![]() “I’m excited to help them work on their own brooms and to hand down my broom to my daughter someday.” “I want to sit my nieces down to tell them about this broom they’ll see at my wedding and why I’m creating it," she said. Joanna Smith is in the middle of planning her wedding and eager to pass on the tradition. Brides and grooms who incorporate the tradition into their big day usually make their own or designate a loved one to make it for them. While the tradition hasn’t significantly faded away, it’s rare to find a vendor who makes brooms for wedding ceremonies. The premise here is that two is better than one, and a strand of three is not easily broken.” The broom maker typically determines whether the cords of ribbon go around the handle or the base depending on the style of the broom. “The bristles represent family members, and the decorative ribbon is the three-strand cord that God speaks to. “The broom handle represents the strength of the family,” said Orsella Hughes, an officiant at Serenity Ceremonies. The broom represents a tool for cleanliness, maintenance, and responsibility. Today, the tradition is alive and well in Black weddings. Consequently, jumping the broom became a symbol of ancestral acknowledgment and honor. As a result, some of them refused to officialize their marriage with neither clergy nor county members. Many slaves who married before 1865 believed that jumping the broom was sufficient. Around the middle of the 19th century, African-Americans identified with the ritual as their own.Īfter the Civil War, former slaves could register their marital status with the government. Others coordinated elaborate weddings to prove their benevolence to slaves and abolitionists. Some slave owners forced slaves to jump the broom to signify their union. The tradition most likely traveled to America with slave traders. However, there’s no record of its occurrence in Africa prior to the Transatlantic Slave Trade, according to Tyler Parry, a historian of marriage rituals in the African diaspora. A popular myth alleges that this tradition was a West African tribe’s ritual and passed on from generation to generation. ![]() As a result, broom jumping became the act of consecrating a marriage between slaves. Similarly, weddings among Black slaves weren’t recognized by the government before the Civil War. These were known as “Besom Weddings,” which refer to a specific kind of broom. Historical records from 1700 in Wales are the oldest documentation of the 'jumping the broom' ritual. Traced back to Romani peoples living among the Welsh, Romani marital statuses were never recognized by the church. Today on the blog we discuss a brief history of this storied tradition and get a glimpse into how couples are incorporating this element in their weddings today. Surprisingly, the tradition of jumping the broom also traces back to Romani people living among the Welsh. The wedding tradition of jumping the broom is strongly associated with Black weddings in the United States.
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