Superstition: Frog marriages.

In India:

• In the month of Jun 2009, villagers in Chipoha village of Assam, India, married off frogs in a unique custom to please the Rain God, asking for an early monsoon.
• It's a traditional belief that when a frog marriage is performed, Rain God is pleased and it rains.
• Residents of the entire Chipoha village turned out to witness the unconventional marriage ceremony of the two frogs.
• The frogs caught by the villagers were decked up with fine clothes.
• The female frog was gifted a necklace by the village women.
• The marriage was conducted by a priest according to traditional Hindu rituals.
• The residents believed that the marriage would bring plenty of rainfall to their village.
• The marriage was a desperate measure by the villagers to get rainfall in the parched region.
  
  
• In the same month (Jun 2009), a number of farmers seeking rainfall in a suburb of Nagpur city, Maharashtra of India, organized wedding of two frogs, picked up from different ponds on Saturday to please the Rain Gods and hoped their region would soon receive monsoon showers.
• Tradition dictates that if frogs are married off with full Vedic or Hindu rituals, the Rain God is pleased and the heavens will open within days.
• People blew trumpets and sang songs, as the priest solemnized the marriage to the chanting of Hindu hymns by putting streaks of vermilion on the female toad's head.
  
  

In Bangladesh:

• Earlier, in the month of Mar 2009, people from two neighboring villages in Bangladesh conducted a marriage ceremony between two frogs as part of a custom believed to bring rain to the region.
• The two frogs came from two neighboring villages in northern Bangladesh, about 110 kilometers from Dhaka.
• Villagers organized the ceremony after both villages suffered severe water shortages because of lack of rain.
• More than 250 men, women and children attended the wedding, danced and sang.
• The “frog marriage” ceremony was conducted like a typical marriage ceremony and the guests were served a traditional wedding fare containing rice, fish, beef, lentils and sweets.
• The bride and the groom were in special wedding dress. They were blessed and finally released in a nearby pond.
• The ceremony worked and it was raining the next day.

Superstition: Minor girls married off to frogs

In Jan 2009, two minor girls were married off to frogs. This happened in a village in villupuram district of Tamil Nadu, India. The ceremony, an annual feature during the Pongal festival was conducted ‘to prevent the outbreak of mysterious diseases in the village.

• The girls dressed up in traditional bridal sarees and gold jewelry, married the frogs in separate ceremonies at two different temples in presence of villagers.
  
• The frogs were tied to long sticks decorated with garlands for the marriage ceremonies.
  
• The temple priests garlanded the brides and tied the magalsutras on behalf of the frogs saying the two as wives of the amphibians before the sacred fire at the auspicious hour.
  (The groom ties the Mangalsutra, a sacred thread of love and goodwill, around the neck of the bride on the day of the marriage, signifying their union. Mangalsutra is also called Thali / Thaali.)
• Villagers of the western part of the village acted as relatives of the brides. Eastern part villagers acted as relatives of the grooms.
  
• The ceremonies had all the usual elements of a traditional marriage including a sumptuous feast.
  
• Finally, after the ceremony, the frogs were thrown back into the temple ponds.