diff --git a/packages/blaze/dombackend.js b/packages/blaze/dombackend.js
index 2bd22e444..ca2eba9e3 100644
--- a/packages/blaze/dombackend.js
+++ b/packages/blaze/dombackend.js
@@ -2,84 +2,154 @@ const DOMBackend = {};
 Blaze._DOMBackend = DOMBackend;
 
 const $jq = (typeof jQuery !== 'undefined' ? jQuery :
-           (typeof Package !== 'undefined' ?
-            Package.jquery && Package.jquery.jQuery : null));
-if (! $jq)
-  throw new Error("jQuery not found");
+           (typeof Package !== 'undefined' && Package.jquery ?
+            (Package.jquery.jQuery || Package.jquery.$) : null));
 
-DOMBackend._$jq = $jq;
+const _hasJQuery = !!$jq;
 
+if (_hasJQuery && typeof console !== 'undefined') {
+  console.info(
+    '[Blaze] jQuery detected as DOM backend. Native DOM backend is available — ' +
+    'remove the jquery package to enable it. jQuery support will be removed in Blaze 4.0.'
+  );
+}
+
+DOMBackend._$jq = $jq; // null when absent
+DOMBackend._hasJQuery = _hasJQuery;
 
-DOMBackend.getContext = function() {
-  if (DOMBackend._context) {
-    return DOMBackend._context;
-  }
-  if ( DOMBackend._$jq.support.createHTMLDocument ) {
-    DOMBackend._context = document.implementation.createHTMLDocument( "" );
 
-    // Set the base href for the created document
-    // so any parsed elements with URLs
-    // are based on the document's URL (gh-2965)
-    const base = DOMBackend._context.createElement( "base" );
+DOMBackend.getContext = function () {
+  if (DOMBackend._context) return DOMBackend._context;
+  // jQuery may need the legacy check; native path always supports createHTMLDocument
+  const useCreateHTMLDocument = _hasJQuery ? $jq.support.createHTMLDocument : true;
+  if (useCreateHTMLDocument) {
+    DOMBackend._context = document.implementation.createHTMLDocument("");
+    const base = DOMBackend._context.createElement("base");
     base.href = document.location.href;
-    DOMBackend._context.head.appendChild( base );
+    DOMBackend._context.head.appendChild(base);
   } else {
     DOMBackend._context = document;
   }
   return DOMBackend._context;
-}
+};
+
 DOMBackend.parseHTML = function (html) {
-  // Return an array of nodes.
-  //
-  // jQuery does fancy stuff like creating an appropriate
-  // container element and setting innerHTML on it, as well
-  // as working around various IE quirks.
-  return $jq.parseHTML(html, DOMBackend.getContext()) || [];
+  if (_hasJQuery) {
+    return $jq.parseHTML(html, DOMBackend.getContext()) || [];
+  }
+  const template = document.createElement('template');
+  template.innerHTML = html;
+  return Array.from(template.content.childNodes);
 };
 
+// WeakMap for native event delegation: elem -> Map<handler, Array<{wrapper, eventType}>>
+const _delegateMap = new WeakMap();
+
+// focus/blur don't bubble — use focusin/focusout for native delegation
+// (jQuery does this automatically in .on() delegation)
+const _delegateEventAlias = { focus: 'focusin', blur: 'focusout' };
+
 DOMBackend.Events = {
   // `selector` is non-null.  `type` is one type (but
   // may be in backend-specific form, e.g. have namespaces).
   // Order fired must be order bound.
-  delegateEvents: function (elem, type, selector, handler) {
-    $jq(elem).on(type, selector, handler);
-  },
+  delegateEvents(elem, type, selector, handler) {
+    if (_hasJQuery) {
+      $jq(elem).on(type, selector, handler);
+      return;
+    }
 
