Funeral Rituals among Greeks
 

I was just reading in the Chat thread about an Alpha Chi Omega's funeral, and to my knowledge, we don't have one. IF it's a private ritual, please don't post yours, but I am curious - do most GLOs have something of this sort? Or are brothers/sisters' passing noted at Convention?

One of the reasons I ask is, when I was in school, one of our sisters died. She knew she had a (then) incurable illness, and between when she found out (in July) and when she died (in October), she planned her funeral. She didn't want any flowers; she wanted money to find a cure for pph. When a group of us went to the funeral home, I somehow got pulled down to the kneeler in front of her casket, and right in my face was a bouquet of violets in her hands. Next to it was a card in her handwriting, saying, "To ___, Love & Loyally, Me". That shook me up to no end!

SAI does in fact have a ceremony that can be performed as a sister's funeral. It is an open ceremony basically rededicating the member's life to SAI and recognizing her contributions to the fraternity.

I have read over it before, but I can't think of all the details. I know I want it done at my funeral!

AEPhi has a ritual to commemorate a deceased sister. I've never observed or participated in the ritual. It's open, but IIRC, there is a section that is included only if everyone present is an initiated sister.

Active sisters are typically 18-22 years old... and it's always sad when someone that young dies. :(

AOII also has a memorial service that is open to family members of the sister.

I was actually wondering about this...

I know that we have a ceremony that is open- our chapter offered to perform it at the memorial service, but the family declined. She had already planned her funeral, and we respected that. I don't know exactly what it entails, however. I plan on finding out. I do know that it can be performed for colligates or alumnae.

I think a more common detail is the usage of red carnations (or whatever your GLO's flower is). There was a wreath of them at the front of the chapel, and a red carnation adorned the front of the bulletin.

The woman who died was an alumna of the Alpha Chi chapter at our school, and had made incredible impacts at the school itself. She'll be sorely missed.

Alpha Phi Omega has a memorial ceremony for deceased Brothers. I've never participated in it or even seen it done, but it is open.

ASA has an open ritual for deceased sisters. We also have a memorial service during convention for sisters who have passed away during that biennium.

ODPhi does have a ceremony for deceased brothers, but it is closed and not performed at the actual funeral.

Delta Upsilon has both a memorial and a funeral ritual. As DU is a non-secret fraternity, both are open to the public and are adaptable to the family's and the brother's wishes. As for the record of Brothers who have crossed to Chapter Eternal, each issue of our fraternity magazine, The DU Quarterly, includes a section called 'Alpha & Omega' which lists by chapter the brothers who have passed since the last listing.

There are some additional responses in this thread, too.

Delta Chi has a memorial ceremony that is open and performed at the burial if the family allows it. We can also perform it by ourselves to commemorate that brothers life if the family does not wish to have the ceremony, which I think is a nice option. Its really a beautiful statement of our beliefs though I hope I don't have to take part in it for a very long time...

My organization (AKA) does have a ritual for deceased Sorors. It's very touching and moving.

Theta Chi has something similar along these lines.

I think Kappa has an open ritual thing. Actually, I could totally be making that up. I know that our founders day ceremony is open. (I realize those are two different things, but I was just kind of surprised we had any open rituals.)

Theta Phi Alpha has one for our deceased members but luckily I've never actually witnessed one performed. I am almost positive it's an open ceremony though so it could be done with family members.