Submitted by: dunno source via Submit Page
So…is this wedding taking place in the community garden of a mental institution? ‘Cuz Broom Lady seems to be gliding down the aisle with her “date”, and the bridesmaid in the foreground is carrying a bizarrely random basket a la Little Red Riding Hood (off to see Grandma?).
Even the dresses seem like institutional standby bridesmaids’ gowns reserved in the ‘Dress-Up Closet’, like they were made a couple decades ago and keep getting recycled. But hey, as long as everyone’s happy, I’m happy.
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It might be a Pagan wedding. The “broom” is known as a “besom” and has ritual meaning.
That’s exactly what I was thinking. My wedding with my ex was a Pagan ceremony, and we jumped over the “besom” as a symbol of overcoming obstacles together. Worked for about 6 years…
And that makes the crazy lady with the broom the priestess, officiating the ceremony.
Yep, Pagan Handfasting. Had the besom at my ceremony with my ex.
I agree. The broom makes sense, but I am still attempting to understand the meaning of the basket. Unless it is for fresh flowers…?
It could be a normal basket there for flowers. Generally flower girls carry them but sometimes bridesmaids can too.
It could also serve the same symbolic meaning as the cauldron or chalice, if they’re doing anything similar to The Great Right. Seeing as it’s a wedding, the consummation ritual could be rather appropriate.
i’m so glad someone realized that this was probably a Handfasting!
The only thing I can say here is that the broom is a traditional prop at weddings in many places, even some Christian weddings use them symbolically.
That helps narrow it down.
This was a December wedding in Haiti.
Jumping the broom is a tradition in many African American communities. I have no idea why these people are doing it, but there you are
People take a lot of rituals from paganism without knowing where they came from.
The broom could be part of a “pagan” ceremony where the couple jumps over a broom together. Or that’s how that lady arrived at the ceremony.
Romanian custom, among other cultures, includes a “broom-jumping” ritual. Perhaps a little worldly cultural tolerance is called for, hmm? Look at the position of the chairs. Maybe the broom lady was officiating?
Ooh, good catch on the direction of the chairs- they’re not walking UP the aisle, they’re walking DOWN it. The lady with the broom or besom, if it’s a pagan wedding, is carrying it away from the ceremony.
why waste money on a limo? mom’s got here own transportation right there!!
Mother? Maybe. Mother-In-Law? Oh hell yeah!
mos def hell yeah. exactly what i was thinking.
it’s an old wedding tradition. the bride and groom jump over the broom for good luck and fertility
So this is a wedding site and you’ve never heard of the tradition of “Jumping the broom?” I’m not sure why the lady carrying the broom is holding it that way though.
I take it the term “jumping the broom” is no longer well known.
The dresses are very unflattering, but I’m betting the broom is for the couple to jump.
You know, I think that might be the bride. Maybe a second wedding? The lady in the back looks like she’s wearing a tent.
“Jumping the Broom” is a euphemism for getting married. It stems from a long ago tradition, pagan in nature, I think.
Is that the bride wearing her “something blue”?
It a pagan wedding ceremony. Asking ‘whats with the broom’ is like asking ‘whats with the best man’ In answer to the second statement, originally the ‘Best Man’ was your best friend, who helped you kidnap the bride..
Does anyone else think that the one carrying the broom looks like a pre-makeover Susan Boyle?
Brooms (or Besoms) are used in pagan handfastings.
I believe the lady in the background is the officiator at a handfasting. For one thing, notice the direction of the chairs…the bride and groom are coming back down the aisle. The broom is to sweep away back luck, I believe.
How I love researching tradition and superstition, and weddings have their fair allotment! “…something borrowed, something blue, silver sixpence in her shoe.” Breaking seed cakes over the bride’s head to ensure fertility, which has devolved into throwing rice, confetti, or birdseed, or blowing bubbles… Bridesmaids and groomsmen in past times were both numerous and dressed as though they could be getting married, to confuse evil spirits visiting the couple. It was only recently, relatively, that the bride would wear a white gown (and that’s just concerning the “Western” world); Victoria broke tradition as a royal by wearing white instead of silver and everyone copied her.
At my wedding I did the “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue” tradition that I grew up hearing.
How do we know the couple walking down the isle are the Bride & Groom, maybe they are a bridesmaid & groomsman & it looks as though the wedding is over…maybe the basket was for the rice, birdseed or bubbles.
Whoops… “to sweep away BAD luck”.
She just landed, and is now explaining that she’s late because she got stuck behind some geese.
The woman in the back is most likely a High Priestess who just handfasted (a pagan tradition) the couple walking down the aisle. She is probably inviting the people to get up and walk behind the couple. She might be sweeping away bad luck too. Hard to tell in a still photo.
As to the dresses, it’s hard to make a dress not look like a tent when the wearer is overweight. I have never seen a totally flattering dress on an overweight person.
i think woman and man at thr front are the bride and groom???
Yeah it’s a pagan wedding, but it still doesn’t make broom-lady look any less high. Also, nice terminator shades Mr. Groom.
I don’t think that’s the bride and groom. They would have gone down the aisle first and are out of the picture field by now. They also would most likely be grinning like wild too. That looks like a bride’s maid and groomsman to me.
You’ve got it!!!!
She’s the Mad Mad Mad Mad Madam Mim!
