Sweep your feet with a broom, can't get married?

Just a note, this is not meant to scare anyone, I am just curious. Sorry in advanced if I offend anyone or scare anyone with this idea.

Hahaha i think its just one of those things kids say. I remember being in 6th grade and a girl telling me if i shaved my legs higher then my knee i would get cancer, that same girl told me that if i plucked the hair above my eye brows i will get cancer. I have no idea why i remember this but i do.

This probably comes from some kind of superstition about a woman who can't properly sweep a floor won't make a good wife. Jumping the Broom, from what I know of African-American history, comes from the south when slaves on the plantations were not allowed to marry. They would hold their own marriage ceremonies and symbolize the transition into a new life by jumping over a broom (either held up by two other people or laying on the ground, I'm not sure). The tradition is still practiced today by people wanting to pay tribute to their ancestry. I think it's a lovely gesture, but I doubt the superstition your classmate talked about has anything to do with it.

Pumkin, good answers. i dont know about either of these, but they work for me :]

What can I say? I'm a history geek!

Wow, I was always told that if you sweep your feet you go to jail. Of course I was toooo scared to do so. But I have never heard of this one.

Pumpkin that was very informative. Thank you.

I'm offended JK lol! My family believes in that stupidstition stuff. You should hear them and they are dead serious about it too! If I can remember correctly I had to spit on the broom after I swept my foot with it. I have no idea what that was suppose to do but it's very common in the south.

Who knows where some of these stupid superstitions come from. I knew a family from the deep south and they say if you sweep your feet with a broom, you will go to jail. Like I have seen them fighting mad b/c someone accidentally touched their feet while they were sweeping.

I just broke a huge mirror last week. Uh-oh! LOL