Ritual Chair
 

I am the new Ritual Chair for my chapter. Does anybody have any good program ideas?

What does that mean? In Kappa Sig our Ritual chair would be responsible for getting as many people "proficient" as poissible. Proficient is when they have parts of the ritual memorized and are capable of performing it well from memory.

Also, i suppose some people will give ritual messages . . maybe a weekly reading or something about how to live according to the ritual.

Some others will sponsor responsibiliy workshops also . . it depends.

What is your job description?

Having been Ritual Chair for my chapter, I would be very wary of what you share and where you get your information. You are in charge of your ritual, which is very particular to your organization, and not something to be posting about on a message board. If you need help or are searching for ideas about what to do with your position, I suggest getting in touch with other women in your organization who have been Ritual Chairs in their chapters.

I've also been ritual chair for my sorority.

Programs that are best generally just deal with review. Maybe have a short meeting every few months to go over things.

We also go over anything ritual related with our new members after they are initiated....

It is hard to give advice without giving away too much..
I would try to get advice from other sisters of yours with whom you can speak more freely.

I was Marshal for my chapter, which is pretty much the same thing as Ritual Chair. I'd recommend short review and trivia sessions at formal chapter meetings. First, make sure that chapter members can carry out the ritual (and correctly pronounce everything!), then understand the meaning behind it. As alumnae, we compare notes and it's amazing how each chapter has put its own spin on some things -- which should not happen.

As has already been stressed, keeping the ritual under wraps is of the essence. It's what makes your organization unique and special.

Those are both excellent ideas - we tried doing that in our chapter as well.

However, I suspect that you would be best served getting tips from people in your org. I would think that the best suggestions would come from those with the same ritual/traditions/etc.

Best of luck and congratulations.

What he said.

See if you can get together with your Sisterhood Chair to come up with ideas to incorporate our Ritual whenever you come together as a chapter.

Ann, GC is a great resource gathering and generating ideas to better your chapter. Still, because of the nature of your office, it'd be best to keep this type of discussion with those in your chapter and off-line, or like someone else previously suggested, contact our sisters who have held your office in the past. Those who know the beauty of our Ritual will be the ones who will best be able to help you.

hello!
i private messaged you!

good luck!

sara

[off topic]

And if you haven't done so already, please post in the Roll Call thread in the AGD forum when you get a chance! We'd love to meet you!

[/off topic]

Thanks for replying everyone. I understand the secretive nature of being Ritual Coordinator, but the general ideas you have posted are quite helpful.

Thanks a lot!

I think the suggestion about reviewing ritual after the event with NMs is a very interesting idea. We never did that, but it might help with really understanding the experience and grasping it long term...

I mean when that cold water hit me I was shocked, granted it was -10 in a WI winter, but that slip just was not enough to keep me warm!...(j/k)

but I really do think post-ritual review is a great idea.

Something I always advise is to have a ritual conduct and dress workshop with all sisters each semester, so they know what is expected of them when they come to ritual. Seems like it may be a no-brainer, but you know how it goes sometimes :)

as a ritual chair, some suggestions of things to do

1) Talk to the outgoing chair about her office, things she did and others she wish she might have handled differently.
2) Introduce yourself to your adviser. Together, set goals for your office.
3) Inventory your ritual equipment. You may need to replace or order new items. Your adviser can assist you with this.
4) Get sisters to assist with set up and break down for initiations and ritual. The chapter pres can help you with this-- perhaps you can select a rotating committee of women who assist you with different tasks.
5) Hold yearly ritual reviews with the chapter
6) Help your membership education officer with planning a chapter education session on dressing pin attire, and how that translates to "business attire" for the workplace.
7) Help run one of the new member sessions. You can talk about the new members' upcoming initiation and certain things to expect, how to behave, etc. As they will most likely learn the meaning of certain things like your crest at initation, you can hold an activity with them -- something like creating a personal coat-of-arms for themselves that reflect things expressed in your sorority's motto/creed/symphony, and share how having a personal crest and the sorority crest are emblems that remind us to leave a happy, useful life helping others and bettering ourselves morally and mentally, etc.

Re: Ritual Chair
 

Finally a thread I won't look dumb on! :D

I was Chaplain of my Fraternity for a very long time. One thing I did was match up brothers whose natural talents would be easily blended into the ritual, and gave out parts accordingly. I also I changed my voice to sound deeper and brighter. I kind of sounded like Mustafa, from the Lion King. I'm not saying you should sound like Mustafa, but I would suggest reading some books about voice training and trying the exercises.

My biggest contrabution to the Brotherhood though would be the Quote of the Week. I think that Chaplain/Ritual Chair should act as a meditator among Brothers, and basicaly the people from Nationals when I asked them told me my job was to ensure the good feelings of my brothers toward one another. In college, among a group of leaders, that is a very difficult task. So if I noticed people weren't getting along, or some one came to me with a problem, I'd find an apporitate quote, but usally I just wrote them, and either call people out without naming names or would try to uplift the overall morale of my chapter.

Leading Ritual is the most importarnt job in Fraternity/Sorority. You only get initated once, and how those girls feel the night they take their Oath will be based mostly on you, and how you did things. Congratulations and good luck.