The Enduring Significance of Jumping the Broom
The New York Times
Once a symbolic way for enslaved people in the American South to recognize their marriages, modern couples say that this tradition is a way to honor those who did it before them.
The tradition of jumping the broom at weddings has a long history that encompasses different cultures and continents.
But it has “always been a practice, from its inception, used by people who are ostracized and oppressed by the broader nation, state or kingdom,” said Tyler D. Parry, an assistant professor of African American and African diaspora studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Dr. Parry, the author of “Jumping the Broom: The Surprising Multicultural Origins of a Black Wedding Ritual,” traced the tradition back to at least the 18th century, when it was largely practiced by marginalized populations in Europe, he said, “such as traveling communities like the British Romani, rural Welsh communities, Irish individuals and various other people who lived on the margins of the British Isles.”
