What does jumping the broom mean?

Jumping the broom symbolizes a couple crossing together into married life and sweeping away the past to begin a new home. For many Black couples it also honors enslaved ancestors who were denied legal marriage and created their own ceremonies, making it an act of heritage and resilience.

Where does jumping the broom come from?

It's documented as a marriage ritual among enslaved African Americans in the US South in the 1840s and 1850s, who were legally barred from marrying. Historians debate deeper roots in both West African and British Isles customs. It was widely revived after the novel and miniseries Roots.

When do you jump the broom in the ceremony?

Usually at the very end, after the vows, rings, and pronouncement. The officiant explains the tradition, places the broom on the ground, and the couple joins hands and jumps together as their first act as a married couple.

What do you do with the broom afterward?

Keep it. Most couples display the decorated broom in their home or pass it down as an heirloom. Many personalize it with ribbons, charms, or their names and wedding date.

Jumping the Broom: History, Meaning & How to Do It (2026)

Q: Who jumps first, and do you jump together?

Most modern couples jump together holding hands. Some traditions had partners jump in sequence. There's no single rule; do what feels right and rehearse it once so the timing is clean.

1, 2, 3… jump.

I’ve said those words at the close of many ceremonies, and the broom jump hits differently every time. It’s joyful and loud, the whole room counting along, but underneath the joy is something heavier and more beautiful. As a Black officiant, this is the ritual I carry the most care for, because the history behind it deserves to be told with weight, not flattened into a cute Pinterest moment.

So here’s the real story, what it means, and how to honor it well on your day.

A Black bride in a white gown holding a bouquet and a groom in a white tuxedo jacket sharing a kiss on a Brooklyn rooftop at dusk, the Manhattan skyline and Williamsburg Bridge glowing behind them — One of my couples on their Brooklyn rooftop at golden hour. The kind of day a broom jump is made to close.

What is jumping the broom?

Jumping the broom is a wedding ritual where the couple jumps together over a broom laid on the ground, usually at the very end of the ceremony, to mark their crossing into married life. The broom sweeps away the old and welcomes the new home they’re building.

For many Black couples it carries more than that. It’s a link between past and present, a way to honor ancestors and to stand in their own strength as a new family.

A groom in a dark jacket gently kisses the back of his bride's hand during their wedding, warm string lights glowing softly behind them — The tenderness and the history live side by side. The broom holds both at once.

A couple in vintage dress jumping together over a broom laid on green grass at an outdoor wedding, friends and children seated in a circle watching and clapping in the sun — Photo: todd.vision / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0) It doesn't need a grand venue. A broom on the grass and your people gathered close is the whole tradition.

The history, told straight

The ritual is most clearly documented as a marriage ceremony among enslaved African Americans in the US South in the 1840s and 1850s, who were legally barred from marrying. They created their own public ceremonies, and jumping the broom became one of the most common ways a couple declared, before witnesses, that they were as married as the law would ever let them be (African American Registry).

A period engraving titled 'The Broomstick Wedding,' showing a Black couple jumping a broom held low to the ground while their community looks on, captioned 'one-two-three-jump!' — A period engraving of the broomstick wedding. Same count, same courage, generations before us.

The deeper origins are genuinely debated, and I’d rather tell you that than pretend it’s settled. Historian Tyler D. Parry, who wrote the book on it, traces strong parallels to broomstick weddings among marginalized communities in the British Isles, including Romani and rural Welsh groups, and argues the enslaved community’s ritual has more in common with those than with a specific West African source, despite the West African custom of waving brooms that’s often cited (AAIHS). The honest version is that it’s a tradition with tangled, multicultural roots that Black Americans made unmistakably their own.

An 1822 woodcut print titled 'Marrying over the Broomstick,' showing a couple in early-19th-century dress jumping a broom inside a cottage while onlookers watch from both sides — Photo: James Catnach / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain) An 1822 British print, 'Marrying over the Broomstick.' The same act shows up across marginalized communities, which is part of why the roots are so debated.

