Jumping The Broom is the first tradition that comes to my mind when I think of aspects of African American culture. The act of jumping over a broom after newlyweds say I do symbolizes sweeping away the old to make way for a new beginning.
Prior to the civil war, “jumping the broom” was a ceremony where slaves were forced to marry one another by their slave owners. Slave owners would take a broom then have two slaves jump over it before they were considered married instead of legally conducting a wedding with an ordained minister. In contrast to the current practice,sometimes the brooms were held in the air, and other times the broom was held on the ground. Some pairs jumped over a single broom while other pairs each jumped over their own broom. Some historians believe that slave owners forced slaves to undergo this tradition to mock them. Other historians believe the practice was enforced to prove to Northern abolitionists that slave owners were kind to their slaves by allowing them to have elaborate wedding celebrations.By the 1830’s and 1840’s, jumping the broom was a tradition that slaves understood as their own.
Not many people within the black community are aware of the American origin of the Jumping the Broom tradition. However, those that are aware debate about whether they should continue the practice to honor their ancestors, or to discard what they consider to be a”archaic” tradition.I personally do not feel the tradition should be discarded, and looked down upon. Even though there is no concrete evidence to support why slave owners forced the slaves to jump to broom, the fact that the practice signified new beginnings for slaves is worth remembrance and respect. With that being said, I do not plan to jump the broom at my wedding celebration. I will have one incorporated into my wedding as a prop though.
This tradition is very interesting to me. Being Nigerian, I never knew about this tradition until I saw the movie “Jumping the Broom”. It’s cool how that tradition has been preserved for centuries and people can pay homage to their ancestors by doing this.
Jumping the broom reminds me of the post-wedding custom that is pretty popular in the US – carrying the bride over the threshold. One of the many origin stories I found were kind of creepy, but interesting nonetheless. After doing some research into the origin of this tradition, one of the origin stories I discovered originated with the ancient Romans. At the time, the bride had to avoid looking eager to leave her father’s home, so she was carried over the threshold into her husband’s house.
For some cultures, there is also a spiritual meaning to carrying the bride over the threshold. Ancient peoples believed that evil spirits hovered at the threshold, so, to avoid getting cursed, the bride was carried over the threshold. I think this story is more relevant in Britain – I might be wrong.
Perhaps the strangest origin story I found is traced back to an event in Roman mythology involving Sabine Women. During this event, Roman soldiers abducted (and did other things to) women in surrounding regions. It makes sense that, in this story, women were carried off against their will. Despite it’s violent origin story, the practice soon became a common wedding practice for the Romans.
Nowadays, I think couples do it just for fun – without attaching much meaning to the ritual.
Reading about this was so fascinating! I had never heard of this tradition. Its nice how you can follow it and know where it comes from. This gives it much more meaning and makes it even more special. Whether people do it for fun or to do the ritual, the fact that it is still seen in African American weddings means that the tradition is being kept alive. Loved your post!
A close family friend is jewish and they actually incorporated a broom into their wedding as well. One of the last dances of the night is called the Mezinke Tanz and it is done to honor parents whose last child has been married off. The parents of the bride or groom sit next to each other with wedding attendees dancing around them. They’re usually holding brooms and it’s basically a send off to their last child’s marriage. Similar to the African American tradition, this symbolizes a new beginning for the parents whose children are starting families of their own as well as their child’s future family.
Wow, that is very interesting to know. I was invited to a friends wedding and saw her and her husband “jump the broom” and I always thought that was very facinating! Actually my culture, very similar to this tradition, has it where we smash a cocunut and jump over that. Though my tradition does not have an importance to it like yours does, I still love it, because it shows how there are similarites in cultures all around us, whether it was shared, borrowed or even “stolen”. Fantastic job on this post, thank you so much for informing me of such an amazing and important tradition.
I like the idea of jumping the broom symbolizing new beginnings, but I don’t think it is something I would do myself. The way you backed up the topic with the information you knew and specifically stated there isn’t a resource that is able to tell what the slave’s reasons were behind this was very nice. I don’t see anything wrong with this though, its similar to the idea behind the groom carrying the bride through the door of their house.
I like the Idea that this tradition in a sense sweeps away one’s old life. I’m very aware of this traditions history however, I never knew that sometimes brooms were held in the air or that sometimes couples jumped over two individual brooms. Thanks for sharing this, I’m always looking for new information on my culture.