December 13, 2025 • 30 mins
In an episode so top secret, we’ve disguised the voices of our sisters.
We’re tearing down the walls of this long standing mysterious ritual.
This is our riskiest episode to date.
We take you inside INITIATION.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Dirty Rush, The Truth about Sorority Life with
your hosts me Gia Judice, Daisy.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Kent, and Jennifer Kessler. Okay, folks, not to be dramatic,
but this really is the episode that even our producers
were hesitant to do because it involves breaking an oath
sworn by those who joined Greek life. We are lifting
the veil on the most mysterious part of joining a sorority,
which has never been discussed publicly until now.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
We're talking about initiation, the transition from pledge to sorority sister,
a process that has been kept top secret for well
over a century. This bonding ritual is so steeped in tradition,
generations of pledges have been sworn to secrecy, but today
those secrets are coming out.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
The following guests agreed to reveal what really happens during initiation,
provided they remain completely anonymous, to the point where we
as hosts couldn't speak to them directly. That is how
sacred this pact for sisterhoods around there is. The voices
you are about to hear have been altered, the identities blurred,
but the stories are one hundred percent authentic. This is
(01:08):
what every sorority in America doesn't want you to know.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
So initiation is definitely one of those things in sorority
life that is that people are more apprehensive to talk about.
I feel like because it's so ritual based and it's
so individual to the sorority, people are super secretive about it.
And there's definitely details that I feel protective over. But
(01:36):
it's hard to explain why. I think just because it's
so individual to your sorority and like that is your
entrance to all of it, and it feels so sacred.
But there definitely are some things that I am willing
to share. I think mostly it's just kind of a blur. Essentially,
(01:57):
you go to the house in different shifts of time
and am my sorority. I think there were three different
shifts of time, so there were three different groups of
girls that went to the house, and you're all kind
of shuttled into this room where you are supposed to
change into these robe gown things, and you don't really
(02:18):
know what's about to happen, so there's a lot of
anticipation and there's a lot of speculation beforehand between girls
about what's going to happen, and people would like to
think they know self or spread rumors about things that
are going to happen that are scary or whatever, but
really none. If it's scary, it's just unknown. And the
older girls come in once you're ready, And what happened
(02:41):
for us is they just took us room to room,
but you're supposed to close your eyes in between each room,
which I thought was really interesting, probably to just keep
that element of surprise alive. But everybody's like covering their
eyes and holding hands. I'm walking in the line and
it feels so silly. And then in room that we
ended up in within the house, there was a ritual
(03:04):
to be performed or something that was read and kind
of just took you through like all of the all
of these different ceremonies that represented the virtues of the
sorority or the most important symbols and things like that.
And there was one room in particular where you instructed
(03:24):
to drink something. And I won't give the name of
it away because I feel like it would give the
name of my sorority away pretty easily. But you're instructed
to drink something, and I have a lot of food allergies,
so I was really apprehensive, and I was like, huh,
like no, I'm going to pass, Like what's in this?
And they're like, we can't tell you. It's a secret
(03:45):
and you just have to drink it. And I was
like no, like I have a lot of allergies, Like
can you just tell me what's in it? And they
wouldn't tell me what was in it, and they were like,
we think it will be fine, like it's stuff that
people would not typically be allergic to it, and I,
looking back, should have just stood up for myself more.
But I ended up drinking it and I was allergic
(04:06):
to the juice that was in it.
Speaker 5 (04:09):
It wasn't alcohol or anything.
Speaker 6 (04:11):
Bad like that.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
It was just this weird mixture of some sort of
juice that I was allergic to.
Speaker 7 (04:15):
To this day, I.
Speaker 5 (04:16):
Don't even know what was in it. They wouldn't tell me.
Speaker 7 (04:19):
But I did end up having.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
To leave Initiation early because I drank this juice and
I needed to go find a benadroll. So that was
my experience with Initiation. I got through a few of
the rituals, but I actually never completed the entire thing.
So it was interesting in the following years to be
(04:42):
an older girl who was leading initiation and to see
the other parts of it fully come together, because when
I was initiated, I didn't get to like fully experience
the whole thing through. One other thing that I loved
that they did that I thought was just the sweetest
part of it all was at the end, when you
went back into that original room that you were in,
(05:03):
rechanged into your robes and everything. They had slipped these
letters from older girls into our bags. So we all
left not like really knowing anything. But then later on
throughout the day, people started realizing that these letters from
older girls had been slipped into our bags, and it
was so fun to read just the words of encouragement
(05:23):
for college and the words of advice for soaking it
all in and like really enjoying your years and your sorority,
and everybody had.
