what is a paddle and how do you get one

When i was initated in november i went to the banquet right afterwards and pillows and paddles were being exchanged... please someone explain some of these traditions to me.....

laura

[auntieaub]

in my chapter paddles were given to senior sisters at the senior send-off by their families. my little, her little and her little got together and made me a paddle. i think that some chapters give paddles to their initiates, but in our case it was more fun, cause some families glued things to the paddle which were parts of inside jokes (pieces of broken plates, fabric from formal dresses, etc.) which made them very personal, special and funny - like tangible memories.

the pillows part i don't know. we didn't have any traditions with pillows, but i do now that some members had pin-pillows that they kept their pins and founders' day ribbons pinned to, but they were small, satiny and usually lacy, too. in my opinon a little corny, but that's because i prefer to have my pin in its protective little box and i'm not a satiny, lacy sorta girl anyway.

that's my two cents.

aubrey

[DawnAPhi]

In my chapter, paddles are given by the little sister to the big sister at fall formal. It is just a fun tradition that my chapter has, and we all enjoy it!

AOE,
Sandy

[yogiPhi]

The tradition of paddles comes from years ago when hazing was still very much a part of fraternity life. The pledges were "paddled" for breaking any of their pledge rules. They started to put individual's names and chapter letters on them as sort of a 'badge of honour' once people had been initiated and they got to keep them. As 'paddling' was phased out, the tradition of passing on the paddles was kept but it was made more of a 'sisterhood' / 'brotherhood' thing with them being personalized.

That's where the tradition comes from! I've heard that a lot of American chapters have rules against them being in the house. But I've also seen with my own two eyes that this rule isn't followed!

[bruinaphi]

Pillow paddle exchange is a tradition where the little sister makes a "paddle" (usually in the shape of an ivy leaf) for her big sister and gives it to her after initiation. The big sister makes a pillow for the little sister and gives it to her at the exchange. Similar to what was described above, the pillows and paddles usually have scraps that are inside jokes, pictures of the members and other family traditions. The tradition varies from chapter to chapter. In my chapter we gave our bigs paddles before intitiation and instead of making us pillows they made us photo albums and put pictures from our pledge period in them.

I hope that I've done a decent job explaining.

Laura

I have been wondering about htose things and wasn't sure how one got those. Now i want one

Laura

[navane]

Hello!

When I was going through informal recruitment with an org at my university (not Alpha Phi), I was given a tour of the house. The member showing me around pointed out the sisters' bricks lined up in the chapter room. I guess the littles decorate a brick for their bigs and the bigs make pillows for them (not pin pillows but bigger decorative ones). Interesting!

.....Kelly

[ladyj39]

In my chapter, the bigs would make a special basket that usually contained a house sweatshirt (ours was light gray with bordeaux letters), an ivy plant, scrapbook, pin pillow, and other goodies. We would present them to each new active right after our initiation brunch. Then, the new actives would present their big sisters with a paddle at their first formal meeting.

As for pillows, the big sisters would decorate a pillowcase and fill it with snacks and toys to give to their littles for their new member retreat. It was kind of like a care package. They are both really neat traditions because they are both fun surprises!

Ladyj39,
I was surfing coll. chptr sites last night on the APhi website and saw your chapter's page and the baskets you all give one another to new members... I thought that was pretty cool.

Laura