1.
If you've ever attended a black wedding, you may have seen the couple "jump the broom."
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Though historians disagree on the exact roots of this tradition, many believe it was part of African culture before becoming part of African-American slave culture.
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It "symbolized sweeping away past wrongs or removing evil spirits."
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At weddings, the broom was often waved over the heads of the couple, and they sometimes jumped over it at the end of the ceremony.
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The ritual continued in the American South during slavery.
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Enslaved people were often not permitted to marry.
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According to the book Life in Black and White: Family and Community in the Slave South , when they did marry, they had informal weddings.
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Jumping over a broom was a way to symbolically represent their union.
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Brenda E. Stevenson writes that it was one way enslaved people created new rituals.
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Even if their marriage wasn’t recognized by whites, it was a way for black people to legitimize their meaningful relationships.
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For modern couples, jumping the broom represents great joy and at the same time is a reminder of a painful past.
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Couples may choose a simple broom…
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Or a beautifully decorated one.
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They might make it themselves...
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And many couples hang the broom in their home after the wedding.
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Jumping the broom marks the beginning of making a home together.
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It symbolizes the sweeping away of the old and the welcoming of the new.
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And makes way for all of the good things to come in their life together.
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It's also a request for their community’s support of their marriage.
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At the end of the ceremony, the officiant can invite all the wedding guests to count down...
