Folklore: Jumping the Broom

Subject: Folklore: Jumping the Broom
From: Crane Driver
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 02:40 PM

On our website thread, Tweed asked some pertinent questions about Jumping the Broom, since we had a photo of ourselves doing just that. Rather than encourage thread drift on my own thread, I'm starting a new one. Here's all I know on the subject:

We found the following account which we printed in a booklet for our wedding guests – which doesn't, of course, answer the question 'Why jump over a broom?' We really don't know – it was something that 'common people' did, and hence no-one bothered with writing down why it happened.

"The 'broomstick wedding' or 'priodas coes ysgubell', is an unofficial custom that was considered quite lawful in parts of Wales until recent times. A Carmarthenshire version was described thus (in 'Welsh Folklore' by T Gwynn Jones, Methuen and co., London 1930):

'When the parents consented to a marriage, the oldest man in the district was called, and the young couple was asked to leap over the besom, made of oak branches, which the old people called 'ysgub dderwydd' or Druid's Besom.'

The couple would jump over the broom, either together or one at a time, in the presence of witnesses. If either touched or knocked it in any way, the marriage was not recognised. In this kind of marriage, a woman kept her own home and name, and did not become the property of her husband. It was a partnership, ''cyd-fydio' rather than an ownership."

Our 'Marriage Man' supplied the following 'explanation', which also doesn't answer the question 'Why?'

'In the days when navvies were building our roads and canals they were never in one place long enough for banns to be called, and so they could not marry in church, so they revived the ancient Celtic ceremony of The Broom.

The broom had long been the symbol of the home.

In the ceremony, the most important man in the community would act as the Marriage Man.

After a night of some very serious drinking, the Marriage Man would lay his broom on the floor, and the happy couple would jump over it three times, forward, back, and forward again to show that marriage is not to be taken lightly.'

I believe that 'broom-jumping' was also a part of the 'marriage' ceremony for slaves in pre-civil war America. This may have been introduced by slave owners of celtic descent – or not.

There you have it. People who, for whatever reason (slavery, poverty, a nomadic lifestyle etc) were unable to marry in church, would still wish to make a public declaration of their relationship (and legitimise it in their community). The broom was a symbol of the home – and a lot easier to jump over. Anyone have more information to share?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Jumping the Broom
From: Jim Lad
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 02:44 PM

First time I heard of it was in "Roots".

Subject: RE: Folklore: Jumping the Broom
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 03:00 PM

FromLet's jump the broomstick as sung by Brenda Lee:

(by C Robins)

Well, come a little baby lets jump the broomstick,
Come a let's tie the knot
Come a little baby lets jump the broomstick,
Come a let's tie the knot
My father don't like it, my brother don't like it,
My sister don't like it, my mother don't like it.
Come a little baby, let's jump the broomstick,
Come a let's tie the knot


Goin' to Alabama back from Texarkana,
Goin' all around the world
I'm goin' to Alabama back from Texarkana,
Goin' all around the world
My father don't like it, my brother don't like it,
My sister don't like it, my mother don't like it
Come a little baby lets jump the broomstick,
Come a let's tie the knot

Come a little baby, I don't a mean maybe, lets settle down
Come a little baby, I don't a mean maybe, lets settle down
My father don't like it, my brother don't like it,
My sister don't like it, my mother don't like it
Come a little baby lets jump the broomstick,
Come a lets tie the knot

Well, come a little baby lets jump the broomstick,
Come a let's tie the knot
Come a little baby lets jump the broomstick,
Come a let's tie the knot
My father don't like it, my brother don't like it,
My sister don't like it, my mother don't like it.
Come a little baby, let's jump the broomstick,
Come a let's tie the knot

Goin' to Alabama back from Texarkana,
Goin' all around the world
Ah, goin' to Alabama back from Texarkana,
Goin' all around the world
My father don't like it, my brother don't like it,
My sister don't like it, my mother don't like it
Come a little baby lets jump the broomstick,
Come a lets tie the knot

A hit record for Brenda Lee in 1961 (No 12 in UK charts) long before Roots was published by Alex Haley in 1976

CHEERS
Nigel

Subject: RE: Folklore: Jumping the Broom
From: Goose Gander
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 03:03 PM

See Alan Dundes, "Jumping the Broom: On the Origin and Meaning of an African American Wedding Custom," Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 109, No. 433 (Summer 1996), p. 324-329.

