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Jumping over the broom by Peter Bruce
Jumping over the broom by Peter Bruce
By Peter Bruce posted on Friday, December 18, 2009 @ 10:14 AM - (General)
This week Peter Bruce Photo & Video had a meeting with a bride to be (no name, but hi T). It sounds like a fun wedding and the bride & Groom are African American and while I was taking to the bride, I ask her if they were going to jump the broom?. I was shock that she said no other vendor she was talking too knew of jumping the broom. So I am here to help.
Jumping over the broom symbolized various things depending on the culture. Among Southern Africans, whom were largely not a part of the Atlantic slave trade, it represented the wife's commitment or willingness to clean the courtyard of the new home she had joined
In England, jumping over the broom (or sometimes walking over a broom), became nominally synonymous (ie. "Married over the besom") with irregular or non-church unions.
But in the American south, the custom determined who ran the household. Whoever jumped highest over the broom was the decision maker of the household (usually the man). The jumping of the broom does not constitute taking a "leap of faith" as the practice of jumping the broom pre-dates the phrase coined by Søren Aabye Kierkegaard by one hundred years if not more
After the end of American slavery, jumping the broom was seldom practiced. It was not necessary once African-Americans could have European-style marriages with rings and other identifiers. Jumping the broom was always done before witnesses in order for members of the slave community to know a couple was married. No form of marriage was recognized for Blacks during slavery, therefore jumping the broom solidified this ceremony within the slave community. Once Blacks could have European style weddings with rings that were recognizable by anyone as a symbol of marriage, the broom ceremony wasn't required.
Jumping the broom also fell out of practice due to the stigma it carried, and in some cases still carries, among Black Americans wishing to forget the horrors of slavery. Once slavery had ended, many Blacks wanted nothing to do with anything associated with that era and discarded the broom jumping practice altogether. The practice did survive in some communities though, and made a resurgence after the launch of Alex Haley's "Roots".
Sometimes African American couples who do not actually jump a broom when they get married, may joke or recognize the phrase to be synonymous with getting married in the same way that "tying the knot" is associated with getting married. Brooms can be beautifully decorated and may be used as a wall décor after the wedding ceremony.
Other Ethnic Groups
Jumping over a broom as part of a wedding ceremony was also common in pre-Christian European cultures. The custom survived the introduction of Christianity and was practiced by both blacks and whites in the American South prior to the Civil War. Broom jumping is also practiced by non-Black groups and different religions around the world with some variation. Wiccans and Roma are among the groups who developed their own style of a broom jumping tradition. The Welsh also had a centuries-old custom called priodas coes ysgub, or "broom-stick wedding" alluded to in Dundes' work.
Hope this was interesting,let me know
Cheers Peter Bruce Photo & Video
