“1, 2, 3…jump!”
1. If you’ve ever attended a black wedding, you may have seen the couple “jump the broom.”
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2. Though historians disagree on the exact roots of this tradition, many believe it was part of African culture before becoming part of African-American slave culture.
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3. According to the African-American Registry, the broom as a wedding symbol originated in Ghana.
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4. It “symbolized sweeping away past wrongs or removing evil spirits.”
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5. At weddings, the broom was often waved over the heads of the couple, and they sometimes jumped over it at the end of the ceremony.
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6. The ritual continued in the American South during slavery.
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7. Enslaved people were often not permitted to marry.
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8. According to the book Life in Black and White: Family and Community in the Slave South, when they did marry, they had informal weddings.
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9. Jumping over a broom was a way to symbolically represent their union.
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10. Brenda E. Stevenson writes that it was one way enslaved people created new rituals.
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11. Even if their marriage wasn’t recognized by whites, it was a way for black people to legitimize their meaningful relationships.
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12. For modern couples, jumping the broom represents great joy and at the same time is a reminder of a painful past.
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14. Or a beautifully decorated one.
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16. Or just buy one on Etsy.
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17. And many couples hang the broom in their home after the wedding.
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18. Jumping the broom marks the beginning of making a home together.
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19. It symbolizes the sweeping away of the old and the welcoming of the new.
20. And makes way for all of the good things to come in their life together.
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21. It’s also a request for their community’s support of their marriage.
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22. At the end of the ceremony, the officiant can invite all the wedding guests to count down…
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23. “One, two, three…”
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Read more: http://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelwmiller/couples-who-jumped-the-broom
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