Ritual dilemna
 

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hhhmmmmmmmmmmm
If your stories are told in the first person (sorry, ican't remeber if theywere or not.) you could have that person describe what they experince while they through it. Also, you can take a religious ceremony and modify to meet your ends. http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif

Get AGD Alum to help! She could come up with a great one!

I have read your brookline stories, and not to sound like a dumb bumpkin but it took me reading your other posts on here to realize that the sorority wasnt real. I hear of so many sororities on here that I have never heard of, mostly due to the fact that I dont know much about the northern greek system. Here is my 2.5 cents, ritual in itself in 99% of all instances is a secret cermony, left as a mystery to those who have not seen it. Your description can be broad, and at the same time retain its secrecy, if that makes any sense. Or you can spill the beans and make it dignified and glorious, giving you one heck of a story. I guess seeing my intiation and being a Master Mason I dont guess I could concieve coming up with a fictional ritual, I would be to afraid I would keep reverting back to all the diffrent degrees I have seen. Who knows.

BTW- Any chance that your fictional sorority could actually be some kind of service sorority at some school? I dont know much about service sororities, but I think that many of them only exist on the campus they were founded at. Here at Eastern we have Kappa Delta Tau, and I dont think they exist anywhere in the world. It would be cool if you devise a ritual then somewhere down the road a service sorority with your letters finds it and actually uses it create their own ritual. I'm rambling

[This message has been edited by KABillyMac (edited March 28, 2001).]

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Umm, how to answer, OK basically all initiation is, is letting the "pledges" know the "secrets" of the sorority as in, this is where you find out what the letters stand for. For example say your sorority was alpha beta chi, now during your initiation ritual it goes through background of what your letters stand for say...Always(alpha) Behind((beta) Christ(Chi) (no flaming please, I am completely pulling this out of my butt) And how everyday you should try to live up to the letters on your chest,and so on. However initiation is more about the feeling behind it then (and I have heard this from other groups too) the actual wording of the ceremony which can get kind of wordy. Please email me if I can help further, I love your series http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif

I think it would be so cool if you could mke up a ritual! And don't doubt yourself! Our founders all did just what you are doing...but for a different purpose. if you are creative (which you are), you'll come up with something veyr nice, I'm sure. If I were you, I would just think of any ceremony and go from there. Like a wedding. what are the parts? The entrance, the vows, the exchange of symbols (rings), the part where the pastor tells you what marriage is about and what it means and then the part where they pronounce you married! It seems like a lot fo ceremonies are like that (I see analogies in graduation ceremonies, and even things I've read about in indigenous cultures).

Good luck!

Also, there are GLO's with open rituals. You could look at those to get ideas. Check out http://mcrae.ca/greek/docuhome.htm to help you get some ideas. Click on ritual. Hope this helps.

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Steve Corbin
Lambda Chi Alpha
Theta Kappa Chapter
Rose-Hulman Inst. of Tech.

I think you should make up both the pledging and initiation rituals and it might be nice to have a big/little sister ceremony too, if you don't already have one.

Love to help out on this one - I think it would be cool.

I would love to help out too!

I think you could definatley make up your own initiation ceremony. Working form a religious ceremony such as a wedding is a great starting point.
I was wondering though, considering KABillyMac's comment about not knowing the sorority was fictional, and Im sure other people have thought this as well, do you think you should include a disclaimer of some sort? just to be on the safe side?

brooklineu, the main thing I ask, is do not put a lot of hazing crap in it.
Each Greek Organization has their secrets known only to members that have been initiated and none else are to know!! I would not even tell my ex-wife anything as I worked to hard to get where we are today.

Good luck in you writing!!!

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Tom Earp LX Z#1
Pittsburg State U. (Kansas)

I think it's great that you're not going to conform to what people think initiation rituals are, and actually try to make something that's beautiful and meaningful. I'm sure you'll be fine and be able to make something up that works really well.

I think folks above reiterated what should be done in your book. Athough I am unfamiliar with your literature, I think that if what is said is true, then, thank you because I am seeing more and more young people who are absolutely clueless about what a GLO is much less joining one. I also think that people fear what they do not comprehend. So, that is why GLO's have been given a bad rap.

Let me ask you this question: How many rituals do you think you should have? And do you understand the basic premise of a ritual, any ritual be it religious, governmental or organizational? I would suggest that you also look up a Protocol book for special events and an etiquette book to get some ideas. For instance, there are ways you are supposed to set a table. There is a formal setting, an informal setting and casual setting. Why were these settings developed and by whom? I think you may come to some revelations about the beauty to which we behold our organizations... Just my thoughts...

I didnt get a chance to check out your web site prevously but I just checked it out and I think its great. your doing a wonderful job.