At our school (UAB) most people consider it a Greek Engagement when the guy gives the girl his letters. It is kinda a big deal.

At my school no one wants lavaliered so to speak. I mean of course girls want to get lavaliered but there is a curse. I don't know many couples that stay together after they get lavaliered. It is actually a big joke on my campus people still do it but we all tease them and tell them it is cursed for abreakup.

Someone bored should do a darn study of the ratio of breakups between lavaliered couples and non lavaliered couples :p
:rolleyes:

Bug211, what GLO are you a member of? We do candle passings too, which we call secret ceremonies. I totally forgot about it until I read your post. Our nationals also do not let men wear our letters, unless the name is spelled out, not even our MOTY's. We used to let our MOTY's but then someone who was visiting from Nationals said that wasn't allowed anymore. I was just curious because your group sounded similar to mine!:p

KristyAZD, what's a MOTY? :confused:

Man of the Year

Also at our school, though it is a big deal to get lavaliered, most of them end up being cursed and the people break up. I myself would love to get my man's lavalier, if it weren't for the curse. I guess I will deal with just wearing his letters on shirts.

hee hee ... most of our lavaliered sisters ended up married. Course, it didn't work out for me, but hey, I still have the lavalier, anyway. ;)

oh well, after 2 years of being with my bf and being lavaliered, I guess I'm doomed. lol

In my boyfriend's fraternity they "shirt" the girl....its rarely done and its considered to be the step right before engagement. They take it really seriously and the guys who do it get thrown in the river by the rest of the brothers :-P I've been shirted for a few months and I am so happy he did it...I love being shirted. :-)

So he gives you one of his fraternity shirts?

What fraternity, if I may ask?

Beta Tau...its a local at Clarkson University.

At our school when you're lavaliered you get to wear the letters too. So we really don't have a "shirting" thing. My boyfriend did this to lavalier me: On New Year's Eve he spilled something on me on purpose (only I didn't know this). He was wearing two shirts, his letters on top. He took off his letter shirt and went to put it on me and I was like, I can't wear that! And he said, Yes, you can. It was right when the ball dropped and really romantic. At my school it really isn't considered a curse, but about half make it and half don't. I've been with my boyfriend for over two years and lavaliered for one, so I hope it lasts.

WHY SHOULD YOU EVEN PIN?
 

Well maybe i'm really new to hearing about this pinning thing/laveleiring thing... whatever? but why should you ever give your letters to someone else... in my sorority, our letters mean the world to us, and we are proud that our secrets are our own and not something we share with other people. our letters represent the hard work,the tears, joys, and struggles that we had to go through... why would i want to share those feelings with someone who has never been through what i have been through. Yes, you may love someone deeply. But, before that you should love yourself. In loving myself, there are some things that I can keep to myself as something I only hold, and that is something special.... Although this may be a long tradition within some of your organizations, perhaps you would like to think about what you are truly saying about yourself when you hand your letters/symbols over to someone else....
just a point of view, no offense......

You didn't say so, but I am guessing you are a member of a NPHC organization because of your beliefs. That's fine, I would just like to explain and give a little insight into why some organizations do this. For the most part, pinning is a thing of the past. I actually haven't heard of someone being actually PINNED with a fraternity pin since the sixties and seventies. Nowadays lavaliering is what is acceptable. I know that I would not want to wear my boyfriend's pin because it has special meaning to him, just as my pin has special meaning to me. It is what identifies us as members of our respective organizations. Sororities DO NOT let fraternity men wear their letters. To my knowledge this is strictly a fraternity thing, although some groups may let their Men of the Year or Sweethearts wear them. Alpha Xi Delta doesn't.

Some people abuse lavaliering, and some people just fall out of love. You never know what is going to happen. I've been extremely lucky to still be happy and with my boyfriend. It was such a huge sacrifice for him to let me wear his letters...he had to get up infront of the entire chapter, tell his brothers why he wanted to lavalier me, and then leave while they voted. In most cases they will take the guy out and tie him to a pole in his boxers and leave him there. The girl will be called, told where he is, and if she loves him enough to go get him, them see it as a sign that she's true and loyal to him. They did not do this to my boyfriend, but even if they had I would have been out there in a second because I love him more than anything. Recently a brother asked to lavalier his girlfriend, a girl the brothers didn't trust, so they took him out and tied him to a pole. When his girlfriend was called she wouldn't go out in the cold to get him. Needless to say she was not allowed to be lavaliered. She was seen as unworthy because she obviously didn't love him ehough for the sacrifice he made for her.

I also wear my boyfriend's letters because I am their sweetheart. I have never been so proud to wear the letters of his organization. I do not know the secret workings of his fraternity, but I do have an incredible respect and admiration for their organization. I consider myself a keeper of their traditions as well and I am proud to be involved with such a wonderful and strong organization. Just because they are male and I am female does not mean I don't hold their ideals close to my heart. It doesn't mean I don't know and respect the ideals their fraternity was created on. I would feel honored if I were a fraternity man and my group had a sweetheart or lavalier as completely devoted to them as I am.

I know you say, Why? but I say, Why not? I would be honored to have a female love and respect my organization as much as I did.

There's so many more things I want to say, but I can't think of the words to describe the way I feel about their organization and how proud I am to be associated with it.