Fraternity and Sorority Arms, Seals, Flags and other Insignia

[MysticCat]

Yea on seeing this thread active again.

(And yes, the "twisted wreath" or torse, is a standard componant of a traditional coat of arms.)

Originally Posted by lleduc

Here is a very interesting find! Years ago while taking a trip to Williamsburg Virginia with the family, I was in the churchyard, and came across a very neat gravestone that had a COA on it that was IDENTICAL to that of Kappa Sigma Kappa, which was founded in 1867 at VMI, this tomb was from 1746!! Here are the images I have of the KSK COA, and the tombstone.





Its very neat to see where an idea may come from!

While they are certainly quite similar, I'm not sure I'd go as far as identical. I assume the letters "ΚΣΚ" aren't written across the fess (especially since writing on the shield of a coat of arms is almost unheard of in traditional heraldry).

It also looks the crescents on the tombstone are standard crescents (horns straight up), while the Kappa Sigma Kappa ones are decrescent (horns to the sinister/left from the wearer's perspective).

Finally, the colors could be different, given that the tombstone doesn't show the colors.

That said, a did a little digging. If my hunch is right, the tombstone you have the picture of is the grave of Thomas Yuille (1719-1746) in Bruton Parish churchyard. The arms would be blazoned:

Argent on a fess between three crescents sable, a garb or branded gules. Crest -- An ear of wheat proper leaved vert. Motto -- Numine et virtute.

This means a silver shield with a black fess (band across the middle) and black crescent moons, with a gold sheaf bound with a red band on the fess. The crest would be an ear of wheat its natural color, with green leaves. While the fess and three crescents could be a common enough design, the motto is the same as the Kappa Sigma Kappa motto. So I do think you're on to something.

BTW, the VMI Kappa Sigma Kappa went inactive for a while, was later revived and then merged (except for nine chapters) with Theta Xi in the 1960s. The crescents on Theta Xi's arms are taken from the Kappa Sigma Kappa arms.

ETA: I guess my hunch was right.

[AGD1978]

Originally Posted by exlurker

Yes indeed; she was one of the eleven founders of her GLO.

Indeed. She was one of our Founders. It was mentioned up-thread someplace.

This thread is as addictive as Badge Trends! Love it.

[Psi U MC Vito]

I posted this a dog's age ago, but I found a better picture of the Founders' Plaque that most chapters have.

[BetaIotaDZ]

The crest for Delta Zeta was originally drawn by one of the early members. In the early 1930s the crest was changed because stationery engravers and jewelers complained that the original crest was too difficult to produce and that it did not follow the rules of heraldry. In this century, it has been changed again. The modern version is simpler, shorter, and uses the sorority colors instead of the colors adopted to conform to heraldry.

................................
Original crest ................................................Cr est design from about 1930 to 2000.............. Current crest design

[jazing]

Our crest. I like how simple yet complex it really is.

[naraht]

I guess this question belongs here. I noticed that Delta Sigma Theta's crest has the spelled out letters Delta Sigma Theta at the bottom in greek, but the spelling of theta is ΘΕΤΑ , but everything I can find indicates that the proper spelling of the letter is ΘΗΤΑ. Does anyone have any idea why?

[CougADPi]

Originally Posted by honeychile

Hmmm.... no Alpha Delta Pi yet? I'll start with the crest (I've never heard it referred to as a coat of arms, always a crest):
During the short period when we were Alpha Delta Phi, our mascot was the dragon, and this is one of the charters with the crest showing the dragon & Alpha Delta Phi at the top. It's Delta/University of Texas Chapter, our longest in continued existance. Note that the candle replaced the Greek Letters on the future crest:

That's what Upsilon/WSU's charter looks like as well. We had been told that there were several different mascots on the old charters, as they had not yet decided on an official one, and we were the only dragon. Looks like that was a chapter legend more than fact.

[AlwaysSAI]

Originally Posted by BetaIotaDZ

Not that my opinion matters, but I definitely prefer the original.

Originally Posted by naraht

I guess this question belongs here. I noticed that Delta Sigma Theta's crest has the spelled out letters Delta Sigma Theta at the bottom in greek, but the spelling of theta is ΘΕΤΑ , but everything I can find indicates that the proper spelling of the letter is ΘΗΤΑ. Does anyone have any idea why?

MC will correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that the Θ symbol covers "Th" in the english language.

[Gusteau]

Originally Posted by AlwaysSAI

MC will correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that the Θ symbol covers "Th" in the english language.

