By Victor Ochieng
One of the most highly debated things about jumping the broom wedding tradition is its origin. There are those who’ve mentioned that the first instances of “broomstick marriages” were in England in the second half of the 18th century, where it was used in reference to a wedding whose validity was in doubt. The French phrase that was later translated to “performed the marriage ceremony by leaping over a broomstick” in England in 1764 was “un mariage sur la croix de l’épée,” a phrase that if literally translated would be “marriage on the cross of the sword.”
There are also scholars who contend that the ceremony was a West African tradition, particularly practiced in Ghana, and that it was used to scare off evil spirits and past evil deeds as a foundation for starting a new life together. At the conclusion of the ceremony, which was mainly done by the Asante ethnic group, the couple would be asked to jump over the broom as a sign of starting afresh.
Based on the fact that there are currently no African cultures practicing the tradition yet various European cultures still do, some folklorists have claimed that the practice was originally European, but would later be imposed on Africans during slavery. According to a 1996 Alan Dundes’ paper, the practice was originally European and was practiced by the Romani people living in England and Wales. On the flipside, Dania Green Roundtree, an African-American wedding cultures author, argues that broom jumping practice is “an African tradition that has been Americanized,” and that it was taken to Romani by “Moors during the Crusades.”
History tells us that the practice was common among African-Americans in the United States in the 1840s and 1850s. They’re reported to have resorted to the traditional practice since they weren’t allowed to marry legally by the slave masters. This they used to signify that a couple had decided to settle down as husband and wife, and was done in a public ceremony.
Later on, the rules changed, and African-Americans were legally allowed to wed, replacing the use of the broom with the wedding ring. This led to the dissipation of the practice, but would later be revived courtesy of Roots, a 1976/1977 novel and miniseries.
Jumping the broom didn’t just signify marriage, but was also a statement of mutual commitment to each other. Whoever jumped the highest would be the household’s decision maker. Jumping the broom was also a sign of commitment by the woman that she would maintain cleanliness in their new found home.
Today, the practice is a highly regarded practice within the African-American culture and is considered synonymous with “getting hitched,” “tying the knot,” or, better still, “wedding.” The phrase has penetrated African-American pop culture and could be seen in “Jumping the Broom,” a 2011 film directed by Samil Akil.
Within the African-American culture, the practice has also become an act of identity, expressing an association with “Africanism,” and a creation of African-Americans to their original home - Africa.
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