Quote:
Originally posted by kddani
Lavaliering doesn't mean that you're "virtually a brother," at least that i've ever heard of. Do a search on lavaliering, you'll find it's been discussed MANY times.
Basically it's like a pre-engagement. Usually goes lavaliering, pinning, engagement. Although pinning isn't used as much. It symbolizes more the relationship between you and your BF than you and the fraternity.
They're not going to tell you any secrets or anything. Of course if you want to find out a lot about the history, etc. most of that is not ritual and all you have to do is ask them and i'm sure they'll provide you with the info. They'd probably find it quite flattering that you wanted to learn more about their history.
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I think KDDani has pretty much hit it right on the nose. Below is a quote from "Greek 101" on
www.delts.org, our international's web page. You can find out just about anything about the fraternity that is not secret on that page. And I, for one, certainly agree with her that it is very flattering when someone takes an interest in our history. It's rich, and I think pretty impressive.
The quote:
"Lavaliere - When a member of the fraternity gives a Greek letter charm which bears the Greek letters of his fraternity to a sorority woman."
The only thing I would take issue with is that you absolutely DON'T have to be a sorority woman. Even back in the 60's, I lavaliered the woman who is my wife, and she is/was an independent.
The rules seem different from chapter to chapter. Some don't seem to even understand the term "pinning," and the lavaliere has sort of replaced that in some places.
A couple of other rules from my earlier years are that a pledge could lavaliere someone, but only an active could pin a woman. I think that the reason for that is obvious -- the pledge isn't an initiated member, and really doesn't have any rights to the official badge or the symbols it represents (which he doesn't yet understand) -- and, thus, can't really share them with anyone from outside the Fraternity. (that sounds a little harsh, but I can think of how to say it better -- maybe I'll come up with better verbage and come back to edit later)
And as Moxiegirl says:
"Hey, the pledges stood up for me when I walked in a room. How cool is that?"
Good for them, Moxie, the actives should, too. Nice to see that chivilry is only partly dead. And thanks for the kind words about Delt!