'Jumping the Broom' is a phrase associated with what ceremony?
Jumping the broom is a phrase and custom relating to a wedding ceremony where the couple jumps over a broom. It has been suggested that the custom is based on an 18th-century idiomatic expression for "sham marriage", "marriage of doubtful validity"; it was popularized in the context of the introduction of civil marriage in Britain with the Marriage Act 1836.
There have also been suggestions that the expression may derive from an actual custom of jumping over a "broomstick" (where "broom" refers to the plant common broom rather than the household implement) associated with the gypsies (Romani) of the United Kingdom. especially those in Wales.
The custom of a marrying couple literally jumping over a broom is now most 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.
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