Product Description

Jumping the Broom is newly revised for the twenty-first century. The bestselling-and the first-comprehensive wedding guide written and designed expressly for African Americans, it presents everything you need to know to plan an event that is truly an expression of your personal style and heritage. Harriette Cole, former fashion editor of Essence magazine, offers hundreds of original ideas for enhancing your wedding with Afrocentric touches at every stage-from announcements, rings, and clothes to music, food, and vows. Her suggestions range from the simple, such as having your wedding rings cast with ancient Khamitic symbols, to the elaborate, such as adorning your wedding party in traditional Yoruba asooke formal wear, and an extensive resource guide will help you manage logistics. Historical anecdotes and information on cultural traditions from all over the Motherland-as well as the Caribbean and the American South-are sprinkled throughout. Lavishly illustrated, this new edition features twice the number of color photographs found in the original book and a completely up-to-date resource guide. Jumping the Broom makes an exquisite gift book for a special friend or family member and an indispensable planner for the most important day of your life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #284388 in Books
• Published on: 2004-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780805073294
• Condition: USED - VERY GOOD
• Notes:
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
This gorgeous book is not merely a wedding guide, but a celebration of African-American culture. -- Billboard magazine

About the Author
Harriette Cole spent eleven years as an editor at Essence magazine before founding Profundities, Inc., an image-development and production company. Her nationally syndicated advice column, “Sense & Sensitivity,” reaches more than twelve million readers, and her advice about African American weddings has been featured on Oprah, the Today Show, and NPR. She counts among her clients Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige, and Erykah Badu. She lives in New York City.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
The following text talks about the tradition of Jumping the Broom.

RITUAL ON THESE SHORES

In America customs among people of color had to be re-created. When West Africans were brought forcibly to these shores some four hundred years ago they were stripped of much of what was theirs -- their homeland, their community structure, their freedom, even, in some cases, their sometimes sexist ways. Not long after the beginning of slavery, Africans were also denied the right to marry in the eyes of the law. Slaveholders apparently thought that their captives were not real people but were, instead, property to be bought and sold. As such, they had no rights. Further, if allowed formally to marry and live together, slaves might find strength in numbers that could lead to revolt. Adding to their trauma, these early friends to white settlers were quickly and brutally forbidden by law to marry their white counterparts -- a situation that remains a sore spot for interracial couples today.

Yet the enslaved were spiritual people who had been taught rituals that began as early as childhood to prepare them for that big step into family life. How could they succumb to this denial?

They could not. So they became inventive. Out of their creativity came the tradition of jumping the broom. The broom itself held spiritual significance for many African peoples, representing the beginning of homemaking for a couple. For the Kgatla people of southern Africa, it was customary, for example, on the day after the wedding for the bride to help the other women in the family to sweep the courtyard clean, thereby symbolizing her willingness and obligation to assist in housework at her in-laws' residence until the couple moved to their own home. During slavery, to the ever-present beat of the talking drum (until drums too were outlawed, since they were considered a dangerous means of communication), a couple would literally jump over a broom into the seat of matrimony. Today, this tradition and many others are finding their way back into the wedding ceremony.

Customer Reviews

Afrocentric wedding book.

This book calls itself a wedding planner, but I don't recall too many sections that actually required the reader to ponder what they wanted, or for actually getting organized within certain sections.

What this book suceeded at is suggested by it's title: I really wanted to use a broom in our wedding ceremony by the time I'd finished this book.

Sadly, not much else in the book suited me. It assumes a wedding where everyone involved is black, where there's a close community full of older friend and relatives, and where Afrocentric items are readily available or where you're willing to do mail-order and thus not get to bargain-hunt.

For me, this book was only good for inspiration which, while nice, is less than what the title prepared me for.

Historical
This book had lovely pictures and the text on African American History was interesting, but what it lacked was information on how to actually plan a ceremony. When and how do you jump the broom, what words can you use, what are your guest doing while you jump the broom. It left me still searching for information. Hopefully the follow up is better.

The ultimate source for African-American wedding planning.
When my fiance and I began talking about our wedding, we both wanted to incorporate a traditional ritual commemorating our african-american heritage. We had both heard about the "Jumping the Broom" ritual, but neither of us had ever witnessed it or read any information (other than Alex Haley's "Roots") I found this book at a black memorabilia shop. It was marvelous, not only for the information of the ritual, but also as a wedding planner and marriage preparation guide. I highly recommend this book as REQUIRED reading for any African-American couple contemplating marriage.