"The day" was mid-1990's for me...
It was still called rush, rho chis were still rho chis, and real candles were used at pref. The year I rushed was the last year sororities could give flowers to rushees (*ahem* PNMs) at pref. One of our songs had the word "rushee" in it. (I don't think we use that song any more. "Rushee" has two syllables; "potential new member" has six, so it doesn't quite fit the meter.)
AEPhi had just changed over from "pledge" to "new member". My new member manual says "pledge manual" on the spine, and the word "pledge" is used throughout.
Real candles were used for candle passes, too, but there was a candle pass for a baby. When I had my candle pass for getting engaged, the circle happened to start with me, and I had to explain carefully that I was engaged and not pregnant.
