A pair of eight-year-old twins were married in a bizarre wedding to ‘save them from bad luck'.

Chiranan Wattana was wed to his little sister Kanoklak in a Buddhist ceremony held inside their home in Nakhon Sawan province, northern Thailand on August 28.

Their wedding was attended by relatives who gave them gifts while nine monks officiated the ceremony.

However, the youngsters' parents said the wedding was not legally-binding and it was only a religious ceremony to bring them good luck in their life. It is based on the local superstition that twins were lovers in a past life and they need to get married as soon as possible to rid them of bad luck.

Mother Sunisa Rodkasem said: ‘I had a dream that my children fell into the water together. From then on, I kept taking them to the temple to pray but I was advised that they needed to do a wedding to make the spirits happy. I want to save them from bad luck.'

Thai Buddhists believe that male and female twins used to be lovers in their past lives but were unable to marry - either through death, forced separation or relationship problems. They also believe that the children must marry each other or be haunted by bad luck, sickness and accidents in their current life.

After consulting with Buddhist monks, Sunisa and her husband Weerachai Hengsap organised a lavish wedding for their children.

The couple hosted a feast for their guests in a big party where the twins performed the rites where they received a dowry of more than 100,000 baht ( 2,300 GBP) and gold jewellery.

Sunisa added: ‘Now that the children are married, we are confident that they would live a long healthy life. We also asked for luck in the lottery in our prayers. I hope we will win.'

Buddhism is the official religion in Thailand which is practiced by more than 95 per cent of the population. The religion is also widely practiced in neighbouring countries Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia.