Reviving Ritual
 

So recently it has become the chapter ethos for a large proportion of the chapter that ritual is a waste of time, should almost never be done, and when absolutely necessary, is done simply because we have to.

I for one really enjoy ritual, find it powerful, and it's one of those side benefits I found to joining. I guess I kind of get off to the idea that so many people have done and said the exact same things before me, and here I am still doing it.

Our newly elected president for next fall (our positions are only semester long) definitely wants to try to bring back ritual, but I doubt he knows how, and so as a past president (presidents are usually juniors), I feel like I should help him with this.

Any thoughts?

If allowed, find a special place to do it. A place that's cooler than just a room in the house.

Make it an occasion.

Act excited about it yourself. Figure out the people that feel the same way as you do and get them to be more vocal about their interest in it. When the people who are interested in ritual become a vocal part of the chapter, then the people who are neutral towards it will be more likely to be interested as well, silencing the critics.

its kinda hard to me to help, you know, apples to oranges, but without sharing too much info, what exactly counts as "revving ritual?" is it as simple as reciting a pledge or singing a hymn at chapter meetings, or annual traditions that the house (or the organization, on a national level) had over the years? are there certain ceremonies or certain badges/articles of clothing you wear once a week or something?

and why do you think your chapter has fallen apathetic?

the ritual that I would like to see more often that people don't like is the way we enter a meeting and the way we start it. We did it 3x during my term as president, and twice during this semester, and both times we did it this semester it was clearly half assed because our president could tell that most people didn't want him doing it. (we meet every week), Two or three times a semester is still too much for many people as far as they're concerned.

The reason why I think people are becoming apathetic (and trust me apathetic would be better than what I think we're going towards now) is that when I was president, I had people ask me "why are we wasting time on ritual", i've heard them say things at other times, and during our elections they asked the presidential candidates their thoughts on ritual, and then during discussion made it clear that they liked that one candidate said that if people think ritual is a waste of time, we shouldn't do it.

I'm going to make a guess that this is the crux of the problem right here. They don't understand why they're doing it, so it = a waste of time. I always cringe a little inside when someone says this, but perhaps some education is the answer -- here's why we do this, here's what it means, here's why it matters. If guys are asking that question and no one has a good answer, then things are not going to get better.

Does your org have some kind of ritual education program, or does it have people who are particularly knowledgeable about your ritual who could come and speak with the chapter? Is there someone at HQ or a district/province/whatever-you-might-call-it official you and the president could talk to about this?

You want to be careful -- if someone comes in, you want it to be with an attitude of "let's try to understand what this is all about" rather than "you have to do this and we're here to make you do this." If done right, though, it can be very powerful.

^^exactly. I will also add that it's important to illustrate that without ritual, a fraternity becomes any old organization and is not very distinguishable from any other type of group. Ritual is special and (as far as I know) fraternal organizations are the only campus organizations that use it.

I had not thought about getting someone from national to come.

We have brought up the point that it's what separates us from other groups. Normally people respond with "yeah, thats what the pledging rituals are for, this one is a waste of time and stupid."

I'll admit it's harder to see the deeper meaning behind how you enter the room and call a meeting to order, but getting someone fro national is a good idea. I also think it would be good for me to spin it as a chance to air your thoughts to someone who really knows and understands our ritual and can respond better than any active brother here could.

Thanks guys.

Hmm. I'm LXA, and our business meeting ritual, so to speak, is open, and it's not very long, so it's not really a burden. If you have the power to make the decisions, maybe start with a formal roll call, then add in your creed (if it's part of your chapter ritual), and once the chapter is used to starting off and ending chapter in a fairly formal way, add in the ritual proper. Make sure that people know their parts; if the people doing the ritual show respect for it, the chapter will show respect for it. Just don't go in one day and suddenly change everything from what people are used to; take your time with it.

Matt, I wonder if we belong to the same LXA?;)

Our Ritual is closed and there is a Ritual for PNMs that are open along with a closed one of course.


Hamburglar, not knowing if you are a National, regioal, or local, it would be hard to explain.

If a National, then there are regulations to follow.

Becoming a full member should be a major item for any new member. It needs to explain the true secrets of your organization. LXA reccommends that the Ritual be held in a church for that matter.

I would also suggest that officerships be for at least a year as one semester is not long enough to learn the job, but to be able to then carry it out.

