"We love each other": Mayor marries reptile in stunning ceremony
Love comes when you least expect it and for one mayor in the small town of San Pedro Huamelula, Mexico, his match caiman he never looked back.
Victor Hugo Sosa, the mayor of the town has said “I do” to his “princess girl”, a caiman named Alicia Adriana, and his wedding speech is one for the books.
'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 vowed.
Onlookers clapped and danced in celebration as the mayor kissed and embraced his new bride who was dressed in a white gown and veil.
The ceremony is part of a 230-year tradition which symbolises the joining of humans with the divine, as she is thought to be a deity representing mother earth.
It also commemorates the day when two Indigenous groups came to peace- with the marriage between a Chontal king, now represented by the mayor, and a princess girl of the Huave Indigenous group, now represented by the female alligator.
The age-old ritual involves the reptile being taken house to house before the wedding so that residents can take their turn dancing with it.
She is later on changed into her wedding dress, which Olivia Perez was in charge of during this ceremony.
"For us, the crocodile is important because she is the princess who comes to bring us water, a good harvest, rains, so that God the Almighty Father sends us food, fish, corn, the harvest," she said.
After the wedding, the mayor dances with his bride to traditional music.
Local fishermen would also take part in the ritual and toss their nets on the ground in hopes that their marriage would bring “'good fishing, so that there is prosperity, equilibrium and ways to live in peace.”
Images: Getty, Oaxaca Informa10 Twitter