Children aged three and five get engaged

wow a bit extreme, some may think 'yeah that's cute' but why can't they wait until they are old enough to know what real love & being in a proper relationship is... it's more than just putting a ring on your finger because a child is lonely when the other leaves. Maybe these kids need more friends to play with ! LOL

Article Shared : NINEMSN

Hala and her fiancee Khalid have exchanged rings and plan to marry in 10 years when she is 12 and he is 15.

Their story has become a national talking point in Syria after the girl's father relayed the story of their engagement to the Akes Alser website.

The families of both children have won plaudits over the union — although they insist the children are in love and want to marry.

Khalid's father, Juma, said the boy was his only child from a 25-year marriage.

"I vowed to have my child engaged at the age of five if he was a boy and to marry him to a woman of his choice at the age of 15," he told Gulf News.

Juma said Khalid, from the town of Horns, 180km north of Damascus, fell in love with Hala within days of meeting her during a family trip to the port city of Latakia.

He claimed Khalid was so love-sick after parting from his young girlfriend that he refused to go back to his nursery unless little Hala came too.

"We did not know what to do till my wife called Hala's mother and asked her opinion about the case," Juma was quoted saying.

"She said her daughter had developed similar symptoms of loneliness and the family would be happy to see them engaged."

Juma bought rings for the young ones and both families held a celebration in Latakia.

The father has even vowed to cover the education expenses of both children until they graduate from school.

"We know that Khalid or Hala might change their mind in the future, but what we do know at this stage is that they are very happy and talk to each other everyday," Juma told Gulf News.

According to Syria's English-language Forward Magazine, Syrian marriages are traditionally arranged at an early age for both males and females.

When a boy turns 16, or when he reaches puberty, his female relatives begin searching for a suitable wife around the age of 12 or 13.

If prospects are limited, a matchmaker is hired and together they go knocking on the doors of nearby homes and asking: "Do you have girls for marriage"?

Korean Man Marries his pillow

Well if the Asians aren't marrying the dead they're marrying their pillows!

According to the Daily Contributor  Lee Jin-gyu, 27 years old, put a wedding dress to his beloved body pillow that has the picture of Fate Testarossa, a girl character from the anime series Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha. The “nuptials” were officiated by a local priest.

The pillow is a “dakimakura” (sample pictured), a large, huggable pillow that has popular anime girls printed in it. It has been a huge success from Japan where young men and teen-age boys were reported to be having “relationships” with the said bed items. There is a version for girls with anime guys printed on it.

Jin-gyu has been seen bringing the pillow to rides in the theme park and eating with it at restaurants.

This is not the first case of people marrying two dimensional anime girls. 

Last November, a man married his virtual “girlfriend” named Nene Anegasaki from the Nintendo DS game Love Plus. Their wedding took place in Guam.

I also read of a woman who married a dolphin in 2006!

Here is another article shared from : The Huffington Post

Remember that episode of "30 Rock" where James Franco's character was in love with a pillow? Oh that was so funny. You know, because it was a scripted television show. Not real life. I wouldn't think that would need such a distinction, but then again, I wouldn't expect a man in Korea to marry a pillow.

But according to the UK Metro, this is precisely what happened, as Lee Jin-gyu has made a body pillow his bride.

This isn't the time to go into a "If a man in Korea can marry a pillow, how is gay marriage still..." tirade. This is a time to just let your jaw hit the floor and bask in the ridiculousness of this happening. (Plus, it's not like he married aRobert Pattinson pillow. That'd be gay. Clearly the guy prefers female pillows, as he printed a busty anime character on the side.)

If you're dying to see the happy newlyweds in action, here's a look at their day at the amusement park. You must be this crazy to ride the roller coasters. 

RELATED POST : 

Ghost Marriage : In sickness & in health ... or even after death?

Ghost Marriage : In sickness & in health.. or even after death?

In China, death doesn’t necessarily stop one from getting married. In the Chinese tradition of ghost marriage, one or both of the parties are dead. Chinese ghost marriage was usually set up by the family of the deceased and performed for a number of reasons, including: the marriage of a couple previously engaged before one member’s death, to integrate an unmarried daughter into a patrilineage,  to ensure the family line is continued,  or to maintain that no younger brother is married before an elder brother. 

Article Shared From Neatorama: 

There are many practical reasons to marry a dead spouse. For example, when an unmarried woman has no children to take care of her in old age, she can be "married" into another family. If a son died before he has descendants, his parents can arrange a ghost marriage to provide a "wife" who remains chaste, as a pretext to adopt a grandson to continue the family line. Another reason is to give the deceased a "spouse and companion" in the afterlife.

How is a ghost marriage performed?
Singapore Paranormal Investigators has the story:

Next, the priest empowered the East Gate with a lighted joss paper folded in the shape of a cone, which is also known as the "fire brush". Soon after this, the priest struck the paper gate three times with the sword and declared the gate to be opened at his order. At the same time, the family members were to shout out the name of the deceased. Finally, the priest declared, "From the East Gate, out you come" The whole atmosphere became very tense as the ceremony was going on. After the "destruction" of all the gates, the priest took a paper effigy out from the centre of the squared shape model. This meant that the spirit had been rescued from the gates of hell.

The paper effigy was placed in front of the altar by the priest. Beside the paper effigy, there was another effigy which was much taller and larger in size. Madam Tham continued to explain to SPI, "The paper effigy which was just rescued from hell represents the current state of the spirit, she carries the illness and sufferings she had when she was alive. The much larger paper effigy next to her represents the healthier form. The priest will soon heal her spirit and she will regain her original healthy form again."

The ceremony: Presiding Taoist priest Lu Rong Xin lights up incense straws in front of paper effigies of the bridal couple.
The pair of white-faced lovers are then prayed over and manipulated like large Barbie dolls,  bent over to take their vows in front of temple gods. Photos - Singapore Paranormal Investigators

Requests from the afterworld
Ghost marriages are often set up by request of the spirit of the deceased, who, upon "finding itself without a spouse in the other world," causes misfortune for its natal family, the family of its betrothed,  or for the family of the deceased’s married sisters. "This usually takes the form of sickness by one or more family members. When the sickness is not cured by ordinary means, the family turns to divination and learns of the plight of the ghost through a séance."

More benignly, a spirit may appear to a family member in a dream and request a spouse. Marjorie Topley, in "Ghost Marriages Among the Singapore Chinese: A Further Note," relates the story of one fourteen-year old Cantonese boy who died. A month later he appeared to his mother in a dream saying that he wished to marry a girl who had recently died in Ipoh, Perak. The son did not reveal her name, but his mother used a Cantonese female spirit medium and "through her the boy gave the name of the girl together with her place of birth and age, and details of her horoscope which were subsequently found to be compatible with his.

Other instances of ghost marriage
Because Chinese custom dictates that younger brothers should not marry before their elder brothers, a ghost marriage for an older, deceased brother may be arranged just prior to a younger brother’s wedding to avoid "incurring the disfavour of his brother’s ghost."  Additionally, in the days of immigration, ghost marriages were used as a means to "cement a bond of friendship between two families." However, there have been no recent cases reported.

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More on 'Ghost Marriage' from WIKIPEDIA

SPI: Ghost Marriage