Speaker 5 (05:34):
Such a sweet sentiment.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
So I thought that that was a really sweet part
of initiation as well.
Speaker 8 (05:40):
Okay, so when it was like mid day and we
got into our sororities and we're all so excited, and
I think, like when I was going through your rush,
it was like right before like the Bama Rush stuff,
and it got like huge, so but it was still
like I didn't know much about it. Whatever got my
(06:01):
bid and I was all excited and then like the
next day we're getting all of our information like okay,
initiation is in three weeks. And then so I think
for initiation we were kind of like, oh what is this?
And like you always like hear things, especially as a freshman,
and you don't really know like anything about sorority stuff,
(06:24):
Like you hear like these crazy like core stories that
are like they do blah blah blah, like they call
you fat like whatever, and so like that was always
something that we were scared about or like just like
any freshman would be that doesn't know anything about rush.
And then so I think it was three weeks later
we went through we had like meetings that we would
(06:45):
go in and they would talk about the sorority and
all the history of the sorority.
Speaker 5 (06:49):
And then our.
Speaker 8 (06:51):
Initiation day and the night before we got a text
and was like show up in nude underwear and in
new bra and white socks. So we were like, Okay,
this is really creepy, Like are we gonna be naked?
Like that's really weird. So anyway, we like we're all
kind of like thinking like what is about to happen.
(07:12):
We have to be all in nude underwear. This is weird.
Then we ended up going we like had blindfolds. They
like blindfolded us, and someone like brought us like held
our backs and like walked us to We were somewhere
like in the school, but it was like this random,
like big huge room with nothing in it. We had
(07:35):
blindfolds on, and then they like brought us up and
there was a curtain. We were like on a stage,
but the curtain was closed, and then they're like, okay,
you can take your blindfolds. Us change into this and
it was like this like white sack and it was
like so weird. And then we had like to tie
like a when then we had a rope to tie
(07:55):
around us and it was like just creepy. And then
we put blindfolds back on and then they let us
down like these stairs, and then we like walk into
a room that people are like humming and it's really
creepy and colty, and then like we all they lead
(08:17):
us into our circle and then they're like okay, singing
all these like weird chants and singing songs whatever, and
they're like okay, you can take off your blindfolds now,
and so we would take off her blindfolds and then
some people would like turn around and it would be
someone that they're like their relative, their mom, their sister
(08:41):
that was in the same sorority as them, and to
like they surprised them. They turned around and it was like, Oh,
my gosh, your mom's here, and that was like really cute.
And then one of my friends turned around and her
sister was there, and I don't know if it was
like just like we were so anxious and like her
(09:04):
seeing her sister as a surprise, but she just like
fainted and so that kind of like a damper on
the whole initiation process. So then the ambulance came.
Speaker 7 (09:16):
They checked her out.
Speaker 8 (09:19):
And she ended up being fine. But then we just
went right back to chanting our weird songs and singing,
and then we got like our pins and that was
about it.
Speaker 9 (09:45):
I remember initiation is a little bit of a blur
because it happened in the morning after, you know, freshman year.
I never really took a Saturday night easy, and our
initiation was on a Sunday morning, and I remember not
just me, but me and a bunch of my sorority
(10:05):
sisters had gone out the night before, and we were
just like scrambling to get to the house on time.
I remember, particularly my freshman year, the seniors were really
mean to us.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
They just were.
Speaker 9 (10:19):
Really just like on a high horse and just like
a power trip. And I remember them screaming at us
in the group chat, being like, if you are late
to your initiation time, you are being dropped from the sorority.
And so it was a really big deal that we
get there on time. And I remember me and my
friends down the hall in my dorm, who were also
(10:40):
my sorority. We all woke up late to like for
our initiation that was that morning, and it's a Sunday morning,
and we're all scrambling. We're ordering an uber to the
sorty house that's only just like across campus. Usually you
would walk, and we all scramble and get there on time.
But then we realized that they told us that we
(11:01):
need to memorize these so I'm going to stop myself.
The thing about initiation is that it's really even all easyars.
Speaker 5 (11:11):
Later something that's very sacred to sorority.
