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Mon 29 Sep, 2003 10:57 am
Priests Marry Off Animals, Birds for Peace
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Hindu priests chanted wedding hymns to marry off pairs of birds, animals and crabs in the southern city of Madras on Sunday in what they said was an effort to promote world peace.
They hope the rituals, in which the priests also offered prayers to elephants, cows and horses, will combat terrorism and reduce pollution around the globe, a statement from the organizers said.
"God's creation of birds and beasts, creeping and crawling creatures, need to be respected and worshipped in gratitude so that the earth brings forth its gifts," it said.
The priests married off 18 pairs of birds, animals and other creatures during the ceremony.
"God is closer to nature and creatures than he is to man. It is therefore necessary that all creatures should be worshipped and protected," the statement said.
Guatum
Guatum, do you know if the same priests will perform marriages for homosexuals?
BumbleBeeBoogie
Heh heh....dem animals will end up cheatin' I think....
Cav
Cav, there are many animal, especially birds, that maintain monogamous mating for life. Swans and Canada Geese are only two.
You may find the following of interest:
When It Comes To Fidelity, Birds Beat Out Mammals Nearly 10 To 1 But "One True Love" Mate for Life Remains Primarily Human Ideal In Wild Kingdom
Washington, DC -- The romantic ideal of finding one mate for life may be more achievable for humans than animals, according to World Wildlife Fund experts. In the natural world, the concept of faithfulness in sexual partners remains largely the province of birds rather than mammals, and even some of the most monogamous birds have been known to stray from their mates.
Experts estimate that only five percent of all mammal species (excluding humans) are believed to be monogamous, compared to nearly 90 percent of all bird species. Monogamy is defined as a mating system in which one male mates with just one female in a breeding season. Animals which are believed to "mate for life" comprise only a handful of species.
"The romantic notion of becoming a soul-mate for life with one other may be just a human phenomenon", says Ginette Hemley, vice-president for species conservation, World Wildlife Fund. "Our human romantic ideals don't apply to animals. Species in the wild are just following the laws of nature which are necessary to their survival."
Wolves, beavers, gibbons and a small African antelope known as a dik-dik - all of which represent different groups of animals - are among the mammals thought by scientists to live in stable, monogamous pairs, while most mammals do not. Among birds, some of the most famously faithful are penguins, cranes, pigeons, and parrots. Geese, swans, doves, and albatrosses are generally believed to remain totally faithful to one partner death do them part. In fact, swans have become the symbol of life-long romance in popular lore, because when they swim off together to mate, their heads touch and their necks form a heart shape.
Gibbons, as well as orangutans and gorillas, are anthropoid apes, the primates that most closely resemble humans, physically and behaviorally. Regarded as monogamous, male and female gibbons pair up for life, forming a family that stays together until the offspring grow up and leave home. The bond between the couple is reinforced by the hours they spend grooming each other. Less is known about the sex life of the shy orangutan, because they seldom breed in captivity and observing them in the dense forest terrain in which they live is difficult.
Why are some animals monogamous and others not? The amount of parental investment necessary to raise viable offspring appears to be the leading reason why birds practice monogamy. One bird is needed to incubate the eggs in the nest, keeping them warm and safe from predators, while another bird must gather food to bring back to the nest, a task that may require flying a great distance out to sea to catch fish. By the time the baby birds have fledged, another breeding season is about to start, so the parent birds may decide to stay together and mate again simply to save the time it would take to look for a new mate.
By contrast, female mammals reproduce through an internal nurturing of an embryo, then develop mammary glands which produce milk, a food source for newborns. With no immediate responsibility to raise the young, the male mammal is free to pursue other sexual liaisons. When mammals are monogamous, it is usually because male involvement in parenting is necessary, such as in training young wolves how to hunt.
Some people clearly have too much time on their hands to do these kind of stunts in India !!
BBB, dunno - though our scriptures never condemned homosexuality - it was just a way of life and no eyebrows were raised....
Till the victorians arrived
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