Lavalier Tradition

mumbles · #1 12-30-2004, 02:14 PM

Hey Guys,
This is Mumbles from Epsilon Nu Chapter. I had a question regarding lavaliering my girlfriend. I have been with her for a year now and we've been best friends for close to 6 years now. I really want to lavalier her but since we are a new chapter at Binghamton, we have never done this. I am looking to set up a ceremony to be performed over valentines day weekend 2005 in order for brothers in our chapter to lavalier their girlfriends. There are a few guys who are in serious relationships and have expressed interest in doing so. Please email me if you have any ideas or traditions in your chapter about the lavaliering process. Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.

I have contacted nationals and they said this would be up to the individual chapter, and there is no national ceremony for lavaliering.

In phi,

PS...if anyone will be at the Ralph Burns institute in NJ, I will be one of the facilitators. Look for me - Jay (EN Chapter)

the_beast · #2 01-01-2005, 06:52 PM

I've been a brother since Spring 2003 and never heard of a Lavalier tradation. What is it?

Power to the NJ Ralph Burns Facilitators

-William Merunka
Starfish Trooper
Alpha Tau '03

AlphaSigOU · #3 01-01-2005, 08:19 PM

Brother 'Mumbles' (Jay)

I don't think there is a 'public' ceremony in our Rituals for lavaliering or pinning a girlfriend or fiancee, but this subject has been dealt with in length in the General forums. Perform a search for "lavaliering" and/or "pinning"; you might find your answers there.

In Phi,

Chuck (AA 814)

AlphaSigOU · #4 01-01-2005, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by the_beast
I've been a brother since Spring 2003 and never heard of a Lavalier tradation. What is it?

Power to the NJ Ralph Burns Facilitators

-William Merunka
Starfish Trooper
Alpha Tau '03

Brother Bill,

In days of old (and some fraternities still do them today), whenever a fraternity man pledged his love to a woman, he presented her with a lavalier charm with the fraternity letters. In many fraternites (including our own) only when the woman becomes a fiance or wife can she wear the brother's pin.

Some fraternities have short ceremonies to commemorate a lavaliering or pinning, though these are left pretty much to the local chapter to do.

In Phi,

Chuck (AA 814)

mumbles · #5 01-01-2005, 11:48 PM

Thank you for all your replies. i am looking for any ideas on how I should perform the ceremony, perhaps what I am allowed to do and not do--i dont want to give away secret things if we arent allowed to, but I would also like to make sure she knows what this fraternity is all about. The reason I am looking to lavalier my gf is that she goes to GWU and it is very common for Fraternity men to lavalier their girlfriends of a year or so, and i was asked to do so by her sisters...and I thought it would be really something great. Again, if anyone has ideas that I can use for our ceremony, please contact me privtely if needed. jstrumw1@binghamton.edu

-Jay

SouthernSweet · #6 09-08-2006, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mumbles

Hey Guys,
This is Mumbles from Epsilon Nu Chapter. I had a question regarding lavaliering my girlfriend. I have been with her for a year now and we've been best friends for close to 6 years now. I really want to lavalier her but since we are a new chapter at Binghamton, we have never done this. I am looking to set up a ceremony to be performed over valentines day weekend 2005 in order for brothers in our chapter to lavalier their girlfriends. There are a few guys who are in serious relationships and have expressed interest in doing so. Please email me if you have any ideas or traditions in your chapter about the lavaliering process. Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.

I have contacted nationals and they said this would be up to the individual chapter, and there is no national ceremony for lavaliering.

In phi,

PS...if anyone will be at the Ralph Burns institute in NJ, I will be one of the facilitators. Look for me - Jay (EN Chapter)

Hey, I'm a female and "clicked" this link by accident....From a female perspective, lavaliering it is pretty much regarded as a MAJOR deal by college women and sorority members. The regard it pretty much one step before a marriage proposal, but not quite the same pressures as an engagement (as in...if you get engaged, people almost immediately ask you, "When is the date?")

At the college I graduated from, if a fraternity brother lavaliered his girlfriend in a ceremony/pinned/etc, they had an equal ceremony for if they should break up, which was most unpleasant....this was a pretty big incentive for him to be pretty sure of his choice....the purpose was to prevent every Tom, Dick, and Harry for lavaliering every other female that they dated for longer than two weeks.

I do know, from my friends who are in soroities, that when a girl receives a lavalier/pin/engagement, they have a ceremony that they go through too...so this is a very, very, extra special thing if your "lady" is also Greek.

I'm almost 40, but I STILL think that these gracious gestures NEVER go out of style no matter what the generation, and I think it's awesome that young men are really putting thought into this and want to make it something special.

Congrats to all who are getting ready to take the first "step"

AlphaSig703 · #7 08-14-2010, 04:57 PM

Not sure if this is the same thing but we give out our letters to a Sweetheart chosen by the fraternity i think this is somewhat similar to lavaliering?

Anyway basically we would send usually 4-5 of the younger guys to grab/scoop up/kidnap our selected sweetheart at a random time no matter where and what she is doing.

Selected subject is then blind folded and driven to the chapter house, and lead into the basement where all the brothers are waiting. Usually there is a table of some sort set up with a pair of letters and roses all around.
* Usually in our case there is a single maddog (MD 2020) with a rose placed into it*

They are then knelt infront of the letters/maddog with all the fraternity standing behind the table. They are unblindfolded and are read some scripture we came up with and are asked if they accept our letters blah blah. Then they crush the maddog and finally are given our letters to wear and congratulated by the fraternity as a whole.

The admiration and excitement i have seen on some of these fine young ladies faces is priceless and a true heart felt joy to experience the happiness brought to one by such a simple ritual.

ree-Xi · #8 08-14-2010, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlphaSig703

Not sure if this is the same thing but we give out our letters to a Sweetheart chosen by the fraternity i think this is somewhat similar to lavaliering?

Anyway basically we would send usually 4-5 of the younger guys to grab/scoop up/kidnap our selected sweetheart at a random time no matter where and what she is doing.

Selected subject is then blind folded and driven to the chapter house, and lead into the basement where all the brothers are waiting. Usually there is a table of some sort set up with a pair of letters and roses all around.
* Usually in our case there is a single maddog (MD 2020) with a rose placed into it*

They are then knelt infront of the letters/maddog with all the fraternity standing behind the table. They are unblindfolded and are read some scripture we came up with and are asked if they accept our letters blah blah. Then they crush the maddog and finally are given our letters to wear and congratulated by the fraternity as a whole.

The admiration and excitement i have seen on some of these fine young ladies faces is priceless and a true heart felt joy to experience the happiness brought to one by such a simple ritual.

QF Yikes!

MysticCat · #9 08-14-2010, 08:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlphaSig703

Anyway basically we would send usually 4-5 of the younger guys to grab/scoop up/kidnap our selected sweetheart at a random time no matter where and what she is doing.

Selected subject is then blind folded and driven to the chapter house, and lead into the basement where all the brothers are waiting.

You're lucky nobody's been mad about it yet. Based on your description, what you're doing well could be kidnapping. You might want to think of "simple rituals" that don't expose your chapter to so much liability.

33girl · #10 08-14-2010, 09:21 PM

Lavaliering is something between boyfriend and girlfriend. A chapter sweetheart might receive a lavalier, but it isn't the same thing.

And not only is the scooping up part kinda scary, the Mad Dog part is GROSS and TACKY. I certainly wouldn't feel flattered if that's all a fraternity was willing to spend on me. The "ritual" you describe sounds more like how a pimp welcomes his latest whore to his stable.