Chapter in the Greek community is essentially a group meeting for all the members of a sorority and fraternity to discuss social, financial, sisterhood news, important updates,and all other announcements or topics that need addressing that must involve the entire house. It is a nationally mandatory meeting. It starts with the song and hymn of each sorority and finishes with the chain song which symbolizes the Binding of all the girls under one house and sisterhood. Like a workplace environment, it is essentially a general meeting for everyone to be updated on the matters of the house. The entrance to chapter is signified by the Greek greeting that is individual to every house and the special handshake. In my opinion, it takes up a lot of time and the information presented can be in an email but it has historical and symbolic value that cannot be expressed in an email for the chapter.

In the Indian culture, there is a God that sneaks into the homes where babies are in the house and eats the butter of the family. I think this myth is funny and very specific.

My father, who is of Polish and French descent, says he had his first sip of wine at the age of 12. This was a tradition that the night before a boy’s 13th birthday he was to be allowed one glass of wine as a symbolic of good luck into entering teenage years which marked the start of independence and manhood. Forty years ago, teenage boys were allowed to work and were expected to keep good grades and help around the house. A 13 year-old boy was seen as a young adult. This understood drinking is concerning to me because some young adults could go too wild at such a young age.

Hazing is a process done by fraternity and some sorority houses where the pledges are hazed to bring down their individuality in order to conform to the group setting. Hazing is also done in the purpose of making sure pledges know that they are not active members of the house and is also done in the form of pledges doing favors or cleaning the house in order to earn their spot in the fraternity itself. Hazing is extremely illegal and there are many current regulations and rules that prevent such actions yet most houses find ways to still participate in the old-fashioned ways. These practices of hazing and belittling the pledges have been around since the very start of fraternities and the practices have been passed down for pledge class the pledge class in order to keep the ideals traditions and culture of the house the same. Technically illegal, it is tacitly understood that some houses take part in the practice. I think hazing is terrible and it is illegal for a reason. No one should be pressured to drink excessively or take part in activities that he or she is not comfortable in.

A fraternity will choose one girl out of all the sororities to be there sweetheart when she is becoming a senior at university. The sweetheart is the closest girl to the majority of the fraternity house. She is the female representation of the house and is held in very high regard and is treated with the utmost respect she has morals and values similar to the boys in the house and is a female representation of such. She is their “best friend” and is apart of their house. She has a spot in the fraternity composite. She learns all the traditions of the house and brings her own to the house as she is affiliated with her own sorority. I think it is a cute notion for the entire house to respect a girl so highly they consider her one of their own.