Animal Weddings Still Exist Today
You may have heard rumors of people marrying animals. Although the practice of holding animal weddings is outlandish, animal weddings do happen periodically and have taken place for many centuries. Certain cultures treat an animal wedding as a taboo, but it is very normal in other parts of the world.
While people do report being married to animals, no modern industrialized nation recognizes any marital bond between and human and a non-human. Despite this, some people feel such a strong bond with an animal that they decide to hold a wedding ceremony. Probably the best known case of animal marriage was a man who had married a horse and spoke publicly about this marriage in an episode of Jerry Springer that did not air on many stations because of the bizarre content. However, this man and his horse did go on to star in a BBC documentary about their relationship.
Animal marriage is certainly taboo in our culture, but it is common practice in some places. In certain parts of India, young children are wed to animals in order to ward off bad omens, but they are allowed to remarry once they are older. It seems that in this case, the marriage is symbolic only and that the children are not meant to live out their lives with an animal as their closest companion.
Despite being taboo in our culture, intimacy with animals was very common in Greek and Roman mythology, as well as mythology from other parts of the world. The Minotaur, a half man, half bull character, one of the best known mythological characters, was the offspring between a queen and a white bull. There are also several stories of Zeus changing into different animal forms to seduce women. Considering this, animal marriage may have been much more common in ancient times. In fact, the Roman Emperor Caligula married his horse and went on to appoint it to a seat in the Senate.
Animal weddings are not a new idea, but they have not found their way into the mainstream of most cultures. The majority of people recognize that intimacy with an animal is an oddity, and actually holding a wedding ceremony is even more so. Some people may hold animal weddings and marry animals for attention, to fill a void, or because they are actually attracted to and feel a bond with an animal. No matter why a person marries an animal, intimacy with an animal should not be treated as an equal to a relationship with another person.
