Sweeping at night
Sweeping after dark sweeps luck or wealth out of the house.
Household superstition
Broom superstitions
Broom superstitions: never sweep after dark, never sweep over someone's feet, never bring the old broom. First recorded: Medieval Europe; the new-house rule documented from the 1800s. That makes it somewhere between 500 and 1,500 years old — joint 29th oldest of the 45 superstitions we have dated.
- Earliest record
- Medieval Europe
When it actually starts
How old is this one
First recorded
Medieval Europe; the new-house rule documented from the 1800s
That makes it
somewhere between 500 and 1,500 years old
Rank by age
Joint 29th oldest of 45 dated here
Category
Household
Sweeping removes dirt, so by extension it removes other things — luck, money, people. Never take an old broom to a new house is one of the most widely shared moving rules there is.
Why it stuck. Any tool used for removal attracts rules about what else it might remove; the same logic governs drains, bins and doorways.
28 of the dated superstitions here were written down earlier and 12 later, while 4 share its date.
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The versions people follow
What exactly is believed
Sweeping over feet
Sweeping over someone's feet means they will never marry.
Jumping the broom
Couples jump over a broom at weddings, a custom associated with African American and Romani traditions.
A new broom in a new house
Bringing an old broom into a new home brings the old bad luck with it.
How the bad luck is traditionally undone
If someone's feet are swept, they spit on the broom to cancel the curse.
Where it lives today
Jumping the broom is a meaningful part of many African American weddings, and brooms by the door remain protective decorations.
What people say
Never sweep after dark, never sweep over someone's feet, never bring the old broom.What is going on
Sweeping after dark was genuinely wasteful before electric light — valuables swept up in candlelight were lost.Where it applies. Europe, Africa and the Caribbean, with the feet-sweeping rule strongest in West African and Latin American tradition.
Other household superstitions
Nearest in age
Broom superstitions are joint 29th oldest of the 45 dated superstitions here. Of those, 3 date from 1900 or later and 14 predate the common era.
First-recorded dates are the earliest documented appearance in written sources, not the earliest possible origin — an unrecorded practice can be older. How the dating works and where it is uncertain →
Cite this page
AstroHot. “Broom Superstitions: Origin, Meaning and When It Began.” Accessed October 29, 2026. https://astrohot.com/superstitions/broom-superstitions/
For Wikipedia
{{cite web |title=Broom Superstitions: Origin, Meaning and When It Began |url=https://astrohot.com/superstitions/broom-superstitions/ |website=AstroHot |access-date=2026-10-29}}