Jumping the broom
A custom of leaping over a broom, associated with African American weddings and also found in Britain and Roma communities.
Also: jump the broom
Jumping the broom is a ritual in which a couple step or jump over a broom, laid on the floor, to mark the start of their life together. In the United States it is linked with African American weddings, and is often explained as a custom of enslaved people who were not allowed to marry legally, though historians disagree about how far that origin is documented, and similar broom weddings are recorded in Wales, Britain and among Roma. Since the 1970s, after the book and television series Roots, many Black couples have included it as a way to honour their ancestors.
Region: North America