Human–animal marriage

2010-01-18T19:08:56Z

75.6.252.89:

'''Human-animal marriage''', i.e., [[marriage]] between [[human]]s and non-human [[animal]]s, is not recognized in law by any country at present, although historically people have married animals as part of religious traditions or to bring good luck, often involving elaborate [[ceremonies]]. Such marriages as are allowed by tradition, or within a culture, are often symbolic or ritual, rather than the more usual recognition of a [[Interpersonal relationship|relationship]].

==Historical cases==
===Horse===
* In some parts of [[Celt]]ic [[Ireland]], kings (often called "sacred kings") had to wed the local [[goddess]] of the land. A [[druid]]ess was usually chosen to represent the land goddess as the king's wife, but one king in [[Donegal]] married a horse, a representative of their local [[goddess]]. [http://library.thinkquest.org/C0116903/society/classes.htm]
* May 1998 - ''[[The Jerry Springer Show]]'' had an episode titled "I Married a Horse!". The show was ultimately not aired by many stations on the planned date, apparently due to concerns about the acceptability of broadcasting an episode in which a man admitted to a long term emotional and sexual relationship of this kind. The man and his horse later participated in a British documentary on the subject.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cincypost.com/living/1998/spring052198.html|title=Springer's latest: 'I Married a Horse'|work=[[The Cincinnati Post]]|publisher=[[E. W. Scripps Company]]|date=1998-05-21|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20040406093707/http://www.cincypost.com/living/1998/spring052198.html|archivedate=2004-04-06}}</ref>
* In 2010, a lady named Chen in Beijing became engaged to a Shetland pony [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shetland_pony] she named Alan. She met the pony while studying in England and despite objections from local immigration authorities, the animal followed her home and eventually she chose to marry him. Although not a fully fledged horse, Chen is quoted as saying that, "It's the team that matters. Where would The Beatles be without Ringo? If John got Yoko to play drums the history of music would be completely different" and in response to a question about Alan's attitude prior to meeting her, "Chen quipped: why buy a book when you can join the library?".

===Dog===
* June 2003 - a nine year old [[India]]n girl of the [[Santal]] (or 'Santhal') tribe of [[Khanyhan]], near [[Calcutta]] was formally married to a dog, in order to ward off a bad [[omen]]. The wedding was attended by more than one hundred guests, who danced to the beating of drums and drank home-made liquor. The girl told [[Western world|Western]] press, "I have no regret in marrying the dog Bacchan. I am fond of the dog who moves around our locality," and tribal elders added she was free to remarry in future as an adult. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3004930.stm]
* November 2007 - A man in southern India married a female dog in a traditional Hindu ceremony as an attempt to atone for stoning two other dogs to death — an act he believes cursed him. Selvakumar, 33, told the paper he had been suffering since he stoned two dogs to death and hung their bodies from a tree 15 years prior.[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21768663/]
* February 2009 - An infant boy was married off to his neighbors' dog in eastern India by villagers who said it will stop the groom from being killed by wild animals. The boy will still be able to marry a human bride in the future without filing for divorce. [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29259293/]

===Dolphin===
* December 2005 - forty-one-year-old [[Sharon Tendler]] of [[Great Britain]] unofficially married [[Cindy]], a male dolphin held at the Dolphin Reef [[dolphinarium]] in [[Eilat]], [[Israel]], in a ceremony where she offered fish and the dolphin 'kissed' her. She had been visiting Cindy regularly for the past fifteen years. Tendler requested permission from the dolphin's trainer for the "wedding". The marriage, painted romantically by the media, was in her words considered "a bit of fun" after her friends joked about her being single at that age.