Oh, man! I’m not sure if I’d like to have Madam Mim as a Mother-in-law…
Its an old tradition where they try to confuse evil spirits by having multiple people in the ceremony, called a Gride, to prevent the spirits from attacking the happy couple.. So you see the Bride and Groom and the Gride and Broom.
To sweep them off their feet.
What’s with the groom^^^^
“HOWDY, E’RYBODY!”
Oh, look! The God-Mother/Step-Mother has arrived!
Pagan women don’t miss too many meals…
Plus the groom/groomsman looks like a Secret Service agent.
Most of them claim this makes them more in tune with the goddess. I think it certainly makes them more in tune with the goddess’ bounty…
Its actually more like Pagan women really don’t care if they don’t conform to society’s vision of what woman should look like. If you look at a Goddess symbol, you’ll see a woman with large hips, large breasts and no face holding her arms up over her head. Pagans teach each other the beauty of every woman, no matter their shape.
We did a Pagan/SCA wedding, jumped over a broom and a sword…
Accio Broom?
Hey I said “go and pick up the GROOM”,not the broom.
I went to a wedding in W. Va. They had a part of the wedding called the sweep. Attendees threw change at the bride and groom in the center. The bride swept it into a dust pan. When the change runs out they throw paper. Kind of a fund raiser like paying to dance with the bride(Pittsburgh and many other places custom.
Forgot….see the dust pan in the other hand opposite of the broom…..My wife also wants me to confirm….its just the paying to dance custom in Pgh……not the sweep…..
Probably a wedding ritual, but this, I can’t resist….
“Here comes the bride, big fat and wide, here comes the groom, as skinny as a broom….”
Couldn’t resist.
Well how else is she going to sweep the single guys off their feet?
The basket still throws me. I knew about broom-jumping and so on – but the big basket? European brides have purses or even aprons to collect the bride-price. But that’s one big basket. maybe they have a big family.
Hey, can the rest of the world please have handfasting back from the pagans? Or at least share. It used to mean an unofficial wedding, an agreement to cohabitate faithfully for a set period of time. Although my (Christian, both of us) husband and I handfasted, I don’t dare tell people that. I call it a Quaker wedding – no officiant.
As soon as the Christians give us back… every ritual you guys have, we can share handfasting. It’s kind of hard for us to give back something that was ours to begin with.
Here comes the groom,
hes skinny as a broom!
History alert!: The broom is symbolicly used as the threshold, crossing over from old to new, leaving behind a life of solitude for a life of togetherness. It is ironic, in history, that in weddings, we had so many little bits of “romance” involved, and so very few weddings actually occuring for romantic reasons.
In my opinion, it’s not necessarily a “pagan” wedding, but altogether medieval, especially if that is the bride and groom. Blue used to be the color of wedding dresses, symbolic of the purity of water, the broom was already explained, and wreaths of flowers on heads were very common in weddings and other public affairs. The only part that doesn’t fit the medieval theme is the presumed groom.
In ancient times, a lot of pagan things were done, because everyone was pagan. It was just what was done. When Christianity, Catholicism in particular, swept through, no pun intended, the people were allowed to continue their pagan traditions as long as they directed their attention towards the Christian God.
One of the early medieval popes directly ordered those who were sent out to convert to “tear down the idols, but leave the temples” so the people wouldn’t have to change their ways in order to worship God. It is both historical *and* pagan, because for this period in time, the two are interchangeable and inseparable.
Broom pagan broom handfasting pagan pagan pagan broom handfasting broom pagan pagan historically broom handfasting broom ugly dress pagan.
win win win win win win win win win win win win win
win win win win win win win win win win win win LOL.
i know you didn’t know the traditions so, i’m not offended but you may want to change your caption…
I don’t think it’s worth changing the caption. It’s funny. We have to be able to laugh at ourselves, because society’s not doing us any favors. No point in taking offense when the cause was just ignorance. If it was done on purpose, that would be a problem.
CMON, no-one knows that mothers-in-law are witches???
I actually know the women in the picture….and yes it was for their friend’s pagan wedding
is there 2 grimises
I think *I* might know those two women, too. Veronica, do you know if their names might be Char and Edie?
yes Juli…that is their names
“Here comes the bride! Fat, short, and wide!
Here comes the groom! Skinny as a broom!”
definately a pagan wedding. my wedding was medieval/quietly pagan and we jumped a sword. we were going to jump a broom too, but my husband’s grandparents are highly christian and we thought the broom made the pagan aspect too obvious.
You lot have restored my faith in these sites. it’s nice to know that there are some educated, compassionate people who can tell other styles of weddings. It’s nice to it (mostly) not mocked.
This is from my wedding…no idea how it ended up on here, they were private photos and I’m hoping to get this photo pulled off of here…the lady carrying the broom was the officiant, the ceremony (it was pagan, kudos to those who knew what the broom meant!) was over and the officiant picked up the broom for us and was letting people know they could get up now. My wonderful friend in the foreground was carrying the basket that had wedding favors in it that we handed out at the receiving line. And f— you people who can’t be nice….not that this is a nice comment to make, but I am pissed off.
They can suck it, honey. Your wedding looks beautiful.
Don’t worry Cathy, I’m sure your wedding was lovely. Anonymity + immaturity + emotionally stunted/insecure people = comment threads. I’m very sad that someone who was entrusted to your private photos shared them and both disgusted and amused at the stupidity of people that don’t know anything about marriage traditions (and tell the world) while pairing it with rudeness about the appearances of others.
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