Delta Omicron is PFA and secret, as well.

Texas Princess already stated part of this, but Delta Sigma Pi is part of the PFA and the ritual is secret. I can't remember if Alpha Chi Sigma is part of the PFA, but I know their ritual is secret.

Yes, you do. I'll do the best I can without too much detail.

We were founded as a social fraternity, veered into the arena of professional fraternity and eventually so described ourselves (say in the 60's and 70's), and then in the 80's made the decision to reject "professional" designation and return to our founding as a social fraternity.

Nevertheless, we were one of the founders of the PFA and are still a member of the PFA, figuring it is better to be a member of some umbrella organization rather than none, and the PFA membership requirement is broad enough to encompass social fraternities with a special interest (like music).

My understanding is that there has been quite a bit of discussion nationally about what kind of umbrella organzation we should be part of and what we should do about our PFA affiliation, but I really can't tell you what the current status of that discussion is. So far, we have not sought membership in the NIC, although many chapters have joined their campus IFCs.

But our ritual has always been secret.

Wow, this is very interesting. Stiil learning things, thank god!

I know that there are Ritual Collectors out there and one is our own wptw. He is very closed to the vest with these things as I am sure most are out of respect. He has given a lot of introspect on some questions but no secrets.:cool:

While I have an inquiring mind, I dont delve into others Rituals as I feel mine are sacred to me and my Brothers. Therefore, I am not really interested in others Rituals as I am sure that they and you all feel the way as I do about my ritual the same way each of you do about The Ritual that you have been through.

A fraternity at Ole Miss left from 97-2000 and there house was occupied by another fraternity who's house had burned down, anyway, some of us came upon a secret room at a fraternity house. It was very neat. I never would have imagined what I saw. Let's just put it this way, you would not have known it was there unless you were a member of that fraternity or lived in that house. Very neat.

Diamond Delta, Kuddos to you and WPTW.

I am sure it is an interesting study.

I am also sure that there are many similarities amongts many Greek Orgaizations, each has its own little twist to it.

All one has to do is look at Badges or Coats Of Arms and see some of the same symbols.

Beta Chi. My Fraternity Local had its Badge and Coat of Arms.

Clasped Hands, Swords, Sun Rise, Bible Opened, and Judicial Scales.

If one does a study, they will find this on many.

I'm curious about this. I don't know if you can say, but how do you collect ritual? Do you find the ritual books for sale somewhere or is it from talking to members or something else?

ETA: I know with research you can usually figure out some parts, but I'm curious how you were actually able to read initiation ceremonies. (And please don't interpret this as any sort of attack - I'm fascinated by all things ritual and I really am just curious.)

Yes, a former member of an NPC group who had a very bad experience and quit after one semester told me about various ritual information. This was a person with no interest whatsoever in lying to protect the group; she basically considered it a giant waste of time and money and told me these things to back up how silly she thought the secrecy was.

Also, my father (whose fraternity has now merged with ZBT) told me all about his initiation in the context of a long talk about his college days.

this is just reminding me of when i was shopping for christmas gifts for my grandparents. i got my grandmother a bunch of cutesy a-phi stuff, but i couldn't really find any pike stuff i thought my grandfather would enjoy.
i kept finding these ties with seven stripes or something on online pike stores, so i asked him what the deal with the ties was and he replied
"well katherine, next you'll be asking me what the handshake and password are"
and left it at that.
i think it's the only time i've witnessed my grandfather showing respect for something, and i had just been initiated, so it was kind of reaffirming in a way.

I had the same experience with a friend of mine. She left the group in such a bad way, she wanted to tell anyone who would listen the secrets of the organization. Although I'm fasinated that we all have different rituals, the differences are for a reason, and I tell her not to reveal anything to me whenever the topic comes up. I wouldn't want anyone to know what happens during our ritual, why would I want that to happen to another org?

this actually makes more sense to me than people getting drunk and spilling the beans. I don't know about anyone else, but our ruby-studded genie costume was the last thing I was thinking of after I had a few drinks.

That's how I feel about our azure blue catsuits. Although, the mass dieting that goes on prior to initiation is probably a dead give-away!

I do know bits of two other sorority rituals, but I wouldn't repeat them. Just because the people who told me were silly enough to tell me, doesn't mean that I'm indiscreet enough to reveal anything.

Although, one of our traveling secretaries & I were chatting once, and she confirmed the information on the one sorority. Seems that there had been a lawsuit on her campus, and a lot of ritual was revealed.

I have a cousin who's an Alpha Phi & for some reason, family members think that we have the exact same secrets & rituals. They don't get that Alpha Phi & Sigma Kappa don't have anything in common (as far as I know) b/c we have NEVER shared anything. We talk about common things we know but never ritual.
I will admit that I've been curious about the letters on their badge but it's not my business to know b/c I chose to go elsewhere.

I've had people tell me pieces of information about other organizations. Not really sure why.:confused: I've always felt that the information is useless unless you are a member.

