India: Marrying animals

The members of Santhal tribe in India believes that if a baby girl has a tooth rooted to her upper gum, it’s a sign that she will be eaten by tiger or something in the future because ghosts hate her. So she must marry a dog for avoiding the curse from her head.

The only good thing about the custom is the new bride and groom doesn’t need to live as a couple. It is just a mock function to ward off evil spirits and she can marry a real boy sometime later.

Germany: Bride Kidnappings

In many villages in Germany, there is a tradition of “Bride kidnappings” where bride is kidnapped by friends of groom and bride and she will be hidden. The groom has to search for her in order to marry her. Usually the search begins in local pub where groom invites everybody and buy them drinks to join him on the search.