Many southern folk keep the tradition going since slavery was especially prominent there. MS: I think they still do it in honor of their ancestors and where they come from. Then they hold hands and jump the broom together.Ĭollector: Since black people can legally get married now, why do you think African Americans continue to jump the broom? They first kiss the tips of their fingers and touch the broom. What happens is, after the bride and groom kiss at the end of the ceremony, they turn towards the witnesses and the broom is placed before them. MS: Almost all of the weddings I have been to where the jumping the broom took place have been the same.
This was collected after dinner sitting at the table.Ĭollector: From your experience, what does it mean when a couple jumps the broom? She is strongly connected to her African American heritage and has been to many weddings in her family and community where the newlyweds jumped the broom.Ĭontext: Jumping the broom is a tradition that roots from slavery where the newlyweds would jump the broom to commence their marriage since slaves were not allowed to marry. It will be decorated with mini Picasso calla lilies and we’ll cherish it for the rest of our lives.MS is a 60 year old mother of five from the South. It will allow us to start our marriage on solid ground, and equal footing.Īll of this means that one of my most intriguing wedding tasks has been finding and purchasing a jump broom online (I recommend Etsy). Virginia legalizing interracial marriage is only 51 years old). It will also symbolize our leaving behind the heartbreak of the lack of recognition of legal marriage, not only for slaves, but also for interracial couples (the Supreme Court Case Loving v.
Like the breaking of the glass being a subtle nod to our Jewish ancestors, jumping the broom will be a way to acknowledge Femi’s African American heritage (his mother is American, and his father is Nigerian, literally making him African American). Femi and I are approaching this tradition in a couple of ways. When our awesome wedding officiant, Rabbi Malka Packer-Monroe (who is also Director of InterfaithFamily/Atlanta, where I work), heard that we were adding this to the ceremony, she applied the same level of care to crafting this portion of the ceremony to be authentic to us as all of the Jewish ceremony rituals, like the ketubah ceremony, seven blessings and the kiddush. This tradition can be traced back to an area of West Africa that is now the country of Ghana, where the couple would jump the broom to ward off evil spirits and “brush” the slate clean to start anew. They also didn’t own property or many household items, so when slaves would wed, they would literally jump over a broom to signify that they were married. Because Femi and I are both an interfaith and interracial couple, adding a broom jumping perfectly ties in another layer of our identities to our already unique ceremony.ĭuring the shameful period of American history involving the enslavement of the African people, slaves were not legally able to be married. Herein lies the beauty of the wedding ceremony: a chance for the couple to develop their own special meaning for each ceremonial element. His request was that at the end of the ceremony, before smashing the glass, he’d like us to “jump the broom.” Like smashing the glass, the tradition of jumping the broom has developed many different meanings, ranging from the mundane to the downright Neanderthal (“jumping the broom” signifying a woman’s duty to clean the house, yuck). Considering that the mention of anything wedding-related to Femi resulted in the heaviest of sighs, I took this as a positive sign. Femi and I get to focus on more fun stuff now like choosing music, designing our photo magnet frame and finding an after-party space (presuming we don’t just pass out in the car on the way back to the hotel).Ī few months ago, Femi mentioned that he’d like to add something to the wedding ceremony. With less than six weeks until the wedding (!!) I’d like to think I have most of my ducks in a row.
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