Comparison of American and German fraternities/sororities

[ladygreek]

VictoriaGermany,
Like AKA Monet's my sorority also has a chapter based in Frankfurt. And I have a German half-brother (same Dad) who lives in Homberg. Thus I have a keen interest in all things German. Please keep the dialogue going.

[VictoriaGermany]

Originally Posted by carnation

Singen Sie ”Die Lorelei”? Ich weiss nicht was soll es bedeuten....
Do your sororities have symbols, colors, and flowers? Do they allow all who want to join to do so or do they have selective membership? You could find out more about us by going to this link: www.npcwomen.org or you could look on the websites of various universities.

Hi carnation!

Oh, you speak German? Well, actually we didn´t sing this songs so far, but this are folk songs and we also sing some folk songs beside the traditional student´s songs.

On http://www.studentenlieder.de.vu you will find several German student´s songs for download. Very popular are e.g. the following songs:

- Oh alte Burschenherrlichkeit
- Student sein, wenn die Veilchen blühen
- Gaudeamus Igitur
- Nicht der Pflicht nur zu genügen

Yes, your sororities and fraternities have own symbols and colours (but we don´t have flowers). Every corporation has its own "Zirkel" (e.g. http://www.noricagraz.com/download/zirkel.jpg). Originally a Zirkel was a kind of a secret symbol for a fraternity. I goes back to the brotherhoods in the mid-age. A Zirkel is a mixture of different letters which usually refer to a whole sentence. E.g. my sorority´s Zirkel has the letters V, v, s and c. It stands for the latin sentence:

Circulus sororum victoriae vivat! (The circle of the victoria sisters may live)

The Zirkel is usually written after your name in any corporation related issues. As long as your corporation does exist, it is followed by an exclamation mark.
If you are currently in a specific position within your corporation, you will put a shortcut of your position behind the exclamation mark, e.g.

Hans Wurst Z! x

The positions vary a lot from corporation to corporation, therefore I will not list them here. In General, x stands for the first representive of the corporation. Other positions (e.g. responsible for finance or written communication) will have shortcuts like xx, xxx or xxxx. The person responsible for the education of new members will have the shortcut FM.
Well, as I said: In general.

German corporation do not accept all members. Beside the gender, there are other criterias that depend on the corporation of course. The catholic corporation only accept catholics. The Burschenschaften mainly only except Germans with German roots (e.g. a guy born in Germany which parents are from Turkey won´t be accepted in some Burschenschaften) and guys who didn´t deny liability for military service.
And of course you have to study to be accepted in most fraternities/sororities (except the ones at schools).

[emb021]

[QUOTE=AKA_Monet;1515515]Most American fraternities and sororities are Greek lettered and associated with a college or university, with the exception of the Shriners, Masons, DAR's, etc--even there are fraternities in military service. [\QUOTE]

By and large, to avoid confusion, when people speaking of 'fraternities', they are speaking of college fraternities.

While groups like the Masons, Shriners, etc are also fraternities, one usually calls them "Fraternal Organizations", along with such groups as Elks, Lions, etc. (I don't know if the DAR is a fraternal group).

Don't know about any fraternities in military service.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Some have both open and secret meanings, or they have historical significance. For example, ADPi and Phi Mu were founded as the Adelphian and Philomathean societies, respectively. Obviously, the Greek letters echo the original names.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

Some have both open and secret meanings, or they have historical significance. For example, ADPi and Phi Mu were founded as the Adelphian and Philomathean societies, respectively. Obviously, the Greek letters echo the original names.

Right, which like with anything GLO-related, makes it a challenge to give a descriptor that is all encompassing. As a general though not universal rule, the letters tend to stand for something secret, though there may also be historical or non-secret meanings attached to the letters as well.

And there are totally non-secret groups. Delta Upsilon, for example, has an open ritual and makes no secret that its motto is Δικαια Υποθηκη (Dikaia Upotheke), which means "Justice, Our Foundation."

[Psi U MC Vito]

Slight derail, but are there any other non-secret fraternities besides DU?

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Psi U MC Vito

Slight derail, but are there any other non-secret fraternities besides DU?

I could have sworn I responded to this last week.

Yes, Alpha Kappa Lambda.