Weddings are a celebration of love and a time for families to celebrate the bringing of someone new into the fold. But Black wedding traditions are unique, signifying the beauty of our love and struggle. One little-known Black wedding tradition is based on two long wooden sticks.
For this unique Black wedding tradition, the couple crosses the two sticks to signify the beginning of their marriage. It is simple enough, but there's more symbolism here than meets the eye.
The sticks physically represent the solid foundation to build a marriage. Each stick also represents the power and life force held within the tree. Couples choose a branch from each of their family homes to make this tradition even more meaningful.
Preserving traditions like this honors their origins. Many of our wedding traditions hail from enslavement and our ancestors’ African origins. That makes our love more profound. It motivates our liberation struggle and will to fight for each other. Our traditions symbolize these things, so we must keep them alive.
Black love is beautiful, and there are so many ways that our ancestors symbolized their love. How can we carry on their spirit of love today?