal the nuptials with a kiss.

San Pedro Huamelula Mayor Victor Hugo Sosa obliged more than once during Thursday's wedding, bending down to plant his lips on the small alligator's snout, which had been tied shut presumably to avoid unwanted biting.

In an age-old ritual, a Mexican mayor married his alligator bride to secure abundance. Victor Hugo Sosa sealed the nuptials by kissing the alligator's snout https://t.co/jwKquOPg93 pic.twitter.com/Vmqh4GpEJu

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The ritual marriage likely dates back centuries to pre-Hispanic times among Oaxaca state's Chontal and Huave indigenous communities, like a prayer pleading for nature's bounty.

"We ask nature for enough rain, for enough food, that we have fish in the river," said Sosa, mayor of the small fishing village on Oaxaca's steamy Pacific coast.

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 7-year-old reptile, referred to as a little princess, is believed to be a deity representing mother earth, and her marriage to the local leader symbolizes the joining of humans with the divine.

(With inputs from Reuters)