Pass the Candle
 

What can Pass the Candle be done for? I'm a bit confused on that because of of the other GLOs on campus had one for a girl who got into dental school.

I'm not completely sure, but it may vary from chapter to chapter.

Our chapter passes it for 3 things: friendship, if a sister is pinned by her fraternity boyfriend, and if a sister gets engaged.

it's really beautiful, and ever since the first candle pass we had when I was an Alpha, I completely live for candle passes!! I just hope someday that we will have a candlepass if I ever get engaged!

Jewell (I like calling you that, I hope you don't mind! :) ) -

Every school/chapter does the Candlelight differently, and for different times. We passed the candle around once for sisterhood, twice for being lavaliered, three times for being pinned, four times for getting engaged, and five times for getting married.

But we also had a Sisterhood Circle without a Candlelight, and that's when things such as Law School, etc would be brought up & celebrated!


edited for spelling

My chapter did the candle pass (for us it was a rose ceremony, a tradition from the local chapter) for lavaliering (once around), pinning (twice), engagement (three), and pregnancy (four)...needless to say I was never at a ceremony with the rose going around four times (but I would've loved to seen it)!

With lavaliering, we did the ceremony if a guy lavaliered us or if we lavaliered our guy. Did any other chapter do that?

Well the candle passings I have done were quite similiar to what Honey has mentioned. The difference was that during the first time around the sister would blow it out if she was 'pinned'. The second time around if she was given a promise ring and the third time around if she was given an engagement ring.
In all honesty though, by the third time around I'm about ready for the candle to blown and I don't have to sing 'Pass it On' anymore. (I think this is because my last candle passing was at Founders Day with the entire active collegiate chapter of Gamma Rho and like 50 alum, it took FOREVER to get the candle around three times. I was so tired of singing my the time Meghan blew out the candle. I think I was crying not only for her but for not having to sing anymore).
Sorry had to share my candle passing experience. :)

Brianna

Yikes!!! Y'all sang "Pass It On" through the WHOLE THING?!?!?!? I'd probably hate the song by then!! We sang several different songs, all the slower ones.

Are Promise Rings big again? We really didn't give them much respect (silly as it would seem).

LOL @ singing through the whole thing.. that would drive me nuts too! We sing it once, hum it once, sing it once, until someone blows out the candle :)

Maybe we're the only chapter who didn't sing "Pass It On" for the candle pass/rose ceremony :confused:. The song we sang went something like this:

ADPi will always love you,
Though you're his sweetheart now,
Congratulations, and all best wishes,
And may the rest of your dreams come true. (I think)

There's another verse that I can never remember all the words for, but I think we enjoyed singing this song as separate from Pass It On, since we always sang it during FR, Diamond sister revealing, etc.

We had a candle pass for a promise ring and after singing Pass it On over and over, I started to not even notice that I was doing it, and when I would start to notice I would mess up because I wasn't sure what part we were on. (This is probably just me... :rolleyes: )

Gosh, we sang a whole slew of songs, depending on how long it was taking! Pass It On, I Love The Pin, Remember Your ADPi Girl, When You Love An Alpha Delta (wonderfully corny!) - I can't think, but we sang after every meeting.

Yes, Pass it On does get annoying after awhile but I have only participated in three candle passings so I treasure each one. Plus, when I get engaged I do want a candle passing. It's something I've wanted since I knew about them.

Brianna

I am a very large fan of how we do candle passings...but that is because I have had one too... Anyways...in my chapter we other than sisterhood things, we only do them for people who get engaged. So we will sing multiple different songs during it...All the nice ones and what not...But as it goes around, it will stop at different sisters who have prepared something to say about the couple or just the sister... It ends up being really nice...but many people end up crying... At mine, my diamond sisters both spoke and another close sister... Also, we as a chapter get a nice candle with flowers around the base of it for the passing, then place the ring around it... For the past few years we have also been having the passings at Black Diamond or our semi-formal/themed (depends on the social chair)... Oh but for mine they were talking about not doing it there...so they then surprised me at our themed dance by having my fiancee come ask for my ring part way through... That was when I realized I was getting a candle passing... Anyways I think I have gone on about this for long enough for now...