Common among blacks in the Antebellum South, Dundes argued for a European origin, citing examples from Gypsy weddings in England and Scotland, as well as from South Tyrol.

C.W. Sullivan III argued for a Welsh origin, from which the custom was transferred both to Gypsies in the British Isles and African-Americans in North America.

See "Jumping the Broom: A Further Consideration of an African American Wedding Custom," Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 110, No. 436 (Spring 1997), p. 203-204.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Jumping the Broom
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 03:16 PM

There is a painting of a slave wedding, and the couple preparing to jump the broom. It is often said that slaves were married by jumping the broom(stick), But I doubt that it was done physically very often; the arrangement was just entered into the slaveholder's books.

I remember years ago that a couple who lived together without benefit of a marriage ceremony were said to have 'jumped the broom.'
The term is known in print in American English from 1856 for a folk wedding according to Lighter, "Historical Dictionary of American Slang," but I would guess that the term came into American slang much earlier than that.

I have also heard it as an expression for getting married.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Jumping the Broom
From: Fred McCormick
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 03:54 PM

Funny enough I'm just reading This Species of Property: Slave Life and Culture in the Old South by Leslie Howard Owens. He mentions jumping the broom and says that the custom was often resorted to because slave marriages weren't legally recognised in the old South. He also says that, if the couple didn't manage to jump together, they were required to start courting all over again.

Regarding navvy marriages, I'm fairly certain that jumping the broom is mentioned in Terry Coleman's excellent book, The Railway Navvies. However, I doubt that mobility was the reason for the custom, since navvies were often working on the same stretch of line for quite long periods. It's probably more to do with the rough and ready kinds of lives which navvies led.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Jumping the Broom
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 03:57 PM

In Britain at one time a couple could become betrothed by stepping over a 'budget' (a tool bag belonging to a tradesman).
Traveller couples wishing to marry, peed into the same bucket and when the pee was swirled and mixed, they were considered betrothed.
Don't remember Brenda Lee singing that one!.
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Folklore: Jumping the Broom
From: GUEST,Canadienne
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 04:01 PM

"Living over the brush" was a common saying for an unmarried (in the eyes of the clergy) couple living together when I was a kid in NW England - but then I did come from a "navvy" family background!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Jumping the Broom
From: Anne Lister
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 04:28 PM

And, just to confuse matters further, a good friend of ours from North Wales who was brought up with a lot of traditions that have been lost elsewhere told us that the only way to be sure we were properly married was if we jumped the bonfire.

So we did. As well as having the legal stuff. And it was good. And we made sure the fire wasn't too big, because I didn't want to ruin my beautiful dress.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Jumping the Broom
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 04:47 PM

My wife and I jumped the broom at our wedding, It is a southern black tradition going back to the days of slavery. Somewhere, I have a book that gives more detailed information on the custom. Because slaves were not allowed to marry, they observed their own customs to singify marriage. Like so many activities in daily life, slaves had their own codes that were unrecognized by their slave owners.

I suppose it would take nothing more than going to Wikipedia to get the answer to the slavery custom. But, that would take all the fun out of it. I was very surprised to hear that there was a similar custom in Wales. We have a wonderful photo of my wife and I jumping the broom, caught in mid-air. When the point came in the ceremony, our Pastor gave a background on the custom and when it was time to jump, we looked at each other and realized that we'd never practiced doing it. I just said, alright, here goes, and we jumped in perfect synchronization.

Synchronized broom jumping. Could it be an Olympic sport?

Jerry

Subject: RE: Folklore: Jumping the Broom
From: Jim Lad
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 04:51 PM

The Gypsy tradition had some kind of recitation with it which inferred that just as sure as this fluid could not be un-mixed, neither can these two be un-joined. Similarly, I would expect that a broom cannot be un-jumped nor a bell un-rung.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Jumping the Broom
From: Michael
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 05:17 PM

When I were a lad in Derbyshire in 1950s 'Living 'ovr t' brush' was commonly used to mean living together but not married.

Mike

Subject: RE: Folklore: Jumping the Broom
From: Jim I
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 05:33 PM

When I was a child visiting the West of Ireland in the 50's and 60's there was often a bit of a laugh (usually after the auld yins had a few drinks) where us young ones were encouraged to 'jump the broomstick'. We were then told that we were engaged and would be getting married when we were a bit older.

