Talk about seeing letters in a strange place

MysticCat · #1 12-10-2002, 12:35 PM

Bear with me, because I'm going to be intentionally vague to protect the innocent GLO.

Was at the church Christmas pageant this weekend. The costumes the kids wear all come from a costume closet the church keeps. Well, one kid came out wearing a costume that was unmistakenly ritual attire for a GLO.

I don't want to get into any specifics, but suffice it to say that it had a distinctive design on it that anyone familiar with the GLO in question could not help but recognize. (Folks not familiar with the GLO would probably just think it was nice looking, but wouldn't give it a second thought.)

I asked a mother where the costume came from, and she just said the costume closet. I know that there is an alum of this particular GLO whose children would have been pageant-age a few years back, so I don't know if this alum (or the alum's spouse) is the "culprit" who gave the robe to the church (there is also a chapter of the GLO in question at the college across the street from the church), but I do know that a kid in the pageant was wearing ritual attire for a GLO initiation. Very weird.

adduncan · #2 12-10-2002, 01:01 PM

No KIDDING that is weird!

But I've got a question for those out there who are officers, etc, of their respective GLOs.

What do you do in this situation, when something obviously private has been misused? If you raise a stink, you just violate secrecy further. But if you keep too quiet about it and not do anything, that could also cause a problem.

So--what is the right thing to do when you see ritual attire or any other equipment being misused that is supposed to be kept confidential?

Adrienne
(asking out of curiosity)

Optimist Prime · #3 12-10-2002, 01:22 PM

Keep your cool during the performance and then break into the closet afterwards.

But I have a question, if the robes themselves are secret, how do they get dry cleaned? Wouldn't they start to stink after a while.

Whether or not they are secret is no difference, I think its horrible to have ritual stuff in public like that.

AXOLiz · #4 12-10-2002, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Optimist Prime
But I have a question, if the robes themselves are secret, how do they get dry cleaned? Wouldn't they start to stink after a while.

Dryel.

Actually, I would assume most wearables for initiation, no matter the GLO, could be washed in a washer/dryer. Most dry clean only materials would probably be too expensive to use to make into a lot of whatever. Plus like you said, professional cleaning would ruin the secret. Chances are, if there are any garments involved, you should be able to wash them yourself, even if you have to do so carefully and it's a massive pain in the rear end.

swede · #5 12-10-2002, 06:32 PM

MysticCat81,

How did you know it was secret initiation robes of another GLO than yours? Unless you have seen them before or something like that?

But your rational sounds pretty good of where they came from. But I know at my chapter anyways, no brother would ever let any bro or alum just walk our with our ritual stuff.

As far as dry cleaning, you can get home dry cleaning stuff and do it in your dryer.

Or else be secretive and take it to a dry cleaner in the next town over or around Halloween time to hid the identity of the robes.

keygirl · #6 12-10-2002, 07:35 PM

In our organization the attire that you wear during ritual is not secret. It is not what you have on that is of speicial meaning it is what is expressed in our ritual. We do send out properties to the dry cleaners.

MysticCat · #7 12-11-2002, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by swede
MysticCat81,

How did you know it was secret initiation robes of another GLO than yours? Unless you have seen them before or something like that?

Well, of course, I can't be 100% positive, since I have never attended a ritual of the GLO in question (and no, it wasn't mine). But I find it hard to believe that it was anything but a ritual robe. Again, I don't want to say anything to give the identity of the GLO away -- suffice it to say that it was a solid color robe such as one would expect to see worn in a ceremonial setting, with an emblem over the heart. The emblem was one that is distinctive to a particular GLO. As I said above, people not familiar with the GLO in question would probably just think it was nice looking, but wouldn't give it a second thought. But people familiar with the symbols of the particular GLO would say, like I did: "That's the [emblem] of [GLO]!"