That Sacred Institution (as practiced in villages in India): To prevent mysterious illnesses in the village, two 7-year-old girls were married, separately, to frogs (Pallipudupet, Tamil Nadu state; January).
To bring prosperity to the village, an elder married off two trees to each other (Subhasnagar, West Bengal state; February).
To overcome the effect of a baby’s odd-looking tooth, which is said to portend death by a tiger unless remedied, the 18-month-old boy was married off to a female dog (Jaipur District, Orissa state; February).
This article appears in Apr 8-14, 2009.