-  undelegateEvents: function (elem, type, handler) {
-    $jq(elem).off(type, '**', handler);
+    let eventType = DOMBackend.Events.parseEventType(type);
+    // Alias non-bubbling events to their bubbling equivalents
+    eventType = _delegateEventAlias[eventType] || eventType;
+
+    const wrapper = (event) => {
+      // event.target can be a text node (nodeType 3) — walk to parent element first
+      const origin = event.target;
+      const target = origin.nodeType === 1 ? origin.closest(selector) : origin.parentElement?.closest(selector);
+      if (target && elem.contains(target)) {
+        // Mimic jQuery's delegated event behavior
+        Object.defineProperty(event, 'currentTarget', {
+          value: target,
+          configurable: true,
+        });
+        handler.call(target, event);
+      }
+    };
+
+    if (!_delegateMap.has(elem)) {
+      _delegateMap.set(elem, new Map());
+    }
+    const handlerMap = _delegateMap.get(elem);
+    // Store wrapper keyed by handler for later removal (eventType stored in the entry)
+    const key = handler;
+    if (!handlerMap.has(key)) {
+      handlerMap.set(key, []);
+    }
+    handlerMap.get(key).push({ wrapper, eventType });
+
+    elem.addEventListener(eventType, wrapper);
   },
 
-  bindEventCapturer: function (elem, type, selector, handler) {
-    const $elem = $jq(elem);
-
-    const wrapper = function (event) {
-      event = $jq.event.fix(event);
-      event.currentTarget = event.target;
-
-      // Note: It might improve jQuery interop if we called into jQuery
-      // here somehow.  Since we don't use jQuery to dispatch the event,
-      // we don't fire any of jQuery's event hooks or anything.  However,
-      // since jQuery can't bind capturing handlers, it's not clear
-      // where we would hook in.  Internal jQuery functions like `dispatch`
-      // are too high-level.
-      const $target = $jq(event.currentTarget);
-      if ($target.is($elem.find(selector)))
-        handler.call(elem, event);
-    };
+  undelegateEvents(elem, type, handler) {
+    if (_hasJQuery) {
+      $jq(elem).off(type, '**', handler);
+      return;
+    }
 
-    handler._meteorui_wrapper = wrapper;
+    const handlerMap = _delegateMap.get(elem);
+    if (!handlerMap) return;
+
+    const entries = handlerMap.get(handler);
+    if (!entries) return;
+
+    for (const entry of entries) {
+      elem.removeEventListener(entry.eventType, entry.wrapper);
+    }
+    handlerMap.delete(handler);
+  },
+
+  bindEventCapturer(elem, type, selector, handler) {
+    if (_hasJQuery) {
+      const $elem = $jq(elem);
+
+      const wrapper = (event) => {
+        event = $jq.event.fix(event);
+        event.currentTarget = event.target;
+        const $target = $jq(event.currentTarget);
+        if ($target.is($elem.find(selector)))
+          handler.call(elem, event);
+      };
+
+      handler._meteorui_wrapper = wrapper;
+    } else {
+      const wrapper = (event) => {
+        // event.target can be a text node — walk to parent element first
+        const origin = event.target;
+        const matched = origin.nodeType === 1 ? origin.closest(selector) : origin.parentElement?.closest(selector);
+        if (matched && elem.contains(matched)) {
+          Object.defineProperty(event, 'currentTarget', {
+            value: matched,
+            configurable: true,
+          });
+          handler.call(elem, event);
+        }
+      };
+
+      handler._meteorui_wrapper = wrapper;
+    }
 
     type = DOMBackend.Events.parseEventType(type);
     // add *capturing* event listener
-    elem.addEventListener(type, wrapper, true);
+    elem.addEventListener(type, handler._meteorui_wrapper, true);
   },
 
-  unbindEventCapturer: function (elem, type, handler) {
+  unbindEventCapturer(elem, type, handler) {
     type = DOMBackend.Events.parseEventType(type);
     elem.removeEventListener(type, handler._meteorui_wrapper, true);
   },
 
-  parseEventType: function (type) {
+  parseEventType(type) {
     // strip off namespaces
     const dotLoc = type.indexOf('.');
     if (dotLoc >= 0)
@@ -130,6 +200,20 @@ class TeardownCallback {
   stop() { this.unlink(); }
 }
 
