#81: Witness a Probate

            I seriously thought my window of opportunity was closed because I hadn’t witnessed a probate yet. In fact, I didn’t even know what a probate was until this year, and I’m not sure how much you could characterize a “typical” probate since the fraternities and sororities are all so different!

According to Urban Dictionary, a probate is:

The "coming out" ceremony for those who were pledging… normally includes masks covering the faces of those who were pledging until they are revealed as the newest member… other Greeks will show up, especially those of that sorority or fraternity that the probate is of and their sorors and brothers from other schools as well as their own. Other occurances at a probate are: reciting the Greek alphabet, acknowledging your big sisters or big brothers, the announcement of the line name and ones individual line name.

            Not knowing what to expect, I found this to be pretty accurate. On the steps of Old Cabell Hall, Charlotte and I watched the initiation of two “Always Excellent Alpha Epsilon” caballeros to La Unidad Latina Lambda Upsilon Lambda fraternity INCORPORATED! They came out in hoods and masks and had to speak in grunting, painfully apelike voices rehearsed responses to probed questions by their superiors. There was a lot of freestyling, step motion, and even popular song singing with the words changed to fit the occasion.

            One of the longer parts of the whole ceremony involved #1 and #2 shouting out to other fraternities and sororities that were there who gave their individual calls in response. My favorite was a frat whose call began with the Lion King tribal cry! My other favorite was how at the end of shouting out to individual frats/sorors they said “con cariño y respecto” with a little bow, but when they shouted out to the other Greek members of the IFC that were not multicultural, they left that little part off. Loved it.

             After they introduced themselves, their hoods and masks were removed and the strange necklaces they were wearing reminiscent of Survivor immunity tokens were revealed and they got a brother T-shirt to wear. This was such a cool way to spend the day, and I was really appreciative that unlike other frats/sororities this particular group chose to advertise via Facebook. They truly wanted to spread cultural awareness and involve other people, just as the frat description says. Kudos to the new members!

“Frat guys are SUPER trustworthy, and that is a very important quality to have in a group of people that you black-out around on a regular basis. Without that trust, who really knows what would happen!” – Top Reasons to Join a So-Rawr-ity video