For this week's #FeatureFriday and in honor of National Rituals Celebration Week, we've asked our Ritual Chair, Danielle Kelley, to share her insights on why rituals are important!
"Some might say the history and tradition of the ceremony
itself is amazing. The ritual has existed for more than a hundred of years,
older than some nations in the world. During those decades, changes in culture,
society, academia, and technology have occurred. However the ritual remained
unchanged, frozen in a time before the Internet, before women’s suffrage and
before widespread electricity. It has been meticulously memorized by thousands,
yet remains a mystery to outsiders.
Others might say that ritual is important because it is a
right of passage, a journey to manhood or womanhood. Upon receiving a bid, a
new member must pledge herself to upright conduct and to make each member her
sister. She must learn history and traditions in order to arrive at the
culmination of her journey of pledgeship: initiation. Initiation is a time of
exciting reflectance, anxiously awaiting the guarded secrets of her order. She
leaves the ceremony with knowledge of the mysteries of the sorority. She has
gained something special, and has been officially accepted into the national
organization at large.
But to me, ritual is so incredibly important because of the
values and lessons it teaches young men and women. Ritual is what separates one
Greek organization from another. Ritual strives to instill in us the noblest of
characteristics that men and women should possess. The ritual is secret so its
members understand the important of its sacred values. But what shouldn’t be
secret is the way we live out our ritual.
Truly, our traits wouldn’t be a mystery to outsiders if we
lived by the values we swore to keep dear. In fact, it should be obvious to
others what we value, what we seek, what we find is truly noble. If we take our
ritual seriously, our symbols and the meaning behind our letters should be
apparent. Please don’t be mistaken! Ritual secrets should never be divulged
with non-members. However, we can
portray what is shared in the ceremony through our lives. Ultimately, rituals
make us better men and women.
In conclusion, I’d like you to consider what would happen if
Greeks worldwide lived out our rituals everyday? Would we defy our stereotype?
Would we show others that we value our brothers and sisters more than we value
our money, status or possessions? There’s more to Greek Life then just the
parties or networking. Being Greek means gaining lifelong friends. They join
your family and treat you like a true sister because you are bonded together
through the sacred ritual. Hold the ritual in your heart, and share the values you’ve
learned through your actions."
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| Danielle Kelley, Ritual Chair at the Delta Kappa chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha |
Thank you Danielle for sharing your thoughts on our ritual importance!
Rituals are truly the foundation of Greek Life and what unites each member to their sorority or fraternity. We welcome everyone to continue reflecting on the core values of Zeta Tau Alpha by clicking here to visit the ZTAFeed! The ZTAFeed provides the opportunity to delve further into the rituals of our organization. The site contains interesting articles on how you can live out each section of our creed, how to make living our ritual a daily ritual and videos of personal reflections on rituals!
As the National Rituals Celebration Week comes to an end, I challenge you to assume the task of living out our ritual each day. Consider the words Miss Kelley shared on how our daily actions should display what we value as a sorority, but never share our sacred secrets! Thank y'all for taking the time to reflect on ZTA's rituals and have a happy Friday!
Zeta Love and Mine,
DK PR and Historian
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