Jumping the Broom: how did this wedding ritual come about and what does it signify?
Of course, you’ll want to choose a ritual for your wedding ceremony that reflects you as a couple. Today we are going to look at the old tradition of Jumping the Broom. Might it be right for you?
About brooms and wedding ceremonies
Jumping the Broom is an ancient wedding tradition that has its roots in the history and culture of several peoples. It seems to have originated in America in the mid-19th century among African slaves, and although today it is associated with African-American culture and traditional African weddings, the rite can be found in other cultures, including some European pagan rites. In Celtic weddings for example, it was traditional for the bride and groom to leap over, holding hands, a branch-preferably oak given the majesty of the tree-placed on the ground in front of the couple. The branch represented the door, the entrance into a new life, the married life.
The first references to “broomstick marriages” appeared in England around the 1830s to describe a marriage ceremony of dubious validity. In fact, when civil marriage was introduced with the Marriage Act of 1836 was derogatorily called the “Broomstick Marriage Act” by those who believed that a marriage outside the Anglican Church had no legal standing.
In Charles Dickens’ novel, Great Expectations, there is a reference to a marriage “over the broomstick.“ The ceremony is not described, but the phrase indicates that readers would have recognized it as a union that was not legally valid.
Local variations of the custom developed in parts of England and Wales. Instead of laying the broom on the ground to jump together, it was placed at an angle near the door; the groom jumped first, followed by the bride.
In southwest England, Wales, and the Scottish-English border areas, couples would jump on broomsticks placed on the threshold of their homes to formalize their union.
In some African American and black-Canadian communities, couples would conclude the wedding ceremony by jumping over a broom together, or separately. This practice is documented as a marriage ceremony for enslaved people in the southern United States during the 1840s and 1850s, who often could not legally marry. Slave narratives contain accounts of couples skipping the broom.
The ceremonial jumping of the broom—an open declaration of establishing a marriage relationship—took place in front of witnesses.
The broom-jumping ritual was popularized in the 1970s by the novel and miniseries Roots, (Roots, 1976-1977).
The symbolism of jumping the broom
As we have already seen, the broomstick is associated with many symbols: for example, it can be a symbol of fertility with its phallic shape. Or, again related to fertility, it was thought that if newlyweds jumped the broom in a field, the height at which they jumped would be the height that the crops would reach that year.
The other symbolic meaning is, of course, the ability to sweep away dirt and, consequently by abstraction, sweep away evil and negativity as well as everything old.
Another symbolic meaning is to leap into the unknown, to launch into a new life.
And finally, it is worth mentioning the ancient legends and fairy tales not only from Italy, where people say that to keep witches away, you should put a broom outside the door. In the night, when the witch found a broom, she had to count the sticks that made up the broom. Driven by an uncontrollable urge, she would keep counting again and again until the sunlight, deadly to her, drove her out.
The origins of the word “broom”
The origin of the word “broom” can be found in the Online Etymological Dictionary:
Old English brom, popular name for several types of shrubs common throughout Europe (used medicinally and for fuel) and characterized by long, slender branches and many yellow flowers, from Proto-Germanic *bræmaz “thorny bush” (source also of Dutch braam, German Brombeere“blackberry”), from PIE *bh(e)rem- “to project; a point.”
As “twigs of broom tied together to a handle to make a tool for sweeping,” mid-14c. Traditionally, both the flowers and sweeping with broom twigs were considered unlucky in May (Suffolk, Sussex, Wiltshire, etc.). A new broom sweeps clean is attested by 1660s.
Whereas the entry for “broomstick” already reveals many the traditions we’re exploring:
broom-stick, “stick or handle of a broom,” 1680s. Earlier was broom-staff (1610s). Broom-handle is from 1817. The witch’s flying broomstick originally was one among many such objects (pitchfork, trough, bowl), but the broomstick became fixed as the popular tool of supernatural flight via engravings from a famous Lancashire witch trial of 1612. Broomstick marriage, in reference to an informal wedding ceremony in which the parties jump over a broomstick, is attested from 1774.
In terms of actually being able to sweep, rather than featuring in engravings of witches in flight, the quality of brooms improved dramatically in 1797 when Levi Dickenson, a farmer in Hadley, Massachusetts, made a broom for his wife, using the tassels of a variety of sorghum (Sorghum vulgere), a grain he was growing for the seeds. This was the first sorghum broom.