Speaker 9 (11:14):
And I was in a sorority that was just like
really prioritize tradition, so it was it's it's hard to
like reveal certain aspects, but I can say that we
did have these like ceremonial songs that we would all sing,
and it was a big especially to our sorority. We
(11:36):
really really like had to sing the songs. And they
had assigned us the songs prior to initiation, and we
were supposed to, like part of our initiation, learn these songs.
And you know, sometimes when you're hungover and you're just
still think you're still drunk, and I remember like being
put into robes to start the initiation. We're blindful did
(12:00):
crossing from room to room, and not only did I
not memorize the song that we were supposed to sing,
but none of us like remember the song that we
were supposed to sing. And we were being blindfolded and
walked from one room to the next, and I just
(12:20):
start cracking up. And then soon enough, like everyone in
the line walking to the next room, everyone is just
dying laughing. And these seniors that took our sorority very
seriously just were so pissed and they were like, you
guys are being so disrespectful.
Speaker 5 (12:40):
You can't believe you didn't learn the.
Speaker 9 (12:42):
Song, and we heard all about it on Chapter that
Monday morning. But in the moment we everyone just started
laughing and they didn't really know what to do with themselves.
Speaker 5 (12:51):
So soon enough, like we.
Speaker 9 (12:53):
Quieted the laughs and went on to the next room
and carried on with the ceremony.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
But needless to say.
Speaker 9 (13:02):
Our pledge class was then dubbed the worst PC ever
because when we came to Chapter that Monday morning, they
literally told us, you guys are the worst pledge class
we've ever had. We've never had people not know the
song nevertheless erupt in laughter while trying attempting to sing
(13:24):
the song, and we continued on that reputation. We all
got very close our pledge class, but we definitely really
pushed the envelope in terms of what was allowed in
when we all lived in the house and just moving on.
But we were all very close, And yeah, that's what
(13:45):
I remember about initiation.
Speaker 5 (13:47):
I also remember just being very hungover and not wanting
to go. So that's all I can really say.
Speaker 10 (13:53):
Initiation is like it's the one part of the sorority
that I'm probably the most secretive about, like the most
sort of protective about, And I.
Speaker 11 (14:03):
Don't really know why.
Speaker 10 (14:05):
I don't really know much about other initiations, so I
feel like other people are really secretive about it too.
Maybe it's the one thing that feels sacred. I don't
know if that's a weird way to describe it. There's
a few things I am willing to say, but of
all the things, like rush, I would give secrets living
(14:27):
in the sorority, Like I would never tell somebody my password,
the door knock, the handshake unless they were another member
of that sorority. Like even right now, I don't even
want to say what school I went to or what
sorority I was in, because I am going to say
a few things about initiation because I think there is
a lot of curiosity, And like I said, I know
(14:51):
a lot of things about Greek life, and I don't
know anything about other people's initiations, especially the boys.
Speaker 11 (14:58):
I don't know anything about about what they do. So
here's what I will say.
Speaker 10 (15:03):
At the time when I was initiated, and I have
only vague memories of it, and I think that's also
because it's very early in the morning and you're kind
of tired, so and I only remember being initiated.
Speaker 11 (15:15):
I have some vague memories of that, and I remember
doing initiation like once. I can't I'm sure I did
it a few other times.
Speaker 10 (15:22):
So what I will say is I didn't live at
the house at the time in the sorority. I live
somewhere else, but I remember we spent the night in
the sorority, so I think you go you sleep in
other girls' rooms. This is all my vague memories, and
I can remember. I think my big sister wakes you
up very early, and you put on what they refer
(15:45):
to as a robe, but like we're not talking like
a Barefoot Dreams robe, Like this isn't like a cozy
like robe that has like coffee mugs on it. Like
it was like almost like a cap and gown type robe,
no cap, so I would call it a gown. And
I have a vague memory.
Speaker 11 (16:01):
Of a belt that was like a cord. I don't
want to say rope because that makes it sound scary,
but I think.
Speaker 10 (16:07):
It was like you tied the robe or the gown
so that you could like walk around. And I kind
of remember, like it was very early now if I
was blindfolded, I also don't totally remember. They might have
just said close your eyes I don't really like being blindfolded,
so I might have said, like, I promise, I'll close
my eyes, just don't blindfold me. And they kind of
(16:27):
like walk you around the house and you don't really
know where you are and you don't really know what's happening.
The part I will reveal is I went into this
room and I kind of knew what room I was
going into. The room was all red, and I look
up and I kind of remember being on my knees,
not in a weird way that sounds like inappropriate.
Speaker 11 (16