Compiled by Sandra Denise Johnson & the many compilers
whose email addresses are listed with the entries below
To submit entries, PLEASE follow the instructions below:
Please send me your Alabama AfAm marriages. No living persons please.
Please do not send me requests for lookups;
I do not have such resources.
This site is for you to submit information about marriages
that took place in Alabama and to make connections with others.
The copyright remains with the original submitter.
You may use the information for your own personal use
The most common tradition is 'jumping the broom', a
ritual originating from
the Deep South during the American Civil War when
slave weddings were not
permitted and so an alternative commitment ceremony
had to be found. The
broom is placed on the floor and the couple jumps
over it. But what does it
signify? Well, there seem to be various explanations
ranging from a jump
from singledom into matrimony, following an African
tribal marriage ritual
of placing sticks on the ground representing the couple's
new home or it
could just be sweeping away the old and welcoming
the new. (The broom has
long held significant meaning for the various Africans,
symbolizing the
start of homemaking for the newlywed couple. In Southern
Africa, the day
after the wedding, a kgatla bird assisted the other
women in the family in
sweeping the courtyard, indicating her dutiful willingness
to help her
in-laws with housework till the newlyweds could move
to their new home.)
Some African- American couples today are choosing
to include this symbolic
rite in their wedding ceremony, directly before the
recession. A nice touch
is to fill a basket with ribbon pieces for guests
to tie around the broom
before you begin.
In Ghana, an Asante male interested in a woman must
'knock on the door' so
his mother and maternal uncle visit the girl's family
and propose marriage
Cowrie shells are believed to encourage fertility
and so include them in a
necklace or to trim your gowns and headpieces.
At the reception or outside the ceremony, pour a little
wine on the ground
as a libation to the gods.
Send Alabama AA Marriages to : TRUDY
BLACK
Alabama AfAm Marriages submitted by County