===Goat===
{{main|Sudanese goat marriage incident}}
* February 2006 - a [[Sudan]]ese man, named Ahamed Budhallah, caught having sex with a neighbour's [[goat]] which was subsequently nicknamed [[Rose (goat)|Rose]], was ordered by the council of [[Elder (administrative title)|elder]]s to pay the neighbour a [[dowry]] of 15,000 Sudanese dinars ($75) and marry the animal. <ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4748292.stm BBC NEWS | World | Africa | Sudan man forced to 'marry' goat]</ref>

===Snake===
* June 2006 - an [[India]]n woman from [[Bhubaneswar]], [[Orissa]], allegedly "fell in love with a snake" and was married to it at a "traditional Hindu wedding celebrated by 2,000 guests". She claimed that a bond of understanding existed between the two. The woman had previously been ill, and recovered upon offering milk to the snake, at which time she fell in love. She later "converted to the animal-loving vegetarian [[Vaishnav]] sect whose local elders gave her permission to marry the [[cobra]]." [http://hindustantimes.com/news/181_1711610,00110002.htm]. An investigation by ''[[Harper's]]'' magazine journalist [[Mischa Berlinski]] suggests that the snake may not even exist at all and that the incident may have been stage-managed as part of a local power struggle between Vaishnav religious leaders.<ref>Mischa Berlinski, "Woman marries snake: A peculiar Indian love story", ''Harper's'', Nov. 2007, pp 41–52.</ref>

==Folklore, myth, and popular culture==
* A [[Korea]]n folktale, sometimes known as ''The Silkworm'', tells how [[silk]] originated following the King's daughter spiritually marrying a horse, in completion of a promise made in times of trouble. In the tale, the princess was reborn as a silkworm, a creature whose appearance and mannerisms superficially were said to resemble that of a horse. (From Chonsol Ttara Samch'olli, retold by Heinz Insu Fenkl) [http://www.geocities.com/ifenkl/kft/silkworm.html] [http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1:18018300/The+woman+who+married+a+horse~C~+five+ways+of+looking+at+a+Chinese+folktale~R~.html?refid=ip_hf]
* Japanese folk tales tell of many who married a [[kitsune]] in human form.
* A [[Cheyenne]] myth "The Girl Who Married a Dog", states that the group of seven stars known as the [[Pleiades (star cluster)|Pleiades]] originated from seven puppies which a Cheyenne chief's daughter gave birth to after mysteriously being visited by a dog in human form to whom she vowed "Wherever you go, I go". <ref>[http://www.native-languages.org/cheyennestory3.htm The Girl Who Married A Dog]</ref>
* The [[Cree]] people of [[Waskaganish]], [[Canada]], tell the tale of "The Girl and the Dog", in which a girl living alone is visited by a talking dog who she jestingly agrees to marry. The dog hunted for her and she had a [[Hybrid (biology)|hybrid]] [[offspring]]. Finally the woman had human visitors, and resolved to marry one of them, and was killed by the dog in her sleep, out of jealousy. [http://collections.ic.gc.ca/waskaganish/mythsthewoman.html] (told by John Blackned)
* One [[Inuit]] origin-myth states that the human races originated from the offspring of a girl who married a dog. [http://www.collectionscanada.ca/north/h16-4109-e.html]
* [[South Park]] parodied [[PETA]] with an episode on PETA members involving human - animal marriage due to the equivalence PETA members put on animals.
* The Decemberists' album [[The Crane Wife]] re-tells the Japanese folk-tale of a man who marries a crane in human form.

==See also==
* [[Love]]
* [[Interpersonal relationship]]
* [[Affectional bond]]
* [[Exogamy]]
* [[Speciesism]]
* [[Anthrozoology]]
* [[Zoophilia]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
* [http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/TheGirlWhoMarriedADog-Cheyenne.html A Cheyenne Legend] First People - The Legends
* [http://www.angelfire.com/ca/Indian/GirlMarriedDog.html The Girl Who Married a Dog] (Cheyenne)

[[Category:Human-animal relationships]]
[[Category:Anthropology]]
[[Category:Types of marriage]]

[[ca:Cindy]]

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Human–animal marriage