8-year-Old Boy Marries 61-Year-Old Woman In Zimbabwe (PHOTO)

Strange wedding
About 100 people were witness to a most unusual wedding at the weekend.

The bride was 61 years old and the groom was an eight-year-old boy! Both families were present at the wedding of Sanele Masilela (8) and Helen Shabangu (61) and the bride's husband and her five children were also at the wedding in South Africa.

The boy's aunt, Patience Masilela (46), explained why the wedding took place.

She said: "The boy was named after his late grandfather who never had a white wedding, so the ancestors told the boy to get married and he chose Helen to be his bride. The family took his desire to get married very seriously. They paid  for the bride in March last year and spent a lot on the wedding because they believed it was what the ancestors wanted."

The bride said: "I'm married and have five kids of my own, but I know that this is what the ancestors wanted – and now they are happy. It is a ritual. We are just playing now, but it is a sign that he will get married one day."

The young groom said: "I told my mother that I wanted to get married because I really did want to. I chose her because I love her and I'm happy that I married her – but I will go to school and study hard. When I'm older I will marry a lady my own age."

The bride's long-time husband, Alfred Shabangu (65), said that he never had a problem with her marrying the boy because he too knew that it was what the ancestors wanted. My kids and I are happy. We don't have any problems with it," he said.

However, some community members said they were shocked.

One woman said: "How can a family go this far for the ancestors? It shows that people do take messages from the ancestors seriously."

This was a not a legal marriage – it was only done for ritual purposes. The happy couple sealed their marriage with a kiss.

Meet Woman That Married Herself After Tired Of Waiting For Mr. Right!

Nadine Schweigert married herself in a beautiful ceremony attended by 300 guests.

The 36-year-old divorced mom of three wore blue satin and clutched a bouquet of white roses as she walked down the aisle before a gathering of 45 friends and family members in Fargo, North Dakota.She vowed to “to enjoy inhabiting my own life and to relish a lifelong love affair with my beautiful self”.

After the ring was exchanged with the bride and her inner-groom, guests were encouraged to “blow kisses at the world,” and later, eat cake.

"I feel very empowered, very happy, very joyous ... I want to share that with people, and also the people that were in attendance, it's a form of accountability," Nadien Schweigert said.

Schweigert said the ceremony was a celebration of how far she'd come since her painful divorce six years ago that led to her two children to decide to live with her ex-husband.

Man dies on way to wife's funeral (VIDEO)

CAMBRIDGE, N.Y. (AP) — Norman Hendrickson was known for telling jokes and never wasting money. So when he died suddenly while en route to his wife's funeral, the couple's daughters knew there was only one thing to do: Hold a doubleheader service.

The 94-year-old World War II veteran's impromptu wake was held Saturday at the same eastern New York funeral home where his wife Gwen's funeral was already scheduled. She was 89 when she died on Feb. 8. After Norman died just steps from the funeral home, the daughters decided their parents would be mourned together at the same time.
The daughters said it was a fitting way to say goodbye to a couple who had been together since meeting in Europe during World War II and who had been married for nearly 66 years.
"After we had a little time to process the shock and horror, we felt we couldn't have written a more perfect script," Norma Howland told the Post-Star of Glens Falls (http://bit.ly/VL01Jx ). "My sister said the only thing he didn't do was fall into the casket."


Norman, a former assistant postmaster in Cambridge, 35 miles northeast of Albany, was being driven in a limousine to the Ackley and Ross Funeral Home for his wife's service when he stopped breathing. After the limo pulled up, funeral director Jim Gariepy, who is also the local coroner, and funeral home owner Elizabeth Nichols-Ross helped move Norman to the sidewalk outside the business.
Gariepy began CPR while Nichols-Ross and one Norman's sons-in-law raced across town to retrieve his do-not-resuscitate orders from the Hendricksons' refrigerator door. Once the orders were in hand, an emergency crew that had arrived ceased attempts to revive Norman. He died on the sidewalk.
Nichols-Ross said daughter Merrilyne Hendrickson then requested that her father's body be put into a casket and placed in the viewing room with her mother's cremated remains, which had been placed in an urn. Mourners who started arriving soon after for Gwen's funeral were greeted by a note Merrilyne posted at the entrance: "Surprise — It's a double header — Gwen and Norman Hendrickson — Feb. 16, 2013."
Nichols-Ross said she didn't charge the family for Norman's wake. On his prayer card, she jokingly wrote that Hendrickson got the idea to die in the limo headed to the funeral so he could get "a buy-one-get-one-free deal."
"If it had happened with somebody else like this it would have been sad, but with Norm it wasn't," Nichols-Ross said. "It was just so much like Norm."
Norman was overseas with the U.S. Army when he met Gwen, who was serving in the British Royal Air Force. She immigrated to the U.S. and they were married in May 1947.
Howland said her parents had jokingly promised to never leave one spouse behind. After her mother died, Howland said she overheard her father say aloud, "We have had a good long life together. I love you. I'll miss you and watch for me."

Rooney helps open up 10-point gap at the top

Both sides had great chances throughout but the England striker showed nerves of steel to calmly finish inside the box after a mistake from Philippe Senderos let him in on 79 minutes.

Hugo Rodallega broke the offside trap with ease after four minutes, but his cut-back from Ashkan Dejagah was well blocked in the centre.

United will scarcely believe how they didn't take the lead in the seventh minute - a corner came in which was bundled towards the net with only Schwarzer's desperate dive preventing a certain goal. Evra hit the bar seconds later with the goal gaping, then saw another shot expertly saved by the keeper.

The Holland striker ma also feel he could have had a penalty during those chaotic 30 seconds, but Kevin Friend saw no problems as he tumbled.

It was David de Gea's turn to excel after 11 minutes, superbly tipping over a wonderful John Arne Riise volley from 30 yards.

Riise shaped to shoot again three minutes later but opted to turn and feed Bryan Ruiz, who saw his cute volley tupped onto the post

United then hit the post with the ball deflecting high from a corner on to Schwarzer's bar, with Antonio Valencia screwing the follow-up wide.

Dejagah then span an inviting 20-yard chance wide of De Gea's post, while Rooney shot inches past Schwarzer's right-hand post a minute later in a thrilling opening.

There were no chances until the 32nd minute, when United hit the woodwork for a third time with Rooney curling an effort onto Schwarzer's left-hand post from 20 yards.

The floodlights then went out with five minutes of the half to play to the delight of the 25,670 fans, and while the players came off, power was restored within five minutes. Play resumed witha corner, with Schwarzer collecting a Van Persie drive at the second attempt.

Both teams were a little more cautious from the restart after each manager presumably told their sides in no uncertain terms to tighten up at the back.

Giorgos Karagounis - usually calm throughout - shanked a great opportunity wide on 55 minutes to the frustration of the home fans.

Chances were few and far between but Chris Baird heated things up with a stinging drive on the hour that De Gea did well to smother.

Van Persie broke the offside trap a minute later and teed up Nani on the byline, whose eight-yard shot was well blocked by Baird, while De gea was perhaps fortunate his parried save was not turned in by Ruiz with 20 minutes remaining.

United had half-chances while Jonny Evans did well to head away from underneath his own crossbar as the pressure rose, while Rafael prevented a certain goal by heading away from a corner on his own goal-line, but United struck the decisive blow.

Senderos tried to block Van Persie's run but only succeeded in letting Rooney run onto a long ball, and the striker made no by curling the ball around Hughes and into Schwarzer's net.

Van Persie cleared another header off the line and Chicharito missed a one-on-one in a brilliant ending, but United saw out the game.