After emancipation, when legal marriage was finally available, many families set the broom down; for some it carried the sting of that era. It came roaring back in the 1970s after the novel and miniseries Roots, and Harriette Cole’s 1993 book Jumping the Broom carried it further into mainstream Black weddings (Wikipedia).

What the broom symbolizes

The broom is usually wooden, shorter than a household one (about three feet), and decorated. Each part can carry meaning.

The handle is the strong center that holds everything together.
The bristles are your community, each strand adding to your strength as a couple.
The ribbons bind two lives and two families; white is a common choice for purity.
Charms, beads, and flowers can stand for the values you’re building on, or simply for the people and places that matter to you.

How to include it in your ceremony

The jump comes at the very end, after the vows, the rings, and the pronouncement. It’s the exclamation point.

A Black officiant in a clerical robe and gold stole joins the hands of a bride in a white gown and a groom in a dark suit beneath a white floral arch — Everything builds to this. By the time I bring the broom out, the couple has already said the words; the jump is what their hands do to seal them.

The jump itself is simple, but the order matters:

A bride in a white sari and a groom in a cream suit holding hands and jumping together over a broom resting on a small stand in a garden, both mid-air with their feet off the ground — Photo: lisa y. henderson / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0) Hands joined, feet off the ground, on the count. Holding hands keeps the timing honest so you lift together.

The officiant explains the tradition to guests, so the room understands the weight of what they’re watching.
Someone (the officiant, a parent, a close friend) lays the broom on the ground in front of the couple.
The couple joins hands, and on the count, they jump together into married life.

Most couples today jump together holding hands. Some traditions had partners jump in sequence; there’s no single rule. Do what feels right to you.

A Black couple on a sunlit rooftop, the groom in a white tuxedo jacket and the bride in a lace gown holding a white bouquet, gazing at each other with the city skyline behind them — The jump lands hardest when the day has already built to it. By the time the broom comes down, the room is all the way in.

Make the broom yours

A wedding broom lying on a wood floor, the handle wrapped in metallic ribbon and the base dressed with cream roses, hydrangea, and scattered pearls — One couple's broom, dressed in cream blooms and pearls. After the day, it lives on a wall, not in a closet.

Source a broom that can become an heirloom. Many couples wrap the handle in ribbon in their wedding colors, add feathers or charms with personal meaning, or engrave their names and date. After the wedding, it doesn’t go in a closet; couples display it at home or pass it down to the next generation.

Honor it with intention

If jumping the broom isn’t part of your own heritage and you’re drawn to it, that’s a conversation worth having with care. The most respectful versions I’ve seen name the history out loud during the ceremony rather than treating the broom as decor. The meaning is the point. Skip the meaning and you’ve skipped the ritual.

A Black bride and groom standing together in a bright loft reception space with floor-to-ceiling windows, white round tables and a navy sweetheart table with a floral arch behind them — A loft reception set and waiting. The broom jump closes the ceremony and opens the party.

Plan your ceremony

If you want the broom-jump wording, plus scripts for the other rituals you might pair it with, the Couple’s Ceremony Kit has the full set. For other culturally-rooted rituals, see the lasso ceremony, and the full unity ceremony ideas guide, and if culture and inclusion are central to your day, my notes on LGBTQ+ weddings and interfaith ceremonies may help too.

And if you are tracing where the broom sits in the wider story, see my guides to Black, African, Jamaican, and Caribbean wedding traditions.

Frequently asked questions

When do you jump the broom? At the very end, after the pronouncement.

Who places the broom? Usually the officiant, but any meaningful person can.

Do you jump together or in turn? Most jump together holding hands; both are valid.

What happens to the broom after? You keep it, displayed at home or passed down.

The Officiant Kit

The Couple's Kit

Jumping the Broom: The History, the Meaning, and How to Honor It