Bzzare!!! Peruvian Actor and Environmental Activist Marries A Tree

 

On Sunday, Peruvian actor and environmental activist Richard Torres took tree-hugging to a whole new level by marrying a tree in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Torres (who looks an awful lot like Johnny Depp in video footage from the event) staged the so-called ”green wedding” ceremony, during which he married a tree named Aliehuen Nehuen, as
described by Peruvian news outlet Netjoven. Torres walked down the aisle wearing a white suit, while Aliehuen Nehuen “wore” a tie. After taking an oath and placing symbolic offerings in front of his soon-to-be “spouse,” Torres kissed the tree to consummate the marriage, according to FOX59 WXIN-TV. The wedding was officiated by Argentinian artist José María Muscari.

This ceremony was apparently part of Torres’s larger attempt to spread environmental awareness across Latin America. In his native Peru, Torres has already garnered attention for his fervent devotion to flora. He was arrested in 2012 for staging a unclad protest against the removal of trees in a Peruvian park.

And while Torres’ recent marriage ceremony has drawn international attention, this is not the activist’s first unconventional wedding. In a June event in Peru, Torres married his first tree. At the time, he declared, “My marriage will be eternal and I will make love with all the trees, hugging them I will feel their energy,” per Trome.

That said, Torres isn’t the first to wed a tree. In 2009, conceptual art duo The Art Guys married an oak sapling in a ceremony at a Texas museum. The piece garnered so much controversy that the museum removed the plant in 2011.