At Keonjhar And Mayurbhanj, Orissa, Little Children Are Married To Dogs As A Custom

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We have certain traditions that we follow during certain ceremonies. As it is, rituals do not call for any explanation. However, there are a few rituals that go beyond our understanding.

For example, as per a Coorg marriage custom called Baale Birud, men from the family slash the nine banana stems fixed vertically on to a small wooden stake. Then the groom is wedded as per customs of Coorg to his bride.

In another case, if a girls mangal dosha is too strongly indicated in the horoscope, as a compensatory measure, she is first married off to a tree and then to the groom.

So it is her second marriage with the groom, the first one being the tree. We can search for the relevance of these customs and manage to find them too.

This Custom At Mayurbhanj Shocks You Out Of Wits: However, there is one more custom that is a little on the weird side but it is an important ritual that has to be customarily followed by every family in Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar districts of Orissa. Here their young kids are married off to dogs. This is based on a belief that inauspicious doshas due to inimical planetary placements in the child's horoscope can be nullified and peace can be derived for their lives. Read on to get a better understanding of this surprising custom.

What Is The Eligibility For A Kid To Marry A Dog?: If you have a kid whose upper teeth have formed inside the mouth first, has to go through this ritual. Since the teeth are the ones to appear first, there will be some malefic planetary impact and trouble due to evil energies for the child. Since it can trouble their future, they are married off to dogs to save them from any peril whatsoever.

When Do They Marry Their Children To Dogs: Once the upper teeth start growing in the kid, an auspicious muhurat is fixed to marry this child with a dog. Mostly it is on festival days like Sankranti that they conduct marriage.

Here in this occasion, they gather all kids whose upper teeth have just been formed. Only children upto the age five are considered for this procedure.

Turmeric Is Applied To Dogs As A Part Of The Ritual: Turmeric, the auspicious puja ingredient, is applied to both young children and the dogs that wed them. Girls are married to male dogs and boys are married to bitches.( excuse me for this usage).

After the wedding ceremony is over, women take children and dogs home, give them meals, and sing and dance, to celebrate the event. Tribal areas of Jharkhand are also known to follow this custom.

Such strange traditions are not only common in India, they are not new to other cultures in the world as well. People around the globe, especially the rural tribes have myriad different customs and one cannot question their validity or provide an explanation to the practices.