Sorority Rituals - Reflections On Rites of ... - Mari Ann Callais

Ritual is very much something that I try and incorporate into my daily life. It’s a high
standard and it’s not an easy thing to obtain, but you try your best and your goal basically
is just do a little bit more the next day. You can’t expect to execute every principle
mentioned instantaneously, it just doesn’t happen. You have your shortcomings, but you
just try and get a little bit better each day.
Some participants indicated that ritual could provide guidelines, a road map, by which to make
decisions and to live their lives:
I think of some parts of ritual in everyday behavior more than other parts…honestly, if I
am looking to try to make a really big decision about something, I look at my religious
values, I look at the values that my parents taught me and I also look at the things my
sorority tells me in my initiation ceremony. That is for something that is a really big
decision . . . as far as what I am doing day by day, I think that the ritual that we do in our
chapter meeting probably influences me more. I don’t sit down and think every day well
if I do this, what’s going to happen? Let me think back to initiation. I think more along
the lines of it becomes part of your everyday values system and you do the chapter
meeting ritual more than initiation. So I think that different parts influence you a lot more
but ultimately you see it all as ritual.
Others view ritual as guidelines for improving their chapter:
Ritual gives us a sense of purpose and a kind of a guideline of how to live and how to try
to improve our chapter. The only way to improve your chapter is to improve your
members because the quality of the chapter is dependent on the quality of the members.
Ritual also reminds us that we need to help each other and that we should not be
judgmental of people…ritual kind of reminds you that as much as you would like to think
that you are perfect sometimes and that you couldn’t possibly do something as stupid as
maybe somebody else has, that everybody needs improvement. You need to try to help
each other rather that criticizing each other because you know it’s what we are there for to
help each other, not to attack each other.
Several participants recognized their role in furthering the ideals set forth by their sorority’s
rituals:
The way I act when I am out, I always remember the things in our creed and the things
that go on in ritual and that I am representing my chapter.
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