A Multicultural Tradition

Abstract

The book’s introduction begins with a largely unknown vignette of two enslaved people “jumping the broom” in an elaborate ceremony, which the author specifically selected to portray the ritual’s complexity and rich symbolism. Following the analysis of this ceremony, the introduction engages a number of broader subjects explored in the book’s subsequent chapters. First, it questions why, despite its popularity among multiple groups throughout the Atlantic world, the broomstick wedding has not received adequate attention in previous literature. This requires an overview of researchers who have commented on the custom and why a more extensive history needs to be written. Second, it examines how certain traditions are lost to communities and how their descendants reimagine them to fit their contemporary needs. Essentially, the need to reinvent a ceremony crosses the various cultural groups who claim it. Finally, it provides an overview of the book’s trajectory, which is both thematic and chronological, showing how “culture” is conceptualized, reimagined, reinvented, and exchanged throughout time and space.