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Oddest forms of marriage
Marriages between young children and old men were not unknown at various times in history, nor - more recently - are marriages between people of the same sex. More strange than any of these is surely marriage between a human being and an animal (which history has recorded) or between a human being and a tree! Tree marriages were prevalent in various parts of India. Among the Brahmans of southern India it was the custom that a younger brother should not marry before an older one. To satisfy the requirement, when there is no bride in sight for a senior brother, he is ceremoniously married to a tree (or to the spirit inside the tree) to allow the younger brother to take a wife. In some instances tree marriages occur at the same time as the marriage of the couple, the idea being that evil influence which may attach to the married pair be diverted to the tree.