It seems to me that this must have developed from an older tradition which by then had become just a bit of fun.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Jumping the Broom
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 05:42 PM

another reference from N England

Subject: RE: Folklore: Jumping the Broom
From: Azizi
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 07:46 PM

It's a oversimplification of the experiences of more than 200 years of African American slavery to say that marriage by a minister was prohibited to all enslaved African Americans. There are numerous records of some enslaved African Americans being married by ministers, and/or some other authority figure, including Black authority figures within the couples' community.

There are also numerous records of African American couples jumping the broom at the end of the marriage ceremony. For example, Thomas W. Talley, an African American Fisk University professor, collected a number of rhymes from "the olden days" and included them in his now classic 1922 book "Negro Folk Rhymes". Among those rhymes is this one:

SLAVE NARRIAGE CEREMONY SUPPLEMENT

Dark 'stormy may come de wedder:
I jines dis he-male an' dis she-male to-gedder.
Let none, but Him dat makes de thunder,
Out dis he-male an' dis she-male asunder.
I darfore 'nounce you bofe de same.
Be good, go 'long, an keep up yo' name.
De broomstick jumped, de worl's not wide.
She's now yo' own. Salute yo' bride.

["Negro Folk Rhymes",Kennikat Press Edition, p.143]

**

I believe that jumping the broom was an European custom that was adopted by 19th century [or earlier] African Americans. Like Europeans, jumping the broom signified that the couple was married. However, this custom may have had esoteric meanings to Congolese and other Africans in the Americas who remembered Kongolese cosmology.

Placed on the ground, the broom stick is a horizontal line. Jumping over this horizontal line symbolizes moving from one state of being to another. When used at the end of the marriage ceremony, jumping the broom may have signified that the two people were moving from a single state of being to that of a united state of being-i.e. marriage. Imo, the beliefs about the meaning of the female landing on the other side of the broom before the male and vice versa were later folkloric add ons.

As to the deeper meaning of the horizontal line for enslaved Africans-particularly Africans from the Kongo, see this excerpt from
http://www.cr.nps.gov/ethnography/aah/aaheritage/histContextsA.htm

"Fu-Kiau, the renowned Kongo scholar, was the first writer to make Kongo cosmology explicit (Fu-Kiau 1969). According to Fu Kiau Bunseki,:

"The Kongo cosmogram is the foundation of Kongo society. The circle made by the sun's movement is the first geometric picture given to human beings. We move the same way the sun moves: we wake up, are active, die, then come back. The horizon line is the kalunga line between the physical and spiritual world. It literally means 'the line of God."

-snip-

Also, the kalunga line is also mentioned in this excerpt from http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-81102655.html
{"Palo Monte Mayombe and its influence on Cuban contemporary art" .From: African Arts | Date: 6/22/2001 | Author: Bettelheim, Judith"

..."Before initiation or any other ceremony begins, firmas are drawn on the ground around the room. Gunpowder placed at specific locations near the motifs is lit to awaken and activate the mpungus who will assist in the ceremony. Firmas drawn on the initiate's back and chest put the initiate at the center of the life force during the ceremony itself. These firmas often incorporate Kongo-derived references to the circling of the sun around the earth and to the Kalunga line, or the horizon line, the division between heaven and earth. As-Robert Farris Thompson makes quite clear in his groundbreaking analysis of Kongo cosmograms, "[i]n Kongo there is scarcely an initiation or ritual transformation of the person from one level of existence to another that does not take its patterning from the circle of the sun about the earth" (Thompson & Cornet 1981:43).

-snip-

Note that Robert Farris Thompson wrote about "the ritual transformation of a person moving from one level of existence to another". In its highest {or deepest} meaning, the kulunga line denotes a person moving from earthly existence to the spirit world.
However, the broomstick as kalunga line can also symbolize moving from the single life to married life.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Jumping the Broom
From: Azizi
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 07:48 PM

Correction:

SLAVE MARRIAGE CEREMONY SUPPLEMENT

Dark 'stormy may come de wedder:
I jines dis he-male an' dis she-male to-gedder.
Let none, but Him dat makes de thunder,
Put dis he-male an' dis she-male asunder.
I darfore 'nounce you bofe de same.
Be good, go 'long, an keep up yo' name.
De broomstick jumped, de worl's not wide.
She's now yo' own. Salute yo' bride.

