Jumping the Broom

Honoring the Ancestors

Marcus Garvey said – “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.”

In Africa, the community comprises not only the living but also the departed. Life is viewed as an unbroken cycle—from spirit to birth, through growth and aging to death, and back to the spiritual realm as ancestors.

Honoring ancestors holds immense significance in African American culture. Many have forgotten how to pay tribute. Jumping the broom is one tradition that allows those who remember their ancestors to openly acknowledge the pain, suffering, and struggles endured for a better life, justice, equality, and freedom. Our wedding packages are named after the struggle of the African American dream.

Jumping the broom today, symbolizes the ancestors daily prayers coming into manifestation:

• leaping into the future as one, 
• leaving the past behind,
• sweeping away the old,
• welcoming the new,
• manifestation,
• and more

______ ♥ _______

History

Slave Marriages

Marriages among slaves lacked legal recognition and protection from abuse. Husbands and wives could be separated or sold without recourse, and visits between couples on different plantations required owner consent. Many slaves married without clergy, with the ceremony often involving gaining the master’s permission to cohabit in a cabin.

Jumping the Broom

The broom jump orginated in Ghana, West Africa. Brooms where used by both wives and servants to clean the courtyards.  But it holds  spiritual importance as well.

Symbolism

The broom symbolized the sweeping away of past wrongs and protection against evil spirits. .It also symbolises the wife’s devotion and contractal committement to clean the courtyard of the new home.  There were couples who had to jump high to rule the roost.  So whoever jumped highest over the broom was the decision maker of the household.

Decline

The end of American slavery, put an end to jumpng the broom. Black didn’t want reminders of that past. They  wanted nothing to do with anything associated with that era and discarded the broom jumping ritual altogether.

Resurgence 

The broom jumping ritual has resurfaced after Alex Haley’s book “Roots.” Many African Americans today take pride in participating in this ritual to honor ancestors who were unable to legally marry.

The New Family

When a couple marry they create a family; regardless of having children.