Monday, May 23, 2011

Jumping the Broom


I am originally from Ghana, West Africa but grew up in Canada and now reside in the United States.  I am all around girl but during the wedding planning process, there were certain things that we had to do because it was part of our cultures. 

The first was an engagement ceremony where the groom basically asks for the bride's hand in marriage.  We were going to do a semi-engagement party, the day before the wedding, however that was a disaster.  The food came late and my family was very late. Mr. Pancakes got upset because his family came early and waited around for my family who never showed up.  Needless to say mr. Pancakes eventually left and so there was no engagement party.  We hashed it before the wedding though! Obviously!

The second was jumping the broom! This is a ceremony dating back to the 1600s and derived from Africa.
The "Jumping the Broom" is a ceremony in which the bride and groom, at the ceremony signify their entrance into a new life and their creation of a new family by symbolically "sweeping away" their former single lives, former problems and concerns, and jumping over the broom to enter upon a new adventure as wife and husband. 

At first i didn't really understand this process however after i read more about it; and our pastor was perfectly fine to research and speak about it.  And in the end, it was fantastic because it was honestly one of the favourite parts of our wedding! 


It was definitely a great additional to our ceremony and so glad we decided to do it! 

Happy 1 month Anniversary Mr. Pancakes!

15 comments:

Sunshine - www.cancersurvivor26.blogger.com said...

Great Post! Have you seen the movie yet??

Alida Sharp said...

I didn't know about jumping the broom back when we got married or I would have incorporated it in our ceremony! Congrats on the one month!!

Theodora Ofosuhima said...

Lovely post. Happy 1 month Anniversary, many more happy ones to come :)

Painted Bride Art Center said...

Happy One Month Anniversary!

K. Elizabeth @ YUMMommy said...

Happy One Month Anniversary!! Glad that you all were able to combine some traditions into your wedding.

jacin {lovely little details} said...

happy one-month anniversary!!!

Unknown said...

I love different cultural aspects added in! I am also REALLY wanting to see the movie:)
Christina

Mrs. Pancakes said...

@ Christina...i probably do need to see the movie too! thanks ladies for the comments..it was a lot of fun to jump into our new future...and i didn't fall in my heels...whew!

Anonymous said...

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TheBabyMammaChronicles said...

I never knew the meaning behind that. Very cool! Thank you for sharing it with us. I love the photos! Happy 1 month anniversary!

Jill said...

That's a new one on me!
Great photos too.

Hello from Cairns Australia, I am following from the bloghop.

Feel free to dropover t our family friendly blog- I'd love to hear your thoughts on planking.

http://beourbest.blogspot.com/

Pamela said...

I love seeing people stay true to their customs. Brings such personality to weddings.

New GFC follower from Busy Mom's.

Blessings,
Pamela

kiran sawhney said...

Thanks for your comment.
I love your blog.
Can we follow each other?

http://dreamfit.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Oh how sweet. Happy anniversary!!

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jhkappes.blogspot.com

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