Banyan tree marries Peepal in Orissa

Residents of an Orissa village have 'married' off a Banyan tree to a Peepal tree to spread awareness about the greater green cover.

Residents of an Orissa village have 'married' off a Banyan tree to a Peepal tree in a unique way to spread awareness about the greater green cover.

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The event took place on Wednesday in Patachela village, some 80 kms from Bhubaneswar, in the coastal district of Kendrapada.

In the past, childless couples in the region had arranged Banyan-Peepal marriages in the hope of getting a child, a villager said.

But this one was to create awareness among the people to conserve trees.

"Our village was covered with hundreds of trees when I was a child. But now the forest cover has dwindled. To spread the importance of trees we organised this wedding," villager Narahari Samal told.

A similar ceremony took place last year in the nearby village of Olaver.