It is a popular custom for the sororities and fraternities in the United States to have a pledge pin, which is worn by new members during appropriate times while going throughout the pledging stage. The first fraternity society in America was Phi Beta Kappa, which was established in the year 1776. In the following article, we will look at some of the rituals associated with fraternity pinning ceremony.
First and foremost, it is important to point out that pledge pins are generally presented to a new member (a pledge) whenever they are offered first membership opportunities in a sorority or fraternity. This might be given after a ceremony and may be worn right up until their initiation when they are a full member.
Here are some exceptions:
A number of fraternities, like Lambda Chi Alpha and Sigma Phi Epsilon, presently don’t have a rigid pledging process, as an alternative they have different levels for new or associate memberships. However, the new members are actually given a pin which is often labeled as “new members pin” rather than pledge pins.
In addition, there are member organizations within the National Panhellenic Conference that will use “new member” instead of saying pledge. These new members will not be instructed to wear pins all the time, but will be asked to put them on whenever active members are wearing them, especially for formal functions and ritual ceremonies.
The following are some common pledge rituals:
Generally, an initiation pledge will be demanded from all new members or pledges when they are given an invite to become a member of a fraternity. This will usually transpire when the president for this fraternity states the oath and new pledges would give “I will” or “I do” replies. In general, this initiation pledge would include promises to keep fraternity secrets; to market the fraternity; never to sign up for a different fraternity; to respect superiors and for a new brother to make use of resources for personal development within the fraternity.
Additional common rituals include things like learning fraternity language and also any symbols or signs associated with it. For instance, Greek letters are usually learned by new members, in addition to the specific name, passwords, handshakes, mottos and any other issues related to the fraternity.
It is common for fraternity or sorority pins to be given to pledges and this signifies that this person has surpassed the process for initiation and is now accepted. Fraternity pinning ceremonies tend to be extremely popular and will be the highlight for most new pledges as it indicates that they are genuinely connected with a brotherhood.
As a final point, there are generally good faith assertions from fraternity members that absolutely nothing undesirable will transpire towards the pledge throughout the initiation process. At times there are some negative issues linked to pledging during the hazing practice, but once the pledge passes through this phase and the initiation night arrives he will be given respect and also become a new member.
All in all, similar rituals will be exercised throughout all the chapters within the same fraternity all over the world. For this reason wherever a person come across a Tau Kappa Epsilon, Pi Kappa Alpha or a Sigma Nu, they should be able to communicate easily. This was the desire of the founding fathers as they wanted the relationships to go beyond the college years and into adult life.
