Mexican town performs annual ‘crocodile wedding’ ceremony

MEXICO CITY — Townspeople in the southern Mexico village of San Pedro Huamelula dress up a small crocodile as a bride and symbolically marry her to the mayor.

The godfather of the ceremony is Hugo Gonzalez, who says townspeople are asking the reptile “for the gifts she has, like abundance of rain, (and) good fishing.”

The small crocodile is first “baptized” and serenaded with local music as she is paraded through town.

She participates in a dance and then is released into the wild, though her snout was taped shut for this week’s ceremony to prevent her from biting.

Crocodiles are associated with water and fish, since they live in coastal lagoons.