[Thomas W. Talley, "Negro Folk Rhymes",Kennikat Press Edition, p.143]

Subject: RE: Folklore: Jumping the Broom
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 08:43 PM

The custom in slave ceremony, of course, was derived from their masters and especially overseers, who gave them many practices carried out in the UK, as well as part of their dialect and manner of speech. The overseers often came from a rather uneducated background, and some students attempting to research rural speech in America use any records they can find of both black and white speech.
As mentioned in posts above, crossing from one side of the broomstick to the other, in the presence of witnesses, signified the change in state. Somewhere I have a book describing life in the expanding nation; on the frontier, neither legal register nor preacher was readily available. When the sky pilot arrived, sometimes many months later, the union was properly blessed.
Azizi is correct, some marriages among slaves were carried out by a minister, and, in Catholic areas especially, such marriages were entered in the parish records.
African-Americans have become interested in genealogy, and records from plantations and parishes are important in tracing lineages.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Jumping the Broom
From: JennieG
Date: 01 May 07 - 03:09 AM

Lines from a Scottish song, "Alan Maclean":

"So we went tae the broom in the middle of the night,
And we'd neither coal nor candle, but the moon gave us light".

The song is about a couple who had premarital sex, much to the detriment of poor young Alan who was cast out of his home afterwards.

Before Himself and I tied the knot in 1976 his father made reference to the fact that we would be jumping the broom - he was born in Australia of mixed English/Irish parentage, so I don't know where he learnt about that particular custom. My husband's grandmother (FIL's mother) came from a circus family, perhaps it's from there.

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: Folklore: Jumping the Broom
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 01 May 07 - 07:23 AM

Hey, Azizi:

From what I've read (and just yesterday) jumping the broom was a tradition in Ghana as part of a marriage ceremony. Our Pastor referred to it as an African tradition, and Ghana was a major source of slaves. My wife and I visited there seven years ago with our church and visited some of the slave "castles" which were holding areas before the slaves were shipped to this and other countries. It was very disturbing.

I did go to Wikipedia to read more about the tradition, and somewhere here in the house, we have a book on Jumping The Broom that we bought at the Smithsonian that also traces the tradition back to Africa.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Folklore: Jumping the Broom
From: GUEST
Date: 01 May 07 - 07:33 AM

Jenny G,
The line in the (beautiful) Alan McLean refers to the broom plant and not the sweeping brush.
It is a euphemism often used in Scots songs.
Have always wondered if the broom dance has anything to do with the custom
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Folklore: Jumping the Broom
From: Fred McCormick
Date: 01 May 07 - 08:06 AM

"It's a oversimplification of the experiences of more than 200 years of African American slavery to say that marriage by a minister was prohibited to all enslaved African Americans. There are numerous records of some enslaved African Americans being married by ministers, and/or some other authority figure, including Black authority figures within the couples' community."

You are quite right, and Owen does mention such things. However, the impression he gives is that "civil" ceremonies were certainly entered into and they would have been recognised by the plantation populace. But they wouldn't have had any legal basis.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Jumping the Broom
From: fretless
Date: 01 May 07 - 09:27 AM

The painting to which Q referred above (4/30, 3:16 PM) was perhaps this one, "The Old Plantation," which is in the collections of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, Williamsburg, Va. here. The picture, a late 18th century water color on paper, shows Africans/African Americans on a U.S. plantation including musicians (one a banjo player), with a central figure of a man holding a (broom) stick, and a couple in white clothing who have been interpreted as a bride and groom.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Jumping the Broom
From: Dave Earl
Date: 01 May 07 - 10:31 AM

Yes friends all you say may be true as regard slavery and Afro-Caribien history/traditions BUT.....

We were originally (trying) to discuss the origins of broom jumping as far as my friends in South Wales are concerned.

There are European and English traditions involved here from what I have heard/read.

Any people out there with things to say on the original issues (who haven't put in their tuppence yet?

Dave

Subject: RE: Folklore: Jumping the Broom
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 01 May 07 - 10:49 AM

In the opening thread, Crane Drive asked about the tradition of jumping the broom during the time of slavery in the United States. That was part of "the original issues" in this thread. I'm equally interested in the tradtions from Wales.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Folklore: Jumping the Broom
From: Goose Gander
Date: 01 May 07 - 11:51 AM

The language of the Wikipedia article leads me to believe that whoever wrote the piece used Danita Roundtree Green's Broom Jumping: A Celebration of Love (though it's not listed as a source). Green's argument is speculative, however, based upon the Ghanaian custom of waving a broom "above the heads of the couple and family as if sweeping the air." "The custom of jumping the broom sprang from an existing ceremony that was alive in Africa," she wrote. Green offers no documented instance of "jumping the broom" in Africa, though.

