So I was doing a little research tonight and this is what I found on wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_broom
Jumping the broom is a phrase and custom relating to slave wedding ceremonies. In some African-American communities, marrying couples will end their ceremony by jumping over a broomstick, either together or separately. This practice dates back at least to the 19th century and has enjoyed a 20th century revival largely due to the miniseries Roots.
There is an ongoing debate as to the exact origin or origins of jumping the broom as a wedding ceremony. The commonly held belief is that the practice originates or at least has roots in West Africa. However, there are no recorded instances of West African or Central African weddings that involved jumping over a broom.
Jumping over the broom symbolized various things depending on the culture. In the American south, the custom determined who ran the household. Whoever jumped highest over the broom was the decision maker of the household.
Little form of marriage was recognized for enslaved blacks during American slavery. In its absence, the ceremonial jumping of the broom served as an open declaration of settling down in a marriage-like relationship within the slave community. Jumping the broom was always done before witnesses as a public ceremonial announcement to other members of the slave community that a couple chose to become as close to married as was then allowed.
After the American Civil War the former slaves were free, and could have traditional style weddings. The broom-jumping ceremony was among the vestiges of slavery that was no longer required, and the outdated tradition was largely abandoned after it was no longer necessary.
Jumping the broom also fell out of practice due to the stigma it carried, and in some cases still carries, among black Americans wishing to forget the horrors of slavery. Once slavery had ended, many blacks wanted nothing to do with anything associated with that era and discarded the broom jumping practice altogether. The practice did survive in some communities, however, and made a resurgence after the publication of Alex Haley's Roots.
Jumping over a broom as part of a wedding ceremony was also common in pre-Christian European cultures. Broom jumping is also practiced by non-black groups and different religions around the world with some variation.
Wiccans and
Roma are among the groups who developed their own style of a broom jumping tradition. The Welsh also had a centuries-old custom called
priodas coes ysgub, or "broom-stick wedding" alluded to in Dundes' work. Roma in Wales and Scotland also apparently had a similar custom.
The custom was certainly widely-known in England by the late 18th century. The earliest reference given to the phrase in the Oxford English Dictionary is a quote from the Westminster Magazine of 1774: "He had no inclination for a Broomstick-marriage".
[10] A satirical song published in
The Times of 1789 also alludes to the custom in a line referring to the rumoured clandestine marriage between the
Prince Regent and
Mrs. Fitzherbert: “Their way to consummation was by hopping o’er a broom, sir.”
Something to think about...Personally, I don't think I will jump the broom when I get married.
