Brooms have collected some surprisingly dark superstitions. Sweeping at night can send money out of the house, sweeping over someone’s feet can affect their marriage prospects, and placing a broom incorrectly can invite unwanted energy into the home. At the same time, brooms have been used for protection, cleansing, and bringing good fortune into a new home.
Here are nine broom superstitions surrounding luck, spirits, relationships, and the household.
1. Sweeping After Dark
Sweeping at night is considered bad luck in many traditions. The broom removes things from the home, so using it after sunset is said to sweep away prosperity, good fortune, or money along with the dirt.
Some versions give the superstition a supernatural meaning. Night belongs to spirits, and sweeping after dark can disturb them or interfere with protective energy inside the home.
If you follow the superstition, leave the floors until morning.
2. A New Broom Should Sweep Something In First
Before using a new broom to sweep dirt out of the house, an old superstition says to sweep something inward first.
The first movement establishes what the broom will bring into your home. Sweeping inward invites money, prosperity, and good fortune, whereas immediately sweeping outward symbolically sends those things away. This superstition is especially fitting after moving into a new home.
3. Never Sweep Over Someone’s Feet
If someone sweeps over your feet, you may have just had your marriage prospects swept away.
This superstition is found in several cultures, with different consequences attached to it. Remaining unmarried is one of the best-known versions, although other variations connect it with general bad luck or trouble ahead.
Some traditions prescribe an unusual remedy: spit on the broom to cancel the bad luck.
4. Stepping Over a Broom Can Affect Marriage
Stepping over a broom has also been associated with remaining unmarried or experiencing relationship trouble.
The connection between brooms and marriage runs in both directions. In the African American tradition of jumping the broom, crossing over a broom has an entirely different significance connected with marriage and commitment.
So stepping or jumping across one can carry very different symbolism depending on the cultural tradition.
5. Never Hit Someone With a Broom
Brushing or striking someone with a broom is said to sweep away their luck.
Since the broom symbolically removes unwanted things, touching another person with it can represent removing their prosperity, happiness, or romantic fortune along with the dirt.
This becomes especially ominous when the broom touches someone’s feet, combining two broom superstitions at once.
6. A Broken Broom Can Warn of Trouble
A broom breaking during use has traditionally been treated as an unlucky sign for the household.
The broom is closely connected with domestic life and keeping the home clean and protected. When it suddenly snaps, folklore can interpret the break as trouble, conflict, or disruption entering family life.
Replacing the broken broom also gives you the opportunity to follow the superstition about sweeping good fortune inward with the new one.
7. Brooms Can Protect the Front Door
Brooms have also served as protective household charms. Keeping one near an entrance can symbolically prevent unwanted spirits, bad luck, or harmful energy from crossing the threshold.
A broom placed above or near the front door is sometimes used for this purpose. Its cleansing symbolism extends beyond physical dirt: anything unwanted entering the home gets symbolically swept away.
The direction of the bristles can also carry meaning, with different folk traditions prescribing different positions.
8. Never Sweep Dirt Out the Door After Someone Leaves
Another superstition warns against sweeping immediately after a visitor or family member leaves the house.
Sweeping their path out the door can symbolically sweep that person out of your life or prevent them from returning. The warning becomes especially serious when someone has left for a long journey.
If you want them to come home safely, the floor can wait.
9. Never Take Your Old Broom to a New House
Moving house comes with its own broom superstition: leave the old broom behind and start with a new one.
An old broom has swept up the dirt and symbolic troubles of your previous home. Bringing it with you is therefore said to carry old problems, bad luck, and unwanted energy into your new house.
A new broom represents a clean beginning, especially when its first sweep brings something inward for good fortune.
Before You Pick Up the Broom
The broom has two opposite roles in superstition: it can remove luck or remove bad energy. Sweeping toward the door can send prosperity away, yet a broom near the entrance can protect the household from unwanted influences.
Direction, timing, and intention change the symbolism. So if you follow old superstitions, avoid sweeping at night, keep the bristles away from anyone’s feet, and give yourself a fresh broom when you move.
More Superstitions & Folklore
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