The wedding industry will pave the path to a more eco-friendly, ethical, and sustainable future. We will have to break with the old wedding traditions to get there. We should ditch trends for the sake of our planet and the people who live here. We wish the tradition of renting elephants and other animals at weddings would disappear.
Sangita’s expertise and knowledge will help us to amplify our plea. Sangita Iyer is a conservationist and the founder of Voice for Asian Elephants Society. She has a deep understanding of animal welfare. She warns against renting animals for weddings in this op/ed. Sangita also offers some new ideas that will become alternatives to elephants and other animals.
Sangita Iyer’s Compassionate and Kind Wedding
Elephants are considered to be the embodiment of Ganesh. Lord Ganesh, a Hindu god with an elephant-like face, is revered for his ability to remove obstacles. They played an essential role in ancient warfare when there weren’t weapons of destruction as we know them today. Elephants were used to haul and log. Horses were used to carry the goods. This was done when automobiles and advanced machines were not available for transportation. These animals were used even in cultural festivals before the world could access science or knowledge about their intelligence, sociability, and ability to feel emotions. So, elephants and horseback riders were used in Indian weddings. Let’s look at the suffering animals endure.
Animal Cruelty in Culture
Don’t get me wrong. As someone born and raised in India, I love many traditions. I love the colors, baraats, dhols, and dances. As an overseas Indian, I also know the desire to hold on to our traditions. Ahimsa, or nonviolence, is the foundation of Indian culture. Hindu philosophy preaches compassion for all sentient creatures. The paradoxes, however, are striking. Many people are unaware that cultural practices can cause animals to suffer.
The offerings of royalweddingIndia.com, in particular, blow me away. The “lawazama,” or “wedding procession,” is described as “an elaborate wedding processional is planned and created, with marching drummers, musicians, bands, dancers and mobile flower canopies.
ElephantVoices is a well-known elephant advocacy group. According to them, “Captive elephants have been transported in trailers or boxcars to be used in traveling circuses. They are also kept in small enclosures to promote and market, or used to transport tourists to safaris or entertain them with football or polo. They’ve even been paraded on the street for ceremonies and to beg or chained to the sun in temples. The elephants have been “tamed” through brutal treatment and are kept under human control for life.
Elephants Experience These Traumas
In my newly released book Gods in Shackles – What Elephants Can Teach Us about Empathy, Resilience, and Freedom, I go deeper into the physical cruelty that is perpetrated on these animals to subjugate them and the emotional traumas they suffer due to the lack of socialization. They bond with their family in the wild just as we do. Or, they may wander over vast distances to meet their physical and nutritional needs. In captivity, they are denied their primal needs.
Elephants also have remarkable auditory sensitivity. They can even feel the most subtle seismic vibrations under their feet. Caitlin O’Connell Rodwell, a Stanford Center for Conservation Biology affiliate, says, “We think these vibrations are being sensed by their feet.” “Seismic waves could travel from the toenails of elephants to their ears via bone conduction or through somatosensory sensors in the feet similar to those found in the trunk. It may be a combination.
Like humans, all animals are susceptible to suffering. They can be lonely, afraid, frustrated, and even happy. Peter Singer writes in his book Animal Liberation that we must put their needs ahead of ours. They are the voiceless and vulnerable. Animals cannot speak in human languages or communicate in a way humans understand.
Elephants are one of many options for wedding ceremonies.
Use a Lamborghini for the baraat, and if you want to be posh, rely on Porsches.
I am installing two amazing life-size crystal or glass elephants. Two elephants are holding the traditional chrysanthemum garlands to welcome guests at the entrance.
Decorate the wedding with elephants made from flowers, bamboo or wood. You can also use disco balls, paper mâché elephants, or elephants that are made out of sparkles, disco balls, or other materials.
Elephant decor in romantic colors can be used to decorate your home. For example, you could use flower vases with romantic color schemes, candle holders, napkin rings, etc.
Use a large statue to honor the occasion.
Make the icing of your wedding cake look like a chocolate elephant.
Asking your guests to donate to a conservation group like Voice for Asian Elephants Society can be a great way to show your affection for these gentle giants.
There are no limits to the creative possibilities. There is always a way where there is will. And I hope that more people are thoughtful when making wedding plans and consider how their actions affect voiceless animals. I wish you a wedding filled with compassion, love, kindness, and safety. Congratulations on this monumental event!
Sangita Iyer, founder of Voice for Asian Elephants Society, is a woman dedicated to protecting India’s endangered heritage elephants. She also wants to draw attention to the plights of captive elephants worldwide. Sangita Iyer’s new book Gods In Shackles has a foreword from Dr. Jane Goodall, and her award-winning film Gods In Shackles can be viewed free of charge on WaterBear.
