 thumb|a couple jumping the broom (photograph of a 2011 wedding in california) jumping the broom is a phrase and custom relating to a wedding ceremony where the couple jumps over a broom. the custom is historically associated with the romani people of the united kingdom,dundes, alan: "jumping the broom: on the origin and meaning of an african american wedding custom" page 327. the journal of american folklore, 1996 http://www.jstor.org/stable/541535"evidence showing the wedding custom was practised by gypsies in england, scotland" donald f. joyce "rooted in the chants of slaves, blacks in the humanities, 1985-1997: a selected annotated bibliography" greenwood publishing group, 1999 p56 especially those in wales,thompson, t. w. "british gipsy marriage and divorce rites", quoted in the times, issue 54004, 21 september 1928; p.11. a paper read at the 1928 jubilee congress of the folk lore society in london refers to this: "in wales there was preserved until recently a marriage ritual of which the central feature was the jumping of the bride and bridegroom over a branch of flowering broom or over a besom made of broom." but it is now more widespread among african americans, popularized in the 1970s by the novel and miniseries roots but originating in the mid 19th century as a practice in antebellum slavery in the united states.norman kolpas, katie kolpas "practically useless information on weddings" thomas nelson inc, 2005 p30 ==as an expression for "irregular marriage"== references to "broomstick marriages" emerged in england in the mid-to-late 18th century, always to describe a wedding ceremony of doubtful validity. the earliest use of the phrase is in the 1764 english edition of a french work: the french text, describing an elopement, refers to the runaway couple hastily making un mariage sur la croix de l'Ã©pÃ©e (literally âmarriage on the cross of the swordâ), an expression the english translator freely renders as âperformed the marriage ceremony by leaping over a broomstickâ.probert, r. marriage law and practice in the long eighteenth century: a reassessment (cambridge: cambridge university press, 2009) a 1774 usage in the westminster magazine also describes an elopement. a man who had taken his under-age bride off to france discovered it was as hard to arrange a legal marriage there as in england, but declined a suggestion that a french sexton might simply read the marriage service through before the couple as "he had no inclination for a broomstick-marriage".(1774) 2 westminster magazine, p. 16 in 1789 the rumoured clandestine marriage between the [[george iv of the united kingdom|prince r
Marriage,_unions_and_partnerships_in_Scotland Romani_in_the_United_Kingdom Types_of_marriage Wedding_traditions