I know. I've probably been to 50 Initiations over the last 24 years (yes, 24 years this month since I accepted my bid!) and I still get goose bumps and tear up. I think it means more every single time I experience it. (OMG.. 24 years... I've been an Alpha Gam more than half my life)

"Some people, I suspect, would like to keep [the Ritual] very, very secret because if non-members found out what I stood for they might expect he members to live by it and that would be very difficult. Therefore, they keep [it] secret and they won't have to change their lifestyle."

SECRET THOUGHTS OF A RITUAL, by Ed King

I agree. DH will go to his dying grave refusing to tell me anything about his fraternity's ritual, but he also doesn't want to know my GLO's info so we have mutual respect on that issue. I personally believe he has forgotten most of his, so what is there to tell, but...he can dare to dream that he still remembers it!

Don't remember if I posted this 4 years ago and too lazy to go back to see. :o
But there are no secrets in our ritual. Our true secrets are never written down.

So someone could read out ritual, but not know the meaning behind the ceremonies.

Not unless it has been leaked out online- and I cannot verify its accuracy.

To be honest, the secrets of my GLO would be as meaningless to an outsider as the chemical formula of a compound they never use.

That is such a great analogy Scandia!

I have a feeling that if most people found out the rituals of GLO's, they'd be as bored to tears as if they were forced to go to someone else's church. I can't remember a time that the 10 commandments were exciting and fun. As many have said, the beauty and power of these ceremonies is that at least a few of the members will try to live by them. I know the secrets of a few groups ( a few more recently thanks to Alexandra Robbins) but other than the novelty of "Ooooo....I know something secret about Phi Mu, KD and Sigma Kappa [groups on my campus...and may I point out that NONE of these secrets spilled from the mouths of sisters! Don't ask how I know these things, you REALLY don't want to know!!]," there is nothing surprising that I know about any of these groups. Sometimes I do agree that with the ugly things said about GLOs in the media, we should let some of our values known to the public. If someone knows secrets about AOII, I'd hope it would lead to an increase in respect for my beloved fraternity!

And it's probably true of all of them - there are parts that are not written down but committed to memory and passed on.

The older you become, the less this topic matters.

LOL and to true.:)

I have seen others and have access to them. but the only one that counts is mine!:)

OH! I totally forgot. I heard that a lot of orgs' ritual books are in the library of congress. The president at the time was a Fiji, so their's didn't end up there. Hmm...

Urban legend.

http://www.phigam.org/history/ritualmyth.pdf

Wow...he did a lot of work on this topic!

Sororities at my school weren't housed when I was there; we each had a chapter room and a big locked storage closet in a wing in one of the buildings. Even though we intentionally scheduled events like initiation around each other and knew when to stay away (e.g. "Theta's doing initiation this Saturday night, give 'em some space"), we couldn't help but see things. I'm sure I know some stuff about each of the other chapters that I shouldn't, and I'm sure the same goes for them about us. But y'know what? I don't really care. Nobody went blabbing it, nobody made a big deal. And the one time I walked down to the storage closet area and found another chapter's sitting wide open, I immediately went and found the first member I could and told her about it. Ritual means only as much as the reverence it's shown.

Right. That is why I am more concerned about pillow talk than someone reading our Rit.

Face it every organization has rituals, secrets, and traditions. Knowing someone elses does not make a difference, you have your own. I can understand why someone would be upset about their Secrets being known, but it means something different to each person. Finding out another organizations secrets does not compare to the day when you found out ur own.

Togglecase...SMITE!

I understand what this quote is saying.

But IMO, there is a big difference (often not understood) between living your ritual and exposing your ritual.

Or someone who dosen't want to forget so they write stuff down (when they are told not to). :mad::mad:

Interesting thread... I'll bite, even though this was bumped by a random newbie.

I really don't know much. A friend drunkenly told me a tiny little thing that's done during her sorority's initiation ceremony. I also heard the meaning of the letters of a fraternity from one of their members--however I only remember what one of them means. He also told me their knock and another secret, but I don't really remember them either.

For the most part I just know a couple of different grips from drunk friends griping me as I said hello or bye to them.

That is true and I know that some of the fraterenities letters are not even that secretive, sometimes the thing that has real meaing is a motto, the letters could just represent something that had meaning at the time of their founding but not any more.

I know what the things on the coat of arms means of a local sorority, but really, who cares.

LMAO.....

No comment. :)

The best part I wonder how many remember it or realize that they share it with different orgs. I know one grip that is used or a variation of it is used by something like a dozen different fraternities.

drinking +grips * dual membership/drinking = disaster

I usually fistpound my good friends when I'm drunk so I don't slip, which I did once, though I don't think he realized it.

I remember dating two girls in college one was Phi Mu the other Alpha Sigma Alpha. Through carelessness of both i have the ritual book for each sorority in a trunk in my attic. So i know the secrets of both sororities. However, for my own reasons i have kept the information secret. Didn't think it fair to be hateful to the two societies. ;)

Great way to introduce yourself here. I'm sure the members of both "societies" you mentioned by name can't wait to welcome you with open arms. :rolleyes:

Fun thread. Glad it got bumped, for whatever reason.

I know one grip of a sorority, which a guy told me (incidentally, he was Greek clueless, and actually told me it was of a different org, but due to the explanation of the grip, I figured out which one it really was). Apparently some girl had showed him the grip of her sorority (and he'd forgotten which one it was, only remembered one letter of the name, and it was one of those really common letters), and then when he found I was in a sorority, he got really excited to show me that he "knew" something about being Greek.

Also, the afternoon after I initiated, I stopped by a sporting event on my way home and an older guy friend, knowing I'd just learned everything, greeted me with our grip. He never told me where he'd learned it. I assume it involved a lot of liquor.

Other than that and reading "Pledged," I know nothing.

If by open arms you mean butcher knife to the balls, yeah, definitely. :)

Not privy to any Greek secrets myself. A few of my anti-Greek friends sent me supposedly "exposed" rituals from Wikileaks and other dubious sources but out of respect to the orgs I never read them. I've seen guys from this one group I'm cool with grip each other but honestly they do it so fast I couldn't tell you what it was even if I wanted to.

^ I like you 10x more now!

I know a substantial part of one sorority's ritual, and even though it will never mean anything personal to me I thought it was incredibly moving and beautiful. As for fraternities, I know a lot of tiny bits of info about a lot of different fraternities...I know the meaning of SAEs letters and Phi Alpha, although I forget which phrase goes with which name...and I know some Delts who pretty much made an inside joke out of something from their ritual that had been repeated around me enough that I figured it out. Some silly stuff about Pi Kapp too.

One of my bf's friends (a Sigma Pi) always asks me what Kappa Kappa Gamma means, and I ALWAYS give him the same fake answer. Then he's always surprised I told him so readily until he realizes I'm full of it. There's usually drinking involved. Then he tries to tell me that Sigma Pi means Sons of Christ -- then "Psych! That's Sigma Chi!"

Ha! We've had that conversation at least 3 times.

ehem. yeah.

Yep, pretty much what I was picturing.

But yikes and Ow!

LOL i see that getting outta hand.

oh me and my silly puns!

There are some things I think I figured out because of crest similarities. :) But I could be wrong.

Then of course, there's the ever popular concept of the guy who thinks telling secrets will get him laid...it didn't.