In re-enacting an ancestral ritual, Victor Hugo Sosa, mayor of San Pedro Huamelula, a town of Indigenous Chontal people, took Alicia Adriana as his bride.

Mexico and Central America are home to an alligator-like marsh dweller known as the caiman.

According to local legend, Sosa swore to stay true to her “princess girl” personality.

Sosa declared during the ritual, “I yield to marriage with the princess girl because we love each other. Love is the key to a successful marriage.”

It has been 230 years since a man and female caiman married here to commemorate the day two Indigenous groups came to peace.

The female alligator symbolizes the female Chontal king who married a princess girl of the Huave Indigenous group, eradicating frictions.

This inland town lies near the coast of Oaxaca State, where the Huave live.

Jaime Zarate, chronicler of San Pedro Huamelula, explains that the wedding allows the parties to “link with Mother Earth, to ask the all-powerful for rain, for seed germination, for all the things that symbolize peace and harmony.”

In the days leading up to the wedding ceremony, the reptile is brought from house to house for the residents to hold and dance with her. Wearing a green skirt, a colourful hand-embroidered tunic, and a ribbon and sequin headdress, the alligator stands out from the crowd.

There is a binding on the creature’s snout to prevent any premarital mishaps.

The blessed event is held in town hall, where she is dressed as a white bride.

The ritual begins with Joel Vasquez, a local fisherman, tossing his net and pronouncing the town’s hopes that the marriage will bring prosperity, equilibrium, and peace.

The mayor and his bride dance to traditional music after the wedding.

It is a joyous occasion because two cultures are reunited. People are happy.” said Sosa.

A kiss is planted on the “princess girl’s snout as the dance winds down.