Do you have a ritual chair? If not maybe the new pres can appoint you to the position. Also, is it a national rule that your positions are only a semester long? That seems way too short. If it's not a set rule check with your HQ to see if there's anything wrong with extending it to a full year. Most groups that I'm familiar with will have positions begin in the Winter quarter/Spring semester.

If you don't have a ritual chair (and if not, is it because there is no interest? The position doesn't exist? ??), you probably have a Ritual Advisor. He might have suggestions on how to present Ritual as an integral part of your fraternity, and how "living the Ritual" is important on a day to day basis.

You need to find out what is expected of you on a national basis, and figure out a way to demonstrate how it is important. If you cannot answer the question, find someone who can, and then live by example.

We are a national organization, and the person in the chapter responsible for ritual is the Sergent-At-Arms. There is no local "ritual adviser". I didn't think of the idea of weaning ritual. That could definitely work. I was thinking that upon returning in the fall, I would setup a meeting where people could air their grievances regarding ritual to me, the president (a past SAA), and our SAA. This way we would know for sure why people had issues with it, which would allow us to know if a) bringing someone from national would actually accomplish anything, and b) how this person from national should approach the situation.

Whether or not our positions are year long or semesterly is not up for discussion here. We are a chapter at an Ivy League school, and for the more intense jobs like President, VP, treasurer, and house manager, doing them for a full year is too much to ask given our academic workload and the fact that we emphasize that all brothers be leaders in at least one other organization on campus. There is no rule against running for re-election (and people have held positions for multiple terms), but we like to try and get as many people involved in the house as much as possible.

I meant the open ritual for business meetings, nothing else. sorry if I gave the wrong idea; we call it going to 'chapter'.

We use ritual weekly for our meetings. It may help if you start having a very formal meeting at least once a month that may bring the 'ritual' & 'formal' tone back :) Hope that helps :)

Wait a minute...

:confused:

We've already had 3 imformal meetings and 1 Formal :D We used some ideas from the Delta Upsilon booklet that OTW posted. It went pretty good, but we'll get better the more we do it :)

I smell SKEPi.

Not trying to be snarky, but this is from the poster's website http://www.deltaphinu.tk/. Just an FYI to those of you who take advice at face value.

The summer of 2008 hasn't happened yet.

SKEPi? <- What's that??? And I've already started a previous post asking for help with my website. It's a brand new sorority, a brand new website. I'M NEW AT THIS! It's really getting to me, all of the mean comments .... I've been working SO hard on this sorority and I feel like I'm getting beat down every time I come on this forum. The comments don't have to be so demeaning. I've never been in a sorority, I don't know any girl friends who have. Me and the girls are doing this from scratch, with little information. Those on here who have helped, thank you. But those who keep nit picking, are seriously starting to get under my skin. I don't want to be on bad terms with anyone on here. I'm doing my best. If you have ADVICE go ahead, I would love that, pos or neg. But insulting me, and starting arguments on my posts. It makes me feel insulted and sad.

Thanks, I didn't know the wording meant that :S I'll just change it to the exact date :)

You're going to need a thicker skin, dear. If you can't put up with the criticism on a message board, then how are you going to deal with people who may put you down on campus? Potential members can smell weak leadership from a mile away.

You say that you've been working so hard with this sorority, but have you really? Try and read the 'Rush at UCSC' thread. Based on the typos and grammatical errors on your website, it really just seems like you slapped some colors and slogans together and did a shoddy job with the crest (see my heraldry comment in your other thread).

Face it, you came here promoting your sorority while bad mouthing the other sorority on campus. Who wants to join a sorority with a founder who does that?

So don't blame us for making you feel insulted and sad. You choose to feel that way.

If you want sunshine blown up the ass...there's another site for that.

And yes, 33, I do smell SKEPi as well. It's cristinasmile version 3.0.

Never having been in a sorority has nothing to do with using proper grammar and spelling. You're not sending a text message, you're creating what is the first impression anyone will have of your sorority. Take some care with it, and if you're not sure if something is correct, SPELL CHECK AND GRAMMAR CHECK. Do that even if you ARE sure everything is correct.

Sorry, but between you and the guy who goes to "skool" I've come to the conclusion that we should get rid of the written word altogether and go back to pictures if today's students can't use it properly.

The same should apply to PMs as well, IMO.

You're a stuck up bitch. But don't take it personally.