I was told by an EX-Friend all about her EX-SORORITY. I know why they wear black at pinning and why they wear white at activatio, why they have to dress up in black every Wednesday. What the religious references significances are and why certain scriptures are read during the pledge process.

She told me all the information because she is WAY BITTER about resigning from the sorority eventhough it was her choice.

Later on she wanted to join my sorority. Thank goodness she couldn't.

Agreed.

If people really want to know what our letters mean, it wouldn't take much for them to make an educated guess. A little bit of Greek, some knowledge of heraldry and symbols, and a little study of the crests and open mottoes, and most people could make a decent guess for a lot of groups.

That said, I "know" some about a number of groups, and I could make guesses for a number more, but I wouldn't be surprised if some of what I know and a lot of what I would guess is wrong.

To me it's more interesting to know what things COULD stand for and what initiations COULD be like rather than what the truth is -- I think some of the fake initiation stuff I've heard is just as interesting as the real stuff.

A ritual is only as good as the people that live it. A handshake is nothing, the words for which our letters stand for are nothing unless we truly live our ritual.

A couple of years ago, some of my fraternity brothers stumbled across a ritual of anothe fraternity. I looked over it, and while I naturally compared it to the ritual I first experienced, it had good ideals. The only dissapointing thing is that few of the brothers from that fraternity seem to live their ritual in their life. There are always chapters that don't follow the higher standards to which the have been called, but to totally throw them out the window is sad.

If you don't try and live your ritual, its just words on paper.

Sgill, that is so true. But many do not live by it as stress gets to them and forget as most do.

Most Rituals try to promote the finer inner person to attain higher things in life.

It seems that some forget it in the heat of battle among Chapters of different Greek Organizations at their schools.

But, that is common!:(

Nice to be the biggest on campus, but if there is no one else, what is the comparison to?

We as Greeks make our own destiny.

If you are REALLY curious about what the ritual for a social GLO is like, here's a novel way to find out:

I'm a member of both Phi Eta Sigma and Alpha Lambda Delta - both are national academic honor societies for freshmen. However, Phi Eta Sigma started out as a social fraternity at the University of Illinois in 1923. Similarly, Alpha Lambda Delta was founded as a social sorority at the University of Illinois in 1924. In the 30s they both went to an academic format. Finally, they went co-ed in the 70s due to the Title IX legislation. We had chapters both on my campus. When Title IX passed through, they went co-ed and "joined forces". In effect, at Long Beach State, we were "Phi Eta Sigma-Alpha Lambda Delta".

Our rituals are indeed open, parents and friends routinely attend our initiation ceremony and dinner. When I became President, one of my tasks was to organize the initiation of our new members. As I read through I documents, I realized that we performed a modified version of both rituals. That is, some years ago, the members of my chapter(s) decided not to conduct each ritual separately (to save time maybe?); but rather to do one modifed ritual which incorporates the "secrets" from each. As a result, my chapter had eliminated the use of the robes, candles and such from our version. :(

In my President's box I had both of the official ritual manuscripts from both HQs. It was really interesting to read each ritual in it's whole form and see how it's supposed to be done. Keep in mind that both Phi Eta Sigma and Alpha Lambda Delta started out as social GLOs and the ritual only had minor modifications when the transition to an academic format was made. So, if ever I wanted to know what a social fraternity and social sorority ritual looked like, I only needed to read the ones I had sitting right in my house!

.....Kelly :)

lol, So do I. :D ;)

Imperial1

BTW, Why would anyone want to know another sorority/fraternity's secrets? :confused:

Imperial1

I know a few snippets here and there about different orgs because of older alum who for some reason or another regret or trivialize their Greek experience.

I admit to being curious about the rituals of the org that we were founded to affiliate with, simply because I wonder how similar our ritual is to theirs and whether or not it contains any of the same components contributed by the founding sister who was an alum of an NPC group.

My thoughts exactly!

Ditto.

My fraternity is on its second ritual. Our first one was "revealed" soon after our founding, and our current ritual is quite old. In the 19th century, many chapters tried to get ahold of rivals' rituals, and publicly reveal them. Some fraternities disolved from such events.

Anyway, I know some things about our original ritual. Well, a few years ago, I was getting drunk with a friend at a bar, and he offered tell me his fraternity's ritual if I told him mine. I could have BSed him with our first ritual, but I didn't. I told him that I am under oath, and that I will never reveal my ritual. That ended that conversation.

The larger point is this; Engaging in such behavior is dishonorable, and antithetical to values of all of our organizations (or should be.) We are custodians of our rituals, and the values that they embody. The curiosity that might compel one to seek the knowledge of another GLO's ritual, will only undermine the ethical code that this person swore to, and therefore weaken his or her's GLO's values, as exercised by its members.

Russ, damn your use of big words!

But what you said!

While We Each have certain creeds, clasps, or parts of the Ritual, it is Important to each of us. Well, only Each of us for what it means!

Read on Mc Duffy reader!:)

To me, it seems as if some people WANT to share their info. I know I would never ASK someone about their ritual, b/c I would never TELL any info about ours.

I have seen people that get pissed off and leave a glo and try to tell as much as they know.

