By Jaclyn Geller
There is an ongoing debate as to the exact origins of “Jumping the Broom”. Dating back to slave days, jumping the broom together has been part of weddings for couples who want to honor that tradition. It also has roots in the Celtic culture and including but not limited to Welsh, Celtics, Druids, and Gypsies and some aboriginal or shamanistic cultures. During the early days of the American south, when slavery was still a legal institution, slaves were not legally allowed to marry one another. Instead, a ceremony was held where the couple would jump over a broom in front of witnesses, either together or separately. No one is really sure where the tradition originated. Danita Rountree Green, author of Broom Jumping: A Celebration of Love suggests the practice came from Ghana: where bridal brooms were waved above the heads of newlyweds and their parents, but she also says there's no hard proof of the custom existing there. Some believe this “Jumping the Broom” ritual was originated by the Asian culture: where the placing of sticks on the ground represents the couple's new home; having the duo leap over the bundle. The late scholar and folklorist Alan Dundes makes the argument that the tradition of jumping a broom originated among England's Rom, or gypsy, population. Dundes also points out that the broom is highly symbolic, saying, "the symbolic significance of the ritual to be the 'stepping over' as a metaphor for sexual intercourse. If a woman's jumping over a broomstick produces a child, one could reasonably assume that the broomstick has phallic properties*."
Once African-Americans were legally allowed to marry in the United States, the tradition of broom-jumping virtually disappeared -- after all, it was no longer needed. However, there has been a resurgence in popularity, due in no small part to the miniseries Roots. There are several historical book references, pictures, illustrations and historical artifacts proving of its existence. The earliest documented reference given to the phrase “Jumping the Broom” is in the 1774 Oxford English Dictionary, a quote from the Westminster Magazine: "He had no inclination for a Broomstickmarriage" and in the late 1700’s a song was published in The Times of 1789, mocking this tradition; a lyric referring to the rumored concealed marriage between the Prince Regent and Mrs. FitzHerbert; “Their way to consummation was by hopping o’er a broom, sir.”
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