LOL

When did "forum" become code for "type with your feet and blindfolded"?

^^ I've been wondering that myself.

I guess that texting and typing on the computer has unfortunately started a lot of bad spelling habits. :p It's to bad they don't have a rehab program for spellers like me. It's such a hard habit to get out of.:p

AhAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!

Rituals are a tradition for a reason. You should always do them.

Like techzbt said, have ritual in a special place. My chapter holds their initiation ceremonies in the chapel on campus. It gives it a whole different feel than doing it in a conference room, or at a sorority house. It's much more open, and has more of a ceremony-type feel to it.

Another thing that they started this past semester is to have at least one business meeting per month in badge attire. The girls would continuously attend meetings in not just jeans, but sweatpants, and they decided that they should look more presentable. If you feel better about yourself, you tend to feel better about what you're doing.

Also, look at recruitment. Who are you recruiting? What are you teaching these students before they even consider joining your organization? Granted, you can't tell them the details about your ritual ceremonies, but you can tell them that they are a part of your organization, and you can inform them of why they are important to you, and to the chapter as a whole.

And when they are pledging your organization, teach them your motto, your creed, etc. and include more values-based education in your new member program. And teach ritual! So few groups do this, yet it is one of the things your organization is based and founded on. It is the one thing that you do, and that future members will do, that your founders once did years and years ago. The same exact thing. That should mean something.

So when your new members see a new ritual, talk to them about it afterwards. Discuss it, even for a few minutes after one of their meetings. Ask them what it meant to them. Ask them if they were nervous, and why. Have them write a short paragraph about why they think it's important.

It shouldn't be a chore to do ritual. It should be something you want to do. Learn about it, teach it, and enjoy it

Along those lines....if you have to wear whites for initiation, once you are in the sorority (I know as a rushee there can be some scrambling to get anything) get ones that are nice. You don't have to look like you are going to a Hollywood premiere, but wear something flattering. I had POS whites as an undergrad so I was never too jazzed about attending white ceremonies.

I wish that the NPC would partner with a company to offer flattering, reasonably priced, ritual-appropriate white clothing. It would solve SO many problems.

This applies to guys too - if you need to wear a suit or a sport coat, get a NICE one, not something from the bargain bin that looks like it belonged to Paul Bunyan and is puke green.

YES!!! I've thought about this too. I even wondered how hard it would be to have them made.

I had a pretty decent dress when I was an undergrad just because of the styles at the time and buying one for rush, but not everyone did and they just had to put stuff together.

I went to an initiation somewhat recently, and while I completely understand why throughout the chapter were wearing what they were wearing, it could had the potential to be so much better for the people being initiated if it weren't quite so random.

Why not have some kind of timeless dresses? (I know that's hard, but they could even be something like the Longwood jumpers*; they are what they are. No one else is going to see you in them.) Or something a lot better, who knows? That could even be passed down in the chapter?

It might even make the occasion better overall if you buy into dress affecting behavior.

*ETA: okay, I'm laughing at myself. No one is going to say "jumpers? OMG, we'll look awesome." But at least there'd be a sense of tradition.

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I suggest that you and/or your Greek Life Office get this wonderful speaker!

Uh...a little confused here...
 

What?:confused:Is that something each chapter gets to choose to do? Because for us, every chapter meeting is badge attire required, except in cases of Dollar Dress down nights for our local philanthropy...
I'm still fairly new in the group...but I just want to know why this wouldn't be a uniform rule across the board?

If there isn't anything about meeting attire in your national bylaws, it's not uniform. Over the years national bylaws, chapter bylaws and "tradition" tend to get a little mixed up as to which is which.

If you have questions, I would go straight to the source - your procedural handbooks from your HQ.

Um, I am pretty sure that we require 4 business meetings a month to be in pin attire.

When I get home (I'm away right now) tomorrow, I will check my copy of the Constitution and let you guys know.

We always had one PACE meeting (informal) a month, and the rest of the meetings were badge attire.

Ok, Thank-You :) I thought for sure that there was a rule that pertained to this...like you have to have a certain number of business meetings a month(business meetings meaning badge attire) versus months when there are 5 Sundays and we might only have announcements or a paper meeting...

Right, that's what we do as well - 4 BM no matter what, then if there are 5 Sundays we'll throw in a paper meeting, or make up for a snowday or something.