wedding planning guide

Animal Weddings

Lucy Hamilton

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 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. 

Animal marriage is far from the norm in most countries and cultures, but Greek and Roman mythology, as well as myths from other cultures, embraced intimacy with animals. The Minotaur is one example of animal intimacy in ancient myths. The Minotaur was the child of a queen and a bull. Zeus also consistently took on the shape of an animal to have his way with women. Because it was common in their myths, animal weddings may have been a regular occurrence in these cultures. At one point, a Roman Emperor wed his horse and made it a Senator.

Even though animal weddings may have been common at one time, it is now a taboo in most countries. The urge to be with an animal is definitely not the norm. People may choose to be with animals because they are lonely, but other may genuinely prefer animals over humans. In either case, having a relationship with an animal is not the same as being with another human being.

wedding planning guide

Wedding Photography Videography And Making The Choice
By Lucy Hamilton
Wedding photography videography has been an important part of the wedding market for several years. Many couples are eager to have the entire event captured on DVD. Couples often express that they Read more...

guide to wedding planning

Wedding Vs. Marriage
By Lucy Hamilton
Currently, the divorce rate is extremely high in most industrialized countries, especially compared to less developed countries. Although there are endless factors in this equation, one of the Read more...

Add Guide to Wedding Planning to your favourites
Wedding Tip
Tea Length Dress: the dress´s hemline falls several inches above the ankles.

PRIVACY   |   T&C´s   |   CONTACT US
© 2007 GuideToWeddingPlanning.com - All Rights Reserved.
w3c CSS Compliant  Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional