Select a time to perform this tradition. Either at the very end of the ceremony or during the reception would be appropriate.
Step2
Call your guests to gather around you and your new spouse.
Step3
Place the broom on the floor and stand in front of it.
Step4
Ask a family member or friend to narrate the history of this custom. It stems back to the time when slaves were prevented from marrying. They developed this ritual as a way to unite in ceremony.
Step5
Suggest that the narrator explain to guests that you are re-creating the ceremony as a way to represent the joining together of two lives and the need for support of the marriage from the entire community.
Step6
Hold the broom with your spouse as the narrator shares this important information.
Step7
Sweep the broom in a circle together until the story is finished.
Step8
Place the broom on the floor and hold hands with your spouse.
Step9
Ask the guests to count out loud to three.
Step10
Jump over the broom together.
Tips & Warnings
Read more about the interesting history of this custom to better understand its origins. Do a keyword search online to find more information about it.
Add your own special touches to make the ritual have meaning to you as a couple. For instance, you might ask your narrator to share some information during the ceremony about how you met, what you see in each other and what performing this tradition means to you both personally.
on 3/29/2006
Many craft stores sell brooms made of sticks or twigs that can be decorated to match your wedding theme.
When we eloped on the beach in Jamaica we didn't plan to jump the broom at all. But at our reception back in the States, my Aunt surprised us with a beautiful broom decorated with real seashells and ivory ribbons, the same color as my wedding dress. As we entered the reception room, she surprised us with the broom to jump!
Unlike my wedding bouquet I had to leave in Jamaica, our seashell wedding broom is something I will keep forever. It's displayed in our living room and looks as beautiful as the day we jumped!
on 11/22/2005
The broom jump is not just a Welsh tradition, but a Celtic Tradition. The Celts stretched from Ireland, Great Britain, France and Spain. This tradition was also combined with hand-fasting, which is where the term tied the knot came from. Maybe it is a combination of African and European heritage, just like the Cajuns and Creoles.
on 11/22/2005
Many African wedding traditions include a derivative of broom jumping. Most cultural historians attribute this African-American slave tradition to the stick crossing ceremony of West African roots.
on 11/22/2005
This tradition first occured in Wales, and it is not an African tradition. Slaves used the tradition for illegal marriages, which were sometimes honored by slave holders.
Comments
Anonymous said
on 3/29/2006 Many craft stores sell brooms made of sticks or twigs that can be decorated to match your wedding theme.
When we eloped on the beach in Jamaica we didn't plan to jump the broom at all. But at our reception back in the States, my Aunt surprised us with a beautiful broom decorated with real seashells and ivory ribbons, the same color as my wedding dress. As we entered the reception room, she surprised us with the broom to jump!
Unlike my wedding bouquet I had to leave in Jamaica, our seashell wedding broom is something I will keep forever. It's displayed in our living room and looks as beautiful as the day we jumped!
Anonymous said
on 11/22/2005 The broom jump is not just a Welsh tradition, but a Celtic Tradition. The Celts stretched from Ireland, Great Britain, France and Spain. This tradition was also combined with hand-fasting, which is where the term tied the knot came from. Maybe it is a combination of African and European heritage, just like the Cajuns and Creoles.
Anonymous said
on 11/22/2005 Many African wedding traditions include a derivative of broom jumping. Most cultural historians attribute this African-American slave tradition to the stick crossing ceremony of West African roots.
Anonymous said
on 11/22/2005 This tradition first occured in Wales, and it is not an African tradition.
Slaves used the tradition for illegal marriages, which were sometimes honored by slave holders.