Yes, but naraht's question is not referring to the theta, but rather the eta/epsilon disparity. I am not certain, but I had always been under the impression at eta makes a "ey" sound where epsilon makes an "ee" sound. However the pronunciation of theta in English is certainly different than in Greek, so that may be reflected by the different spellings.

That being said, the Deltas, or any organization, can spell the letters of their organization any way they want.

[KDCat]

Originally Posted by Leslie Anne

Here's Kappa Delta's COA. It doesn't conform to heraldic rules; it's more of a design suited for our ritual. There are interesting things about it that I could point out, but then I'd have to kill you.



I'll have to scan some photos of the original COA and post them. It's pretty funny.


Oh, I forgot to mention that the lettering in the banner is Ta Kala Diokomen which means "let us strive for that which is honorable, beautiful and highest".

I've always loved our COA. So many of the elements are spooky and mysterious - a skull, a snake,a bony hand, a dagger... I always liked that it was so different and cool.

I love that our pin is included on it, too.

[KDCat]

Originally Posted by angels&angles

Pi Beta Phi:



Based off the COA of one of our founders. Our badge is on one side, and the other is the badge(?) of I.C.Sorosis, which is what we were founded as.

That "Lux" symbol in the middle is a stylized version of the seal of Monmouth College,where Pi Phi was founded.

I can't figure out how to insert the picture, but there's a picture of the MC seal at their Wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monmouth_College

Edit: Mystic Cat said it first. It's still cool, though.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by KDCat

I can't figure out how to insert the picture, but there's a picture of the MC seal at their Wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monmouth_College

Here you go:

[KillarneyRose]

I know BetaIotaDZ posted a great picture of our current and former crests a few pages back, but I thought I'd add a color version:



Here is our Badge:


And our pledge pin:


One thing I think is interesting is that every single component of our Badge and pledge pin is symbolic to us. That's the reason we're not allowed to "personalize" the Badge in any way.

[AlwaysSAI]

Originally Posted by Gusteau

Yes, but naraht's question is not referring to the theta, but rather the eta/epsilon disparity. I am not certain, but I had always been under the impression at eta makes a "ey" sound where epsilon makes an "ee" sound. However the pronunciation of theta in English is certainly different than in Greek, so that may be reflected by the different spellings.

Ah, you're right. I didn't read the question correctly. My bad.

[MysticCat]

Well, this is kind of an unusual update. We’re all used to branding-type logos changing from time to time, but changes in something like a coat of arms are much more rare. But that’s what I have to report.

I’ve mentioned at GC before how Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia has spent much of the last few decades in what could be called a “back-to-our-roots” enterprise. There has been a great deal of interest in what our founders intended, what decisions they made to chart the course of the Fraternity, why they made those choices and how those choices are reflected in things such as our symbols. There has also been a great deal of examination of how those intentions and choices have become obscured over the years, and we have seen a gradual return to the intentions of the founders. The latest example of that is with our coat of arms.

It turns out that the coat of arms that we have all been used to is not quite what was adopted by our National Convention in 1910 (12 years after our founding). It’s close, but not quite. This is what we’ve used for over 50 years now:




But this is what the 1910 National Convention adopted as our arms:




Obviously, the two designs are similar, but there are some key differences. Some might take close inspection to detect: the cleaner lines of the hands, pan pipes and lamp; the thickness of the red saltire or the number of pan pipes or strings on the harp. Clearly though, the most noticeable difference (other than the shades of red and gold) is in the center – it is not our jeweled badge that appears (the design of which was also standardized by the 1910 National Convention), but rather the central triangle from our badge with a narrow border. The original design, which lacks the white pearls on the badge, not only keeps the arms limited to our three colors – red, black and gold – but also makes the black triangle with the three Greek letters and the S much more prominent. In the "old" design, one notices the jewels of the badge; in the restored design, one notices the central triangle.

The revised design (with the badge) seems to have first appeared in the 1920s; somehow starting in the late 1940s, it became, for the most part, the only design used. With one exception, that is – our shingle (another thing adopted by the 1910 Convention) has always shown the “old” form of the design:




It was announced in the most recent edition of The Sinfonian that the decision has been made to restore use of the arms actually adopted by the National Convention. Obviously it will take time to make the transition complete – I am sure that the old arms will continue to be seen in a variety of places for some time yet. (Although interestingly, the post up-thread where I originally described our arms shows the restored arms because the image to which I linked was at Wikipedia, which was quickly updated with the restored arms.) But officially, we will now use the restored arms only.

Just thought I'd share.