My arguments here are drawn from Alan Dundes' article referenced above.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Jumping the Broom
From: Azizi
Date: 01 May 07 - 01:32 PM

Jerry, with all due respect, excuse me if I doubt the word of an African American minister, and/or a contemporary person from Ghana who claim that jumping the broom is a traditional Ghanaian or a traditional African custom.

If jumping the broom is a traditional Ghanaian custom, which Ghanaian ethnic group had {has?} this custom: Akan, Ewe, Mole-Dagbane, Guan, or Ga-Adangbe? Or did this custom originate with another Ghanaian ethnic group or another ethnic group from West or East or Central or North, or South Africa?. And when was this custom documented and by whom? Also, what did jumping the broom mean in that culture or cultures? And do people from that ethnic group still retain that custom today? If so, who has documented it and how, and when was it documented?

I'm frankly tired of "African" being loosely used as a catch all identifier for proverbs, dances, songs, instruments, words, personal names, names, clothing, hairstyles, and other cultural indices from the vast motherland of Africa.

If indeed there is a traditional Ghanaian custom of waving a broom "above the heads of the couple and family as if sweeping the air" {as a means of cleaning the air of negative spirits?}, I'm interested in knowing from which Ghanaian culture or cultures this custom orginated. But, imo, this custom isn't the same thing nor does it have to have the same meaning as a married couple jumping over a broom that is placed horizontally on the ground.

It seems to me that when learning about and celebrating traditional African cultures, people from Africa and the African Diaspora and other folks should at least attempt to find out who, what, where, when, and why.

In our desire {and need} to connect {or reconnect} with our rich heritage, African Americans {and Africans} have been known to make up African customs and claim that they are traditional "African". Black people and other people have also been known to assert that some custom from one African ethnic group was practiced by another or claim that a custom adopted from Europeans is actually a traditional African custom.

In light of the documentation I've read about the European wedding custom of jumping the broom, it still seems to me that African Americans adopted this custom from European Americans.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Jumping the Broom
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 01 May 07 - 01:51 PM

I was of the impression that jumping the broom was an old English custom when priests were itinerent and young couples would jump the broom and live 'over the brush' until a priest could bless the union.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Jumping the Broom
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 01 May 07 - 02:44 PM

As Azizi says, there is no reliable report of 'jumping the broom(stick)' equating with a marriage ceremony in west Africa.

Another important point raised by Azizi is the totally wrong use of modern geopolitical divisions, such as Ghana, or Nigeria as designates for customs- or songs or any other feature of a particular culture. These areas contain several ethnic groups, each with different cultures, and the distribution of these ethnic groups may not conform with the geopolitical boundaries which were set up by European governments that originally controlled the areas before freedom from colonial rule. Several of these countries have had or are having problems trying to integrate different ethnic groups under their governments- genocide and civil war being the worst of these.

Perhaps it should also be mentioned that during the folk 'revival,' several songs from different African cultures were played by popular folk groups. Many were so altered from the original as to be unrecognizable to people of the culture from which they came. One that received better treatment was the "Click Song" because it was sung by Miriam Makeba and a few other Xhosa with the musical groups providing humorous backup. The title, of that song actually is "iGqirha lendlela nguGquogqotthwane," as transliterated by Dave Dargle of South Africa. It is impossible to sing unless one has received training in the language.
Miriam Makeba may be heard singing the song on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mwh9z58iAU. This page includes her singing other takes as well.
Click Song
Miriam Makeba also sings "Khawuleza" there in a fashion more atune with what we are used to, but probably far different from the original form.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Jumping the Broom
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 01 May 07 - 02:57 PM

fretless, thanks for the link to the picture. A portion of it is on the cover of the Dover reprint of "The Negro Sings a New Heaven," by Mary Allen Grissom, an important collection of spirituals.

Mrs. Duck is correct, the English custom is the origin of jumping the broom found in North America, but the practice also seems to have been present in parts of what now is Germany.