For a 'Candle Light' we sing a song called The Seal of Alpha Delta Pi.... anyone ever heard it? If not I'll post the words. We go once around for Lavalier, twice for a promise, three for engagement, and four for anything very special (pregnant, etc...)

-Lindsay

I've never heard of it...I would love to know the words! :)

Here are the words...
It's kind of a quick beat...


Just put him in a corner
And hold him tight like this
Just put your arms around his waist
And on his lips a kiss if he'll let you
And if he starts to murmur
And if he starts to sigh
Just tell him it's the sacred seal of Alpha Delta Pi

-Lindsay

Oh, okay! We sang that to "The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You".

But don't listen to me - we're the chapter that sang the Blessing to "Here Comes Peter Cottontail"! :rolleyes:

We do it 4 times...
1) Friendship 2)lavalier/promise ring 3) engagement 4) pregnancy
I have never seen a pregnancy one... I guess this is a good thing, considering all of the sisters are single.
Often, seniors will request a candle passing on their last meeting. In that case, we do it for friendship.

We also sing Pass It On. I absolutely LOVE this song.

An advisor told us this story:
A girl was going through recruitment at our school. She was an ADPi legacy, but she didn't know if she wanted to go ADPi or not. During preference party, ADPi sisters had a candle passing and sang Pass it On. The girl started to cry, and she said that her mom used to sing that song to her when she was a baby. Needless to say, she joined ADPi.

I have since vowed to sing this to my daughter one day. :)

Oh wow, that is too sweet that that girls mom sang Pass it On to her as a child. I'm sure I'll sing a few ADPi songs to my daugters (when I have any. LOL).
Brianna

You better believe there'll be some ADPi songs sung when I have children...boy or girl....gotta train those boys to look for the right type of women! ;) :D

It sounds like my chapter did candle pass a little differently than the others. Whoever passed the candle asked someone else (sworn to secrecy) to bring the candle to chapter meeting in a bag with a tape (I guess now they'd use a CD). The tape had songs that were special to the couple. After chapter was over, the president would put the tape in the cassette player and start the candle pass- nobody blew it out after one time- but twice was "dropped" (lavaliered) and 3 times was engaged.

I like the idea of the chapter singing better because people would not talk as much. Isn't it strange how different chapters have different traditions? Yet we are all bonded by the same ritual........

Hahahaha! VERY true!!!

Candle Passing song
 

We sing "When You Love an Alpha Delta"
Here's the words:

When you love an Alpha Delta,
You're a very special boy.
When you love an Alpha Delta,
Your whole life is filled with joy.
We're the dearest girls, sincerest girls,
Of all girls under the sun.
When you love an Alpha Delta,
Your whole life has just begun.

:p

Another question about candle lightings
 

I just got lavaliered and haven't told my chapter yet, my candlelighting is on sunday. Anyhow, normally our chapter has members in our family join in walking the candle around (i.e.- bigs and grandbigs) but none of my family is around anymore so who walks around in their absense.

pi love,
zeta omega

Re: Another question about candle lightings
 

Congratulations on being lavaliered!! Why don't you have a sister you're close to walk the candle for you? It would be quite an honor, I would think!

congratulations FoxC!!!! I think that is every sorority girl's dream!!!!!! I wish you all the best! :)

Can I ask a question? what do you mean by Walk the candle?

The president in our chapter always brought the candle out from another room while we were making our circle. Then we started to sing "Remeber" as she explain what the first pass was (friendship). The candle would be passed from sister to sister around the circle until it reached her again as we alternated singing and humming ( i think texas*princess explained what our chapter does previously somewhere ). The president would then explain what the second pass was for (lavaliere) and repeat the process. For the third pass, she would blow out the candle, slip the engagement ring on the candle, relight and begin again. ON whatever pass it was, the sister it affected would blow out the candle.

I have only seen one alteration to this...a sister didn't know she was being proposed to until her Big blew it out for her, as her boyfriend was walking into the room and getting on one knee.