+// Shared helper: execute all teardown callbacks on an element
+function _executeTeardownCallbacks(elem) {
+  const callbacks = elem[DOMBackend.Teardown._CB_PROP];
+  if (callbacks) {
+    let elt = callbacks.next;
+    while (elt !== callbacks) {
+      elt.go();
+      elt = elt.next;
+    }
+    callbacks.go();
+    elem[DOMBackend.Teardown._CB_PROP] = null;
+  }
+}
+
 DOMBackend.Teardown = {
   _JQUERY_EVENT_NAME: 'blaze_teardown_watcher',
   _CB_PROP: '$blaze_teardown_callbacks',
@@ -137,16 +221,18 @@ DOMBackend.Teardown = {
   // one of its ancestors is removed from the DOM via the backend library.
   // The callback function is called at most once, and it receives the element
   // in question as an argument.
-  onElementTeardown: function (elem, func) {
+  onElementTeardown(elem, func) {
     const elt = new TeardownCallback(func);
 
     const propName = DOMBackend.Teardown._CB_PROP;
-    if (! elem[propName]) {
+    if (!elem[propName]) {
       // create an empty node that is never unlinked
       elem[propName] = new TeardownCallback;
 
-      // Set up the event, only the first time.
-      $jq(elem).on(DOMBackend.Teardown._JQUERY_EVENT_NAME, NOOP);
+      // Set up the jQuery event, only the first time (only when jQuery is present).
+      if (_hasJQuery) {
+        $jq(elem).on(DOMBackend.Teardown._JQUERY_EVENT_NAME, NOOP);
+      }
     }
 
     elt.linkBefore(elem[propName]);
@@ -155,46 +241,43 @@ DOMBackend.Teardown = {
   },
   // Recursively call all teardown hooks, in the backend and registered
   // through DOMBackend.onElementTeardown.
-  tearDownElement: function (elem) {
+  tearDownElement(elem) {
     const elems = [];
-    // Array.prototype.slice.call doesn't work when given a NodeList in
-    // IE8 ("JScript object expected").
     const nodeList = elem.getElementsByTagName('*');
     for (let i = 0; i < nodeList.length; i++) {
       elems.push(nodeList[i]);
     }
     elems.push(elem);
-    $jq.cleanData(elems);
-  }
-};
 
-$jq.event.special[DOMBackend.Teardown._JQUERY_EVENT_NAME] = {
-  setup: function () {
-    // This "setup" callback is important even though it is empty!
-    // Without it, jQuery will call addEventListener, which is a
-    // performance hit, especially with Chrome's async stack trace
-    // feature enabled.
-  },
-  teardown: function() {
-    const elem = this;
-    const callbacks = elem[DOMBackend.Teardown._CB_PROP];
-    if (callbacks) {
-      let elt = callbacks.next;
-      while (elt !== callbacks) {
-        elt.go();
-        elt = elt.next;
+    if (_hasJQuery) {
+      // jQuery's cleanData triggers the special event teardown handler
+      $jq.cleanData(elems);
+    } else {
+      // Native path: call teardown callbacks directly
+      for (const el of elems) {
+        _executeTeardownCallbacks(el);
       }
-      callbacks.go();
-
-      elem[DOMBackend.Teardown._CB_PROP] = null;
     }
   }
 };
 
+// Register jQuery special event only when jQuery is present
+if (_hasJQuery) {
+  $jq.event.special[DOMBackend.Teardown._JQUERY_EVENT_NAME] = {
+    setup() {
+      // This "setup" callback is important even though it is empty!
+      // Without it, jQuery will call addEventListener, which is a
+      // performance hit, especially with Chrome's async stack trace
+      // feature enabled.
+    },
+    teardown() {
+      _executeTeardownCallbacks(this);
+    }
+  };
+}
+
 
-// Must use jQuery semantics for `context`, not
-// querySelectorAll's.  In other words, all the parts
-// of `selector` must be found under `context`.
 DOMBackend.findBySelector = function (selector, context) {
-  return $jq(selector, context);
+  if (_hasJQuery) return $jq(selector, context);
+  return Array.from((context || document).querySelectorAll(selector));
 };