The History of Pinnings?
 

Calling all alumni! Perhaps Tom and Erik most specifically...

So a pledge brother of mine pinned his girlfriend on Monday night. I drove down from Omaha to see it and party afterwards, had a great time, yada;yada;yada.

You could tell that this was an important event for him, b/c he was somewhat flustered, and the ceremony was somewhat disorganized, although really touching and emotional.

So I thought to myself, perhaps I could write a quick guideline to a pinning ceremony (not that it would ever be used in my chapter...we've only had 3 in 5 years...some chapters - SigEp - have like that many in April alone...anyways)

So, I was wondering if anyone knew the history behind pinnings? For some reason I vaguely remember some silver grey saying how back in the 30s-50s it was basically signifying that the young woman was almost ready to "take care of" her future husband...by this I mean that mothers were invited to pledging ceremonies in order to pin the pledge button on the young man, signifying she was transferring care of her son to the fraternity. Later when her son had found that special girl, he pinned her and it represented that she was going to take care of him soon (pinning = engagement precursor) and the fraternity had "done its job".

Again, I'm not sure when or where I heard or even if I just made it up somehow. Obviously, it's sexist and quaint by today's standards, but doesn't seem all that farfetched. I also realize that this is probably something that is highly variable from campus to campus (just like everything else on GC). but if this explanation, or any other credible explanations exist, I think it would be interesting to add to my little ceremony schedule.

I'm in my Dad's office in London right now, so when I saw this question I asked him about pinning. He tells me that back in the 60s pinning was considered a very serious committment and was tantamount to a formal engagement. In his chapter they did not use a pinning ceremony per se but rather it was a private event between the two principals that would be recognized by the whole chapter at the next weekly function. Some people treated pinning as a 'pre-engagement' and most tended to view it as an engagement made official by the giving of the pin in lieu of an engagement ring. My experience was similar to Dad's but I think we tended to view it as a pre-engagement, very serious but not quite as bindingly committed as a formal engagement, although damned close. I know some houses had pinning ceremonies but I never saw one at our house. There probably is such a ceremony but I do not think it was ever in widespread use in our fraternity.

dekeguy, Your Dad is right.

I cannot go all of the way back, but Pinnings were a Big thing back then.

It preculuded Engagement. I signafied a Pre-Engagement and was a very big thing.

The Members of The Fraternity would go to said persons House, serenade The Sorority, The Sisters Would Bring the "Victum" Out and She was Presented the Fraternity Brothers Badge as a sign of His devotion. She was then protected by The Members of The Fraternity as one of their own.

That along with many old ideas have changed today.:(

I guess I need to clairfy my question. I know that pinning is a pre-cursor to engagement. I also know that at a lot of places they do laviliering (sp?). I also get the significance and the importance...that part I know.

I guess what I'm trying to get after is, how/when did pinnings start? Beyond just the importance of giving you're girlfriend/fiance to be, your letters (thus signifying her importance in your life), is there any other symbolism in the act? Like obviously, in the example I gave, there is a little bit more to the idea than just the pending engagement.

Pinnings go back a long time. One story passed through ZTA is that one of our Founders was given a Pi Kappa Alpha pin by a potential suitor. She lost the pin, though. So that goes back to sometime around 1898.

I received a lavalier and pin from my now husband before we got engaged. I still treasure them both. His lavalier is now on my charm bracelet and I still wear his pin below my badge!

So, they would actually give the girl the Brother's Badge? Is this something that is common in other organizations? Because it's something that isn't allowed in mine, that's for sure!

pinning
 

Several of my sorority sisiters were "pinned" and yes, they did have their boyfriend's badges and letters. Most of them were more excited for the sweatshirt with letters than the actual pin as we didn't wear our badges as often as sweatshirts. Oddly enough, only 1 couple I know of that was pinned made it all the way to marriage.

I don't know the history of how pinning got started, but according to my stepdad it was a lot more common when he was in school (that was back in the late 50s-early 60s) than it is now. I know of some schools that still do it, but the whole time I was active I never saw a pinning. For us, it went lavaliering, then engagement. Do you think it's because fraternities have stricter rules now about who can wear their badges?

It actually may have waned as Fraternity Badges were not Cheao!

I did not give My Future Wife Mine! I worked to hard to get it and I wanted to wear it! It lasted a Year of wearing as I Graduated 1 year after We were Chartered and would not let Her Wear The Local I started for the same reason!

It seems in this day and age, that Many Fraternity Members do not get Badges even though We have a Basic Badge that everyone gets figured into their Ritual Fees and is Reasonable.

Just Be Proud When You get Yours, They are Special!:)

So THAT is how all those badges end up on ebay!!!

It's the disgruntled ex girlfriend!!!


OOOOHHHH!

P.S. - the men's groups which do not allow the brother's badge to be given away have special sweetheart badges available for purchase through your jeweler.

Re: pinning
 

But the badge has so much significance. I'd rather have the badge. :)

Re: Re: pinning
 

That may be true, but the sweatshirt is a whole hell of a lot warmer! :)

I still tease my fiance that the only reason he pinned me is because he knew I wouldn't lose it as he would :p

I thought I'd resurrect this thread because I had a question: is it appropriate to do this if both people are alums or is pinning/lavliering/etc only done while in college? Also, does anyone know if Delta Tau Delta does this or is it just a chapter by chapter tradition?

is it appropriate to do this if both people are alums or is pinning/lavliering/etc only done while in college?


On my campus, we didn't "pin", we "pearl-dropped". The guy would give a single pearl necklace to his girlfriend, then the girl would have a candle-passing ceremony after chapter the next week. From what I've read, it has the same significance as a pinning, like a pre-engagement.

I asked my now-husband to do this even after we graduated because I still thought it was significant. I don't know if I would feel the same about letters, but he wasn't greek anyways. :p

Fleur -- that is a wonderful idea! My chapter does the same but only for engagements... which does not happen to actives as often as I think when the tradition was started and so actives rarely see the ceremony (and often don't know the words to the song).