In June 2003, a nine-year-old Indian girl of the Santal (or ‘Santhal’) tribe of Khanyhan, near Calcutta was formally married to a dog, in order to ward off a bad omen. The wedding was attended by more than one hundred guests, who danced to the beating of drums and drank home-made liquor. The girl told Western press, “I have no regret in marrying the dog. I will take care of this dog who was stray and survived on left-overs,” tribal elders added she was free to remarry a human in future as an adult.
