Wedding Traditions – Jumping the Broom

Today many African American couples practice the tradition of “Jumping the Broom”. In its contemporary usage, couples jump over brooms as a symbol of sweeping away the old and making way for a new beginning. This tradition found its roots in the marriage practices of slaves in America before slavery was abolished in 1865. Slave’s did not have legal rights, including marriage, so the practice of jumping over the broom was used to signify their marriage as illustrated below in this illustration from 1899.

The oldest records we have of jumping over a broom being used as a marriage rite dates to around 1700, in Wales.

Some people — particularly Roma, commonly known as “gypsies” — had marriages that weren’t recognized by the church. They were married through non-church rituals. One of these rituals, practiced widely in Wales, was a “Besom Wedding,” a besom being a type of broom. The marriage could also be annulled if the couple jumped over the broom again — but backwards.

Regardless of origin, by the 1830’s and 1840’s “Jumping the Broom” was a ritual that enslaved people understood as their own.

What traditions or rituals are you planning to represent the union of your life with your loved one?