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

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period, he noted, the normal rules of the community may be suspended, or the rite may be seen as a symbolic death, leading to a new rebirth (Morris, 1987). The "liminal" phase is often times the "breaking down" phase. At this stage, it is possible that hazing in the form of physical or mental abuse may take place. Breaking down the ritual passenger through physical and/or verbal means will allow the rebuilding process to follow. One of the goals of the passenger is "learning the group's private teachings or secrets leads to the rebuilding process." (Butler, 1990, p. 6). He states that "it is through initiation rites that the ritual passenger is humbled and leveled to make them fit for a higher status or state" (p. 6). The third phase is the reaggregation or reincorporation phase, which involves the ritual passenger being "reintroduced to society, but in her or his new position" (Butler, 1990, p. 6). Turner (1969) writes that "the ritual passenger is in a relatively stable state once more and by virtue of this, has rights and obligations vis-à-vis of a clearly defined and structural type; the passenger is expected to behave in accordance with certain customary norms and ethical standards binding on incumbents or social position in a system of such positions" (p. 95). It is during this phase that "the wearing of new insignia will occur" (Morris, 1987, p. 247). The passage is now complete and the ritual passenger now is afforded all rites and privileges of the group and is expected to live them accordingly. Based upon these descriptions, it is apparent that rites of passage and ritual have important roles in many different aspects in the lives of most people. Although most people may not even be aware that many rituals are formalized and common throughout our culture, and others are common within certain subcultures and ethnic groups. Butler (1990) states "still others are less formal and less common are only practiced within select subgroups" (p. 7). Further, Butler states that “it is apparent that rituals continue to be an important means of defining who 44
we are and giving meaning to us within our society” (p. 7). Sororities demonstrate this aspect of ritual and its importance in development of sorority women. The other role of ritual as it relates to sororities is the aspect of communities as explained by Victor Turner in The Ritual Process: Broadly speaking, rituals generate, maintain and create order; but they do so in a peculiar way, by grounding the sense of order in something that is other than itself, something fundamentally at odds with order-namely participation in an undifferentiated care of life (p. 163). Sororities are communities who live and learn together. Ritual ceremonies not only bring the sorority members together in a physical assembly, but also tend to unite them emotionally. The ritual bonds sorority women in ways that create lifetime commitments to one another and to their sororities. This statement may be the most effective way to explain the role of ritual in sororities. Living the Ritual Putting the ritual into practice by living out the concepts represented in the rituals may be of greater interest to many than the actual performance. In many ways, these go hand and hand. Ritual as performance conveys the message of what the ritual ceremony is. If the ritual ceremony is performed with passion and conviction as expressed by Turner (1969) and others (Driver, 1991), then those receiving the message can put the words and meanings into action. The phrase "living the ritual" conveys that if members of the group understand the meaning of the ritual and take seriously the commitments and promises made during the ceremony, then the "living" aspect may affect behavior and choices made by the individual members of the group. Ed King, currently considered by most in the fraternity and sorority world as the expert speaker on the college circuit on the topic of ritual and values, presents that ritual allows members of fraternities and sororities the opportunity to share their lives with one another. As 45
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SORORITY RITUALS: RITES OF PASSAGE
Page 3 and 4: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am very grateful
Page 5 and 6: for teaching me that a group of peo
Page 7 and 8: TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ......
Page 9 and 10: CHAPTER V: SUMMARY, DISCUSSION, REC
Page 11 and 12: CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Each year th
Page 13 and 14: The member groups of the National P
Page 15 and 16: hopes of the founders rather than t
Page 17 and 18: ceremony is complete, that person i
Page 19 and 20: 80,000 women join sororities. On mo
Page 21 and 22: issues, and topics …that formerly
Page 23 and 24: when do we use it? How do we use it
Page 25 and 26: the sorority experience has on the
Page 27 and 28: The lack of information concerning
Page 29 and 30: of the NPC member groups, and to co
Page 31 and 32: CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE Thi
Page 33 and 34: Ritual Ceremonies and Symbolism in
Page 35 and 36: Robson writes further: In a world c
Page 37 and 38: strengthened by encountering differ
Page 39 and 40: student initiated and created to au
Page 41 and 42: Gradually, however, they took over
Page 43 and 44: Following the founding of Kappa Alp
Page 45 and 46: efer to themselves as "service" org
Page 47 and 48: Alpha Xi Delta Fraternity Lombard C
Page 49 and 50: What Is Ritual? In order to explain
Page 51 and 52: theorist/researcher in the area of
Page 53: Ritual as a Rite of Passage Underst
Page 57 and 58: am I? Well, as I see it, I am a per
Page 59 and 60: Value Congruence Research conducted
Page 61 and 62: the majority of authors . . . have
Page 63 and 64: To better understand Gilligan’s F
Page 65 and 66: only women, all with varying opinio
Page 67 and 68: member transitions to a leader/role
Page 69 and 70: development. The isolation period a
Page 71 and 72: Gilligan’s point that sex differe
Page 73 and 74: undergraduate members. Understandin
Page 75 and 76: not an option. Actual observance of
Page 77 and 78: Role of the NPC Research Committee
Page 79 and 80: the chapters were part of large nat
Page 81 and 82: where I was able to travel based up
Page 83 and 84: a whole. I piloted the interview qu
Page 85 and 86: These categories were reflective of
Page 87 and 88: participated in my sorority ritual,
Page 89 and 90: sorority women was a cognitive asse
Page 91 and 92: In addition, only one participant w
Page 93 and 94: school. Sixteen (31%) sophomore par
Page 95 and 96: itual among themselves outside of t
Page 97 and 98: was founded in 1978. Their average
Page 99 and 100: chapters ranging in size from 150 t
Page 101 and 102: participants’ feelings about the
Page 103 and 104: A few of the participants expressed
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Several of the participants related
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One of the participants explained w
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During new member education, you le
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Women’s Development within the So
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Comments from several of the partic
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When I first joined my sorority, I
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the participants referred to other
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I think that ritual has made me a b
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The reasons that the participants g
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This study included both private an
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internal value system or they know
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sorority women’s length of member
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when an 18-year old woman joins a s
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ehavior of sorority women, it must
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* The level of responsibility and /
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to evaluate sorority women and the
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they are and what role ritual has i
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numbers vary from chapter to chapte
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that those ceremonies can bring to
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Butler, E. R. (1990). Initiations r
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Kuh, G. D., & Arnold, J. C. (1992).
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Pennington, D., Zvonkovic, A. C., W
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Taylor, S.E., Peplau, L.A., C Sears
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APPENDIX A CONSENT FORM 141
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APPENDIX B PROFILE QUESTIONS 143
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APPENDIX C INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 145
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general? What would you say that th
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APPENDIX D (LETTER TO THE GREEK ADV
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APPENDIX E NATIONAL PANHELLENIC CON
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six months doing literature researc
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common knowledge similarities--the
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Correspondence II To: Shelia Barnes
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I truly appreciate your guidance an
Page 171 and 172:
Application for Exemption from IRB
Page 173 and 174:
VITA Mari Ann Callais was born in 1
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