What does jumping the broom mean?
African American · also called the broom ceremony, wedding broom
At the close of the ceremony the couple jumps together over a broom laid on the ground, and the guests count them in. In African American weddings it carries a specific weight: it descends from the weddings of enslaved people who were denied any legal marriage, and jumping the broom was how a community declared a marriage real when the law refused to.
The history, plainly
Enslaved people in the United States could not legally marry. Communities held weddings anyway, and jumping the broom was among the rituals that marked a union as witnessed and binding within that community, whatever the law said. The practice has older parallels in West Africa and in Romani and Welsh custom, but its meaning in African American weddings is inseparable from that specific history.
It fell out of use after emancipation, for the understandable reason that legal marriage was newly available and the broom was associated with its denial. Its modern revival is usually dated to the 1970s and to Roots, and it is now a deliberate act of remembrance - couples choose it as a way of marrying in front of the ancestors who could not.
How it is done
The broom is laid across the end of the aisle, usually just after the pronouncement. The officiant explains what it means - this is one ritual where the explanation is genuinely part of it, because many guests will not know - and the couple jumps over it hand in hand, generally to a count.
Decorated brooms are common, frequently made or dressed by a family member, and the broom is kept afterwards. Some families use the same broom across generations.
Planning it properly
A tradition only goes well if the people running your day know it is coming. These are the things to say out loud, and who to say them to.
- Have your officiant explain it aloud
- The history is the point. A jump without the words is a photo opportunity; with them it is the most moving thirty seconds of many ceremonies.
- Decide who lays and removes the broom
- Somebody has to place it at the right moment and take it away afterwards. Assign it and rehearse it.
- Check the dress and the shoes
- It is a real jump, in a gown, in front of everyone. Practise in something similar.
- Tell your photographer it closes the ceremony
- It happens immediately after the pronouncement, when photographers are often repositioning for the recessional.
Common questions
Why do couples jump the broom?
In African American weddings it commemorates enslaved ancestors who were legally barred from marrying and who married anyway, with the broom jump marking the union as real within their community. Couples choose it today as an act of remembrance and continuity.
When in the ceremony do you jump the broom?
Almost always at the very end, just after the pronouncement and before the recessional, with the officiant explaining its meaning first.
Who can jump the broom?
It is most strongly associated with African American weddings and that specific history. Couples from other backgrounds with a genuine family or cultural connection to the practice also use it; the important thing is knowing and naming what it means.
The vendors who make this work
Jumping the broom depends on people who have done it before. Every review on Lazo comes from a couple who actually got married with that vendor, and rankings can't be bought.
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