A mayor in Mexico has ‘married’ a female Caiman he calls “Little Princess” in a traditional ceremony said to bring good fortune to his tribe.
Mayor Victor Hugo Sosa wed the caiman called Alicia Adriana and said the pair “loved each other”.
The ceremony happened in the Southern Mexican town of San Pedro Huamelula where the indigenous Chontal people live.
He was pictured carrying the reptile through the town with her mouth bound shut before being passed around the villagers who were dancing with her to celebrate the matrimony.
He was also pictured kissing the animal on the head while it was dressed in a green skirt, a colourful Mexican hand-embroidered tunic and a headdress of ribbons and sequins.
The caiman was then later seen to the local town hall dressed in a white bride’s costume complete with a veil for the wedding.
Marriage between a man and a female caiman has taken place there for 230 years to commemorate the peace between two indigenous groups co-existing happily.
Jaime Zarate, a chronicler of San Pedro Huamelula, explained that the wedding allows the sides to “link with what is the emblem of Mother Earth, asking the all-powerful for rain, the germination of the seed, all those things that are peace and harmony for the Chontal man”.
The seven-year-old crocodile is thought to represent a deity linked with mother earth and their marriage will bring prosperity to the community.