Wonderful Celtic Rituals Jumping The Besom Photography by Mike Stephens

Jumping the Besom is a ritual that has come down to us from thousands of years ago. Right across Celtic Europe, newly married couples would jump the besom to bring good luck and fortune to them in the years ahead. The besom actually represented the sweeping clean of the past and when the couple jumped, they landed in their new life swept clean of the past. The Scots took this ritual one step further and you would normally cross the broom with a sword in the Scottish ceremony. In Wales, jumping the besom was regarded in much the same way as handfasting in Scotland.