Brooms and witches: an inescapable association
Thunder and lightning; three witches enter.
First Witch: When shall we three meet again — In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
Second Witch: When the hurlyburly’s done, When the battle’s lost, and won.
Third Witch: That will be ere the set of sun.
(W. Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act1 Scene I)
The first thing that comes to mind when people think of this ordinary household object is witches from fairy tales and literature. In Italy, the most famous witch is the Befana.
Here are just a few famous witches and brooms in literature:
- the black comedy, The Witches of Eastwick
- the terrible ones in Shakespeare’s Macbeth
- la Janara, the Neapolitan witch
- the green-faced Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz
- Serafina Pekkala, the queen of witches in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy with her pine-cloud branch
- the witches from Benevento
- the witch in Hänsel and Gretel with her chicken bone or Snow White’s witch with her apple, who both appear in the Brothers Grim fairy tale collection.
- witches dancing on brooms on the Sabbath for Walpurgis Night (originating in Goethe’s Faust I)
- Mickey the Sorcerer’s Apprentice who appears with an animated broom in Disney’s first feature film Fantasia;
- the central function played by brooms, even turbo brooms, in the Harry Potter saga.
Brooms that fly and have magical powers
But where did the idea of the broom as the “official vehicle” of magic come from? Actually, the association between brooms and magic has ancient and surprising origins!
In ancient China it was forbidden to leave brooms in mortuary rooms because the soul of the deceased could return as a long-haired ghost. Pre-Columbian Mexico celebrated the goddess Tlazeltotl who was in charge of wiping out disease and misfortune and was depicted naked astride a flying broom. In Ancient Egypt, brooms were believed to have magical powers, while in ancient Greece andRome, during the three-day festivity known as the Anthesteria broom was used to drive away the souls of the dead and midwives swept the doorway to ward off evil spirits from the homes of mothers-to-be. In England, when women left the house, they used to leave a broom outside the door to block witch spells.
In the Middle Ages, the broom was seen as an object related to domestic activities, but also to magic: in fact, witches were believed to use brooms to draw protective lines on the ground or to symbolically clean their spaces. Christian iconography also shows two saints depicted with brooms: Saint Martha and Saint Petronilla.
The figure of the Befana herself was actually a Christian transfiguration of the Roman goddess Diana, who was believed to fly over the fields riding a broomstick surrounded by her nymphs, on the night heralding the Epiphany, or January 6, to bless the new harvest.”
Traditions and taboos related to the broom
In addition to being the preferred way for witches to get around, the broom was also a sexual symbol—the iconography of a handle between the witch’s legs is clear.
Many traditions and taboos are related to the broom. For example, it is imperative to sweep every corner of the house after the deceased has been taken to the cemetery, so that the soul can be serene and clean and not be trapped by dust.
Have you ever had a broom dance? In this game, the odd person out is forced to dance with a broom rather than a partner. If you inadvertently sweep a girl’s feet, tradition had it that she would never marry.
Brooms are important symbolic objects often with a double meaning: the power to avert evil attributed to it in the past, keeping witches and demons away, if placed behind the door, has now been transferred to the ornate brooms given as gifts at Christmas time.
Broom jumping in a wedding ceremony: tips from us celebrants
Having explored all this history and background, let’s get back to your wedding!
Jumping the Broom is a ritual that celebrates courage and commitment and marks the beginning of a new phase. Your celebrant will explain to you and your guests how the ritual will take place and explain its origins and symbolic meaning, in order to build this ritual into your bespoke ceremony.
The colors, decorations, and materials of the broom are often chosen to represent abundance, love, and fertility, adapting them to the preferences and culture of the couple. Decorations can include: ribbons, flowers, charms, beads, feathers. For example, we suggest decorating the broom with ribbons and greeting cards that each guest can bring and tie onto the handle, wishing you all their best for the marriage!
The best moment in the ceremony to jump the broom is at the end of the ceremony, when you leave to the applause of your guests. Lay it on the ground, or give the task of holding it up a bit to your groomsmen, two special friends, or close relatives, but make sure they don’t lift it too high, otherwise it’s impossible to jump over.
This rite is a fun, exciting, and spontaneous option that will enrich your ceremony, involving you, guests, friends, and children. And the photos will be really special!
Not to mention that after jumping the broom, you can take it home with you to protect your home.
The broom jump adds joy, symbolism and tradition to your ceremony. Discuss it with your celebrant.
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