Sorority Rituals - Reflections On Rites of ... - Mari Ann Callais
Sorority Rituals - Reflections On Rites of ... - Mari Ann Callais
Sorority Rituals - Reflections On Rites of ... - Mari Ann Callais
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* The level <strong>of</strong> responsibility and / or <strong>of</strong>fice position held has an impact on the<br />
participants’ understanding <strong>of</strong> the role <strong>of</strong> the ritual ceremony in their experience and<br />
the overall experience <strong>of</strong> the chapter members.<br />
Ritual Ceremony and Behavior<br />
* Ritual strictly performed as a ceremony influenced the way the participants perceived<br />
the role <strong>of</strong> ritual.<br />
* Participants’ perceptions <strong>of</strong> the role <strong>of</strong> ritual on their behavior is based upon their<br />
understanding <strong>of</strong> ritual as more than a ceremony.<br />
* Participants who enter the sorority experience with a sense <strong>of</strong> personal values and<br />
beliefs exhibited a greater appreciation for the meaning <strong>of</strong> the ritual.<br />
* Participants who understood the meaning and importance <strong>of</strong> ritual wanted ritual to be<br />
more <strong>of</strong> an integral part <strong>of</strong> their sorority experience.<br />
* Many <strong>of</strong> the participants indicated that they had to participate in the ritual ceremonies<br />
several times to understand their meaning.<br />
Recommendations for Future Research<br />
The initial foray into scholarly research on the impact <strong>of</strong> ritual on the behavior <strong>of</strong><br />
contemporary sorority women opens the door for future research on this topic. Further research<br />
could explore how ritual impacts sorority women all from the same chapter at various stages in<br />
their development. Does the age <strong>of</strong> the sorority chapter affect the impact <strong>of</strong> ritual on its<br />
members? It would be interesting to know whether the sorority women from older chapters,<br />
founded seventy years or more, and the sorority women from younger chapters, founded within<br />
the last several years, are learning about sorority life differently. Further study could examine the<br />
ways that sorority chapter members are educated during their new member education program to<br />
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