I will be getting engaged this year and will be returning to Dallas to my original Alumnae Association. Since I am no longer a collegiate, I'm curious if any other sisters still do candle passes in their Alum Groups? The girls in my group are the ones that I would want to see my pass anyways. They are the girls that meant the most to me when I was a collegiate.

Or would it inappropriate to do it when the collegiates from my chapter and the alums get together for an event...Like Founders Day? Thoughts?

I can't see why not. Not everyone gets engaged while in college and I know I still want a candle passing even as a alumna. We have done candle passings at founders day. I would just contact your local alumnae association and find out when there will be a 'get together' of alumnae or alums and collegians. If you know when your engagement will occur you could try for founders day.

Congratulations!!!!!!

Brianna

Sherra, I don't see a thing wrong with your wanting to share your joy with your sisters! My only question would be, do you go to meetings often enough that they won't immediately put two and two together when you go back and there's suddenly a Candlelight?

Congratulations and Best Wishes!

Well, normally yes i do. But since I have been in Houston, I have joined a different group. So upon returning, it will have to be some time before I could do it. But as much as i think the will any day, i don't really expect a proposal until June...so that would be 4 meetings, 1 formal and founders days after the move.

Congratulations!!!! That is so incredibly awesome! I know GU chapter would LOVE to take part (if you wanted to of course!) because we LOVE LOVE LOVE candle passes & would love to share that special time with you!!!

I don't understand the whole "candle walking" thing either? Can someone explain it a little more or pm me? :confused:

::sigh::

I want a candlepass! :p

I have to admit, I'm somewhat surprised that every chapter seems to do this a little differently!

At my chapter (we called it a Candlelight, btw), the president started the candle, announcing that it would go around the first time for friendship/sisterhood. When it came back to her, she would announce that the second time was for being lavaliered, then the third time for getting pinned, and the fourth time, for being engaged. I don't know if the secret marriage clause is still in the ADPi policy, but that's why we didn't have the marriage round, and heaven forbid we would have one for *anything* else!!!

We sang/hummed a variety of the slow/romantic songs, starting with "Pass It On" (for the sisterhood round), then a mix of "Remember Your ADPi Girl", "I Love The Pin", "When You Love An Alpha Delta" and more that I can't remember right now.

Oh, the candle was always a white taper, with blue & white ribbons attached, and the honoree always got a white rosebud with blue & white ribbons after she was revealed.

What in the world are you talking about? A secret marriage clause? Please, do tell!

As far as I know, the marriage clause is still in affect. However it isn't very secret. It is simply that if you get married, you are no longer active. period. You become alum at that point. Just like the pregancy one says that if you become pregnant while you are active, you are automatically alum and no longer an active collegiate. That isn't too much of a shock for anyone, I'm sure.

But, i could see the additional passes of the candle if an alum group was still doing them. It would be a great way to celebrate the next milestones in a sister's life.

Can someone please explain "walking the Candle"?

Thank you sister! You are so sweet!! I can't wait to get back to Dallas so I can meet you face to face. :) I love that message boards can bring sisters together. :) OH HOW FUN!!

I'll have to think about that one......mmmm.....my own candle pass......

Nothing secret - just that Alpha Delta Pi doesn't condone secret marriages, and as Sherra said, if you get married or pregnant, you must take alumnae status.

I have got to find my original Pledge Book! There are some really funky phrases in there that everyone will get a good laugh at! Granted, it was a really old book, and was replaced halfway through my (four month!) pledgeship...!

FOUR MONTHS???????

Yep!

Pledged in November, initiated in March.







feeling very old...

OK- I just looked up this marriage business in the current COB- it says that a sister can't be granted a social-only or partial membership if they're married. I know you can be married and be an Alpha or a Delta. Isn't our very own GC Juliebug married?

I love it that in your old pledge book it talks about secret marriages, honeychile! That is too funny. One president from our chapter was secretly married while she was still president. I guess she never got to have a canlde pass for that one (trying to get back to the subject of the thread )

I think a chapter may be misinterpreting the rules a little if they allow married women to join as an alpha or remain as a delta. The should say, "welcome to Pi-hood, baby!" BTW: IT ROCKS!