Back in the day . . .

[AlphaO7]

I've been reading a lot of responses, and I'm a little curious.... do most sorority chapter use fake candles for ceromonies now? My chapter still uses real candles for initiation, ritual and candle passing. Thankfully we've never had a problem with it.

[Benzgirl]

I have seen both. One in a house association house, used real candles. The other, in a school-owned room used fake (required by the university). They were different chapters.

Note, the one that used fake, used real ones last year. But, another sorority used real ones and dropped wax on the carpet. After that, the school banned use of real candles in their facilities.

[FirstAndFinest]

Officially, we now use battery-operated candles only. Makes no difference if the property is owned by a house corp or a college.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Benzgirl

My cousin turned 19 on August 30 . The law changed to 21 on September 1 at 12:01 a.m. She was legal for 2 nights.

WTF??? Shouldn't she have been grandfathered in?

[TSteven]

Originally Posted by 33girl

WTF??? Shouldn't she have been grandfathered in?

Like this?

[jon1856]

Originally Posted by 33girl

WTF??? Shouldn't she have been grandfathered in?

And I could have told the bar tenders and SLB inspectors in WA that since I was able to drink at home (18/19) that I could drink in WA (21)??

[33girl]

Originally Posted by jon1856

And I could have told the bar tenders and SLB inspectors in WA that since I was able to drink at home (18/19) that I could drink in WA (21)??

You don't understand what I'm saying.

The way I always understood it (and what my friends who went over the border to Ohio told me) was...if you had turned 18 in a year when the drinking age was still 18 there, you were allowed to drink. It had nothing to do with what state you personally were from. I have no idea what they did in Washington. Since I believe Benzgirl is talking about Ohio that's why I didn't understand why her friend had this issue.

[jon1856]

Originally Posted by 33girl

You don't understand what I'm saying.

The way I always understood it (and what my friends who went over the border to Ohio told me) was...if you had turned 18 in a year when the drinking age was still 18 there, you were allowed to drink. It had nothing to do with what state you personally were from. I have no idea what they did in Washington. Since I believe Benzgirl is talking about Ohio that's why I didn't understand why her friend had this issue.

I guess that neither one of us knows
I can only go by what happened to me. I have never experienced nor heard of being "grandfathered" in the case of liquor laws.
Come to think of it now, I was most likely breaking a few laws by transporting bottles to school.

[banditone]

The good old days of the past....

- Around the World parties (I hated Mexico. Damn tequila).
- Pledge Sneaks.
- Little Sisters.
- Scavenger Hunts.
- Working the beer trough during house parties.
- House vs. House snowball fights.
- Family Drinks.

[SWTXBelle]

Family drinks?

[banditone]

Yeah. My family's drink was Rattlesnake shots (equal parts Southern Comfort, Cherry Brandy, Sweet and Sour).

I remember being a pledge and drinking them with my pledge pop, and his pledge pop. Long long time ago.

[aephi alum]

Originally Posted by 33girl

WTF??? Shouldn't she have been grandfathered in?

Some states grandfathered people in when they raised the drinking age; others didn't. New York didn't. I remember seeing news footage of all the 18-20 year olds lining up at liquor stores to stock up on booze the day before the drinking age became 21.

Didn't matter to me - I was 10.

[AnchorAlum]

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

diet coke-please.......it was tab and tab alone!

serenades were so much fun-giving them and receiving them. one fraternity even had two of the members accompany them on guitars and the changed the words to "california girls" to sororities on campus and then of course, the chorus was "wish they all could be like the zeta girls" when they sang to us, and then when they got to the next street over, it was the pi phi girls, adpi girls, etc.

rush was full blown with a song and dance in the front yard to welcome the rushees to the house. after each party, the rushee was escorted by her hostess to the ends of the walk and down the steps and when enough sisters had been freed up, we started another song and dance, lining our sidewalk. we always sang the greek alphabet song and the chorus was "let me hear you say, zeta tau alpha, let me hear you say, zeta tau alpha, let ne hear you say, zeta tau alpha"......on and on and on and on! graduating sisters passed down their hideous rush dresses to anyone who needed them-the sorority chapters did not totally revamp recruitment every year.

some of the fraternity members across the street would climb out on their porch roof and give the rushess scores on cards, like the diving judges did at the olympics. it was so cruel, whether they got a "10" or a "1" and it always worried us that some rushees might not see it as an asset to have a fraternity across the street.

certain groups hung out at certain bars. at our hangout, only beer or bottled cokes were served. there were a couple of old pin ball machines(jumbo was one of them) a couple of foosball tables and several pool tables. they always played either,"the women all get prettier at closing time" or "why don't we get drunk and screw" as the bar closed. lovely!

greek week was a big deal and included some competition every night for a week. same with sigma chi derby.

we could get group seating at the football games and fraternities would do their cheers at the game.

You were probably close to my time at FSU. I preffed Zeta, by the way.

67-71. Rush was VERY formal, there were 18 houses and ice waters took two days. It seems like rush took almost two weeks. The fraternities would cruise the streets checking out the rushees. KA's rented a huge flatbed truck with hay and a keg and drove around yelling out stuff to the rushees. These are the senior executives and attorneys and judges of today. Who woulda thunk they'd even graduate?

Dinner at 5:30 sit down, family style, sing the blessing before and after the meal, bus boys, Mom is escorted out before the ladies were allowed to leave. Announcements, calling on pledges to recite the greek alphabet, fraternity boys coming by to tap girls for little sisters, honoraries coming by during dinner to tap new members, announcing a candlelight in the living room, singing around the anchor.

Monday night was chapter night all over campus. And yes, Ken's was a fun place. The Derby I snagged in 1969 hung over the bar for almost 30 years and my husband and I are forever memorialized with our names still written on the wall.

Fraternity weekends at Panama City. Pledge pins with your colors on a little bow on top. Group seating at football games where we wore dresses and the guys wore coats and ties. Girls purses were the perfect place to hide the Jack Daniels and Southern Comfort.

I could go on and on.

[AnchorAlumna]

Ah....happy days!

[breathesgelatin]

Originally Posted by AlphaO7

I've been reading a lot of responses, and I'm a little curious.... do most sorority chapter use fake candles for ceromonies now? My chapter still uses real candles for initiation, ritual and candle passing. Thankfully we've never had a problem with it.

Most if not all chapters of NPC sororities are supposed to use fake candles for ceremonies. In my opinion there are certain instances where this is OK (eg candles are a background element, especially if they're near fabric) and certain instances in which this is lame (such as when "passing a flame" is the whole point of the freakin' ceremony, and it's just one candle). A lot of chapters continue to use candles either because they're not aware of the rule or they just choose to ignore.