Frog Marriage

Summary:

This is a visual representation of frog marriage practiced among the Hawar Dimasas of Cachar district of Assam. The frog marriage ceremony was demonstrated for the Dimasa archive team at Joypur village in Cachar on May 22, 2022.

Description:

Two frogs (male and female) are given hands in marriage in the nighttime among 2 foster families/houses. The ceremony is conducted similar to the wedding of men and women in the area. The frogs are walked in circles surrounding the fire 7 times, both are exchanged with tiny garlands and the bridal frog is smeared with sindur. Following it, both bride and groom’s families celebrate by dancing Baidima and merry making.

Cultural Narrative:

The belief among the community people is that frogs connect heaven and earth and bring rain to earth. So, whenever there is famine, dry season, or extremely hot weather, and the farmers need rain for their crops, they traditionally used to conduct frog marriages as heavenly unions to bring rain to earth. Children become excited to witness such a marriage. This practice is dying and very few instances were seen in the past decade. The last frog marriage was conducted more than a decade ago, according to one of the village members.