'''Human–animal marriage''' is a concept not recognized in [[law]] by any state, although attempts to [[marriage|marry]] [[human]]s to [[animal]]s have been recorded.{{cn|date=April 2016}} The topic has frequently existed in terms of [[magic in fiction|magical fiction]], in contrast to those with [[Rationalism|rationalist]] perspectives.<ref name="Germany"/>
'''Human–animal marriage''' is a marriage between an animal and a human. This topic has appeared in mythology and [[magic in fiction|magical fiction]]. i
==Background and context==
[[Folklore]] relationships between [[human beings]] and non-human [[animals]] exist throughout many different [[Culture|cultures]] in varying ways given the diversity of [[Mythology|mythological stories]]. Generally speaking, however, analysis by scholars such as [[Lutz Röhrich]] have found common elements in that [[domesticated animals]] appear to flourish in these tales only after [[Agriculture|agricultural]] civilization develops. Animals perceived as being fundamentally 'wild', such as [[ants]] and [[fish]], possess abilities that assist [[protagonists]] while still exercising independent natures, such as fish choosing to retrieve things accidentally discarded in water. Closer association with humans and a sense of being less dangerous correlates with higher perceived [[intelligence]] and notions of human-animal bonding. In tales from Africa to Australia to North America and elsewhere, many [[origin myth]]s view animals and humans descending together into Earth; a great many stories chronicled pre-[[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] depict the likes of [[cats]], [[dogs]], and [[roosters]] interacting with people at a roughly even level.<ref name="Germany">{{citebook|title=Folklore Theory in Postwar Germany|first=Sadhana|last=Naithani|pages=48-52|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sPYaBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA52&dq=%22human-animal+marriage%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiludq5ppHMAhVln4MKHfUNDM8Q6AEIKzAD#v=onepage&q=%22human-animal%20marriage%22&f=false|date=2014|ISBN=9781617039942|publisher=University Press of Mississippi}}</ref>
Human-animal marriages specifically are a theme in many mythological stories. In the more recent European context, stories possessing that theme are likely to have story-lines where humans turn into animals as a form of [[humiliation]] and setting it all right becomes a protagonist's burden. In other, older tribal contexts, a noted fluidity exists, such as story-lines featuring animals switching forms at will into humans. The more recent, European folktales generally refrain from depicting the human and animal couplings in that fashion. Particularly, the marriages do not involve sexual relations between the human and animal partners. The philosophical [[hierarchy]] of humanity above regular animal life is directly implied. The rise of modern civilization and the spread of rationalist thinking, in folktale storytelling terms, mean not just more defined lines between people and regular animals but also an increased sense of detachment and disenchantment: humans as more alien from nature.<ref name="Germany"/>
==See also==
==See also==
Revision as of 22:40, 22 November 2016
Human–animal marriage is a marriage between an animal and a human. This topic has appeared in mythology and magical fiction. i