I have first hand seen a guy that was interested in me tell me info to "impress me"... (It didn't work; it repulsed me.)

I have also seen people that get drunk and spill the beans... But, I believe that the drunk-tellers would have told anyway and tend to use their intoxication as a redeeming excuse.

I believe the majority of greeks want to keep their info sacred and secret. There's just a few that always ruin things.

TippieChick. Yes!:)

Thank you for putting it so much better!:cool:

Trying to do Snapper, hope I am remembering to do it right!:eek:

Tom, tell me how the snapper turns out this time!

I hate to burst your bubble, Sheila, but that night at Peter's Pub after a couple of drinks you were standing on the table bellydancing and humming "Genie in a Bottle". You were in the middle of telling George the Bartender how you're a genie in a bottle and he's gotta rub you the right way by the time we got you out of there.

Ask Cheyenne, Dani, Mindy and Ali; they'll tell ya!

Yep...
 

Well, a bro and I came across some pretty secret information about a certain important sorority...

My little bro's big sis is a member of that sorority (which will remain unnamed) ... and she confirmed the info...

It's quite fascinating information - for sure! shaped the modern greek system in a way!

It actually is CRAZY information - linking them with another society... never would have guessed... I guess that was the point... :D

Anyhow, my big sis a Delta Gamma, and I pretty much hang out with all of 'em... My twin in Delta Gamma, who is from Connecticut (but goes to school with me here in California obviously) has a male friend at UCONN who told her the Delta Gamma PASSWORD over the phone during a somewhat intoxicated conversation...

Sufficed to say, my twin was pretty shocked!

Anyhow, I love ritual... Ours is really chill :)

GO BEACH!!!

I personally don't care about anyone's ritual, grip, challenges, etc.

I will say a lot of info is exchanged (grip and challenges, esp) due to pillow talk and people who lack discretion when initiating challenges.

I don't get the obsession, either. I think there are more important things in life than to ferret out other's grips and whistles. What's the sense? So you can lord it over them? He who knows the most secrets is dubbed "King of the Greeks?"

But it's a really pretty crown...

Agreed. I think that people who may know of info on others rituals may or may not know the truth. I know we have a "secret handshake" to show fraternity and other sorority people to throw people off.

Heres my thing. Ive been to a lot of drunken parties, but I cant honestly say Ive had some people come up to me and be like wanna know our ritual or start spouting it off? I know when I have been drunk I was just loud and sang and stuff. Ive never encountered a drunk ritual spouter LMAO.

Also a lot of the members do not know the exact words or phrases to a lot that goes on at initiation. Some have to be reminded before initiation as it is, so I dont think if they were drunk theyd be shouting the correct things anyways. I know I had to go over many things with people when I was Guard so I dont see how theyd remember it all to go out and tell people.

If someone would try to tell me, Id walk away cause I dont care to know or tell anyone I know. It may be interesting how everyone has diff rituals, but noone knows them or can understand even an ounce of ritual or the meaning unless they are acutally that org and have actually experienced that. People who say I know this or I know that, most are wrong, and once I did hear someone who knew something valid they didnt understand it anyways.

I guess I am a bit of a Ritual nazi for my org as I was Guard. That is something sooooooooo special and so amazing to expereince and anyone who has heard some of it, has no clue about it anyways, cause they arent an ADPi. I think of that for all orgs.

I have heard that this one guy who left a frat and went around telling people their secret things. I thought it was incredibly rude and disrespectful even if he did leave the frat.

I too wonder how a ritual collector well collects things? Do you get things off ebay or something? Who sells things on ebay though about ritual? I know our nationals wouldnt allow that at all. I am curious how you collect?

I've been shown & told a few things. But truthfully I really don't remember them because I really don't care what other organizations rituals & secret things are. That's their business, not mine.

I have a hunch that all GLO initiation rituals begin with *knock knock* Person A: "Who comes here?" Person B: "A neophyte of SAS"

I have no knowledge to back this up, but I would sure be interested (and no, no one go telling me, I just meant in general!) if sororities which sprung up from the same college had similar ritual. It would seem somewhat logical that in the same environment around each other they would develop similarly, don't you think?

(i.e. ADPi and Phi Mu from Wesleyan; Theta and Kappa from Monmouth, etc).

i have seen a website...
 

I remember seeing a website that was created by an ex-member of a certain fraternity which listed (in some detail) just about every secret that fraternity had. This situation makes me wonder if GLO's have (or should have) protection under the law from "secret" information being published in any way, including making a web page. I know the concept would be a stretch because of 1st amendment rights and what not, but it would seem to me that there would be some sort of legality which prevents an individual from publishing secret info in any capacity. Again, I know this is a stretch, but if you know of any situations concerning this, please reply.

I've often wondered that too, I look at some of the symbols our sister glo has and I hafta wonder i'm sorry Phi Mu's it's just morbid curiosity.

But more than that I wonder about the history of our own ritual, I have my suspicions about certian parts of it. Diamond Delta if you can contribute any info PM me.

Also adpishannan could you PM me the "other handshake" i've never heard of that.