What is the purpose of secret rituals?
 

I want to rush when I go to college.

Can someone please explain what is the purpose of secret rituals in sororities and why they exist?
(Please note - I am not asking you to give away your secrets, I just want to know what is the purpose for their existence).
Thanks for your help.

Rituals exist to share the secret meanings of the sorority/fraternity, impart knowledge specific to being a full initiated member and to bind all the members together (worldwide) with a common ritual. These rituals may or may not include religious quotes, readings from the Bible, display of symbols, specific actions (such as learning a secret handshake or grip) and signing a book as a fully initiated member. To the best of my knowledge, every national fraternity/sorority has beautiful rituals that are held very dear to their members. They are not dangerous nor do they include anything that would compromise you as a person. I would say that 99% of ritual performed by local and regional groups would fall into this 'lovely' category as well. There are some groups that,unfortunately, use their ritual as a means to degrade or intimidate their members. This reflects badly on all of us.

If you have questions about the contents of a chapter's ritual ask them. They will tell you most of what you need to know to calm your fears. Personally I relive my experience of joining my fraternity any time I witness a Pledging or Initation. I feel honored that as an Alumnae Chapter President, I lead the rituals of the Alumnae World - showing my love for my Fraternity in this most special way.

Barbara

Excellent point, PnguinTrax. I don't know how this will sound, but I hope it is acceptable (since I'm still a neo at all this). Sometimes you reach a point in greekdom where everything isn't always a bowl of cherries. But whenever I start to feel that way, I reflect back on the ritual and how beautiful it was (and is). I develop that warm sense of why I joined my sorority in the first place. Something about going through that process intensifies just the journey of getting there. When I am upset about something or someone, sometimes I can just THINK about the ritual and I will become very emotional. There are so many reasons why I joined my sorority, but if even for none other reason than the ritual itself, I am convinced that Alpha Kappa Alpha is the most beautiful sorority anyone could ever join. I'm not putting down anyone else's organization, by the way. I'm simply conveying my love for my own. And knowing that I don't have to try to DESCRIBE this feeling to someone else, and simply be content in knowing that my sorors have experienced it too, gives me a great deal of comfort. That's one of the reason it serves as such a mechanism for binding. One can only EXPERIENCE it.

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No weapon formed against me shall prosper, for I am a child of the Most High God, Who sits upon the Throne of Grace, and rules all Heaven and Earth.

Ritual is the part about a fraternity or a sorority that really differintiates (I can't spell) them from every other organization. It is what binds us together as members across the country and the globe in some cases. It is what was put together to mean the world to people hundreds of years ago, and what should be the most sacred part to your sorority.
I classify it as a beautiful expression of what 3 women (in my sorority's case)came together to accomplish, and when we do rituals for pinning, and initiation, and senior cermony every semester it reminds me of why i pledged, and why I want others to become a part of what I love so much. I know all this sounds like a bunch of nothing but if you pledge, you will just feel it. And that is how you know it is right

I agree with everyone on how the rituals are what makes my sorority different from others. But just an interesting thing, (I heard this somewhere) of like, the top 5 best kept secrets in the WORLD, three of them are from fraternities. The other two are like secret government stuff. I don't know if you guys know the symbols that phi sigma kappa has...but those symbols are an example of one in the top five.

HMMM Cucci, I wonder where you heard that from!!!

Props to Lefty...she is the one who told me. http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif heheheheheh

Some very good points above.

I'm not an expert on anyone else's ritual, but have done a small amount of reading on the subject.

Here are the two things which made the biggest impression on me. First, most rituals are more alike than different from fraternity (or sorority) to fraternity, and second, many, if not most, have their roots in Masonry. I'm not a Mason, but many of the founders of the biggest and oldest fraternities were.

Fraternally,
DeltAlum

[This message has been edited by DeltAlum (edited July 05, 2000).]

Peace & Blessings
The purpose of the rituals is to fully bring the initiate into the organization (in laymans terms).
The rituals date back to the Egyptian Mystery system and that's where we (BGLOs) get our rituals from.
Our rituals, although they are secret, serve the same purpose as any other ritual, like baptism, marriage...it's a simple ritual.

SapphireSensation
RoyalBlueDivaDivine

I would say that the purpose of a GLO's rituals is to enhance a bond that is established, and give that bond a special meaning, based on the history, ideals, and goals of the particular GLO. The secret nature of the ritual is to keep the ritual special to those who best understand the meaning of the ritual, the members of the GLO themselves. http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif