Rituals

Rituals are an important part of the pledging process to become a member of a fraternity or sorority. Each ritual holds meaning behind it and defines certain values of the fraternity or sorority. The rituals of our fraternity are kept secret as are probably the rituals of most other fraternities and sororities too. For me, rituals are the most important part of the pledging process. They are the standing pillars. Even if everything else changes, at least I know the rituals will still be the same. A guy who pledges a hundred years after I do will still go through the same rituals that I did. He will learn about the values of Pi Delta Psi in the same way that I have. By going through the rituals of my fraternity, I learned about how the values of the fraternity fit in with my own values. After rituals I would feel like I had become a better and more knowledgeable person. The pledging process is supposed to be a way for the pledges to become closer with their pledge brothers and closer to the fraternity, and I believe that each ritual within a process is like a stepping stone to fulfilling this goal. The rituals of my fraternity is the root that connects me to the each brother of Pi Delta Psi. We may each try to improve our fraternity in different ways, but down to the very core, to the very roots we all share the same beliefs. The rituals of a fraternity define its identity. It is what makes each fraternity or sorority unique, and that should always remain the same.

In this class, our main goal is fraternal change. We are always looking for ways to improve the fraternal image or how fraternities are regulated. I think one way to connect the members in the councils is to define our core values, and then create rituals to emphasize these values. We can start small by doing this within each council, and then progress towards creating rituals for all the councils. These rituals can then be passed down to future council members. I believe we already made a head start when we defined the values of each council. We might be an ever changing in our goals, but I feel that the values behind our goals should remain the same.