Were kinda in a different boat.
Not including the new alumni ritual (which none of us understand), we have 7 rituals, and only one is esoteric - The initiation ritual. We do our business meeting ceremony once a month, but its real simple and open. Our ritual of initiation is a bit of a bear. We only perform it for initiations. Our chapter used to do a lot of things wrong in it, which were well intentioned, but took away from the spirit and understanding of it. I was elected chapter ritualist, and saw my first international ritual, then saw it performed at a colony instilation. I got to play an integral role in it and finally understood it and its essence. Brought those changes back to the chapter and for the most part the brothers embraced the changes. We learned the meanigns behind what is said / done and it took on a whole new life in the chapter. Our guys live/ eat/ breathe our ritual performance and technical mastery is expected. Its a point of pride for us. Eventually, we gained the reputation for executing a flawless ritual, and then began to be asked to help initiate colonies in the area, which to me, is the highest ritualistic copliment that can be paid to a chapter.
Of course the challenge is to live up to the values expressed in our ritual, and constantly push ourselves and our brothers/sisters to attain those ideals.
|