Last week I watched a funny comedy called "Jumping the Broom" (as you can see my friends, and as impossible it may seem, I did find the time to watch a movie) but I couldn´t guess the meaning of the tittle until scarcely had it finished.

Since the subject grasped my attention I decided to look for information in the Internet and that is what I found:

Jumping the broom, as it name indicates, means to jump over a broom (when you have just got married).

The origin of this costume is a bit confusing. Historically, "broom-stick weddings" were first known in Wales. There has been dispute among scholars over whether the tradition originated among the Welsh people themselves or among Romani living in Wales. A commonly held belief is that the practice has roots in West Africa and as the film is played by black people I will take this for granted.

In Ghana brooms were considerated spiritual symbols and were wawed above the heads of newlyweds and their parents, and since ethnic groups in Ghana were prominent in the Atlantic Slave Trade, it is possible that this practise passed along.

Most marriages between enslaved blacks were not legally recognized during American slavery, as in law marriage was held to be a civil contract, and civil contracts required the consent of free persons. In the absence of any legal recognition, the slave community developed its own methods of distinguishing between committed and casual unions. The ceremonial jumping the broom served as an open declaration of setting down in a marriage reationship. Jumping the broom was always done before witnesses as a public ceremonial announcement that a couple chose to become as close to marriend as was then allowed.

And this is one more aspect of slavery (racism) of which I was ignorant of.

I do hope that this piece of information will be useful, or at least peculiar for you.