A group of people in the Indian city of Gorakhpur organised a wedding between two frogs to bring forth rain after months of no rain brought on intense heat.
The group found two frogs yesterday, July 19, and performed a ritual to please the rain god Lord Indra.
They forced the frogs to marry each other as part of the rituals despite struggling to keep the newly-wed couple together.
It was a lavish ceremony and hundreds turned out to watch the event, which involved a group of priests chanting as well as a big celebration meal afterwards.
Organiser Radhakant Verma said: “It is a time-tested belief that frog weddings are held to bring in rains.
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“We have had a long dry spell and farmers, in particular, are upset over the delay in sowing paddy.”
Earlier today, July 20, just hours after the frog wedding, a severe rainfall alert was issued for several parts of the country alongside Gorakhpur, including Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, West Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, Meghalaya.
The India Meteorological Department said: “Heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places with extremely heavy falls at isolated places is very likely.”
