The #1 source for news about monkeys and apes

["carrie mclaren" <brooklynite282 AT gmail.com>]

Crowds flock to monkey 'wedding'
By Sandeep Sahu
Bhubaneswar
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7263782.stm

(Video - after lengthy commercial - at:
http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/59742/orissa-villagers-spend-rs-2-lakh-to-wed-monkeys.html
)


Some 3,000 villagers have attended an elaborate Hindu wedding ceremony
in eastern India for two monkeys.

The "bride" was dressed in a five-metre long sari and decked in
flowers. The ceremony took place last Thursday in Ghanteswara village
in Orissa state.

The guests were served a feast of rice, lentils, vegetables, fish and sweets.

Monkeys are revered idols in Hindu mythology. But the couples that
took in and "married" off the two monkeys in Orissa say they love them
as pets.

The monkey marriage took place some 200km (125 miles) from the Orissa
state capital, Bhubaneswar.

The "groom", a three-year-old male monkey named Manu, was taken by
procession to a temple in the company of hundreds of bemused
onlookers, accompanied by loud music, dancing and fireworks.

'Unique experience'

Women welcomed the groom with loud, synchronised ululations typical in
a Hindu marriage while priests chanted sacred hymns.

"It was a unique experience for me. It was the first time I conducted
a marriage between two animals. But I followed all the rituals that I
do in human marriages," said Daitari Dash, the priest.

Women prepared the female monkey, named Jhumuri, as they would a human
bride, draping her in a red sari and smearing her with sandalwood
paste.

The monkeys were showered with gifts by those present. They included a
gold necklace for the bride, donated by a local businessman.

"I feel as if my own daughter is getting married. I cannot bear the
thought that she would not be with us anymore," Mamina, the woman who
has been looking after the female monkey said.

Mamina has been looking after Jhumuri since her husband found her at a
local temple.

The male monkey, Manu, was found in a mango orchard in a neighbouring
village by a couple who raised it as their pet.

The two monkeys, who were kept in chains before the marriage, have now
been released by their owners.

They have been spotted hanging out at the temple where the "marriage"
took place.

A local villager, Mitrabhanu Dutta, said the event was a "nice way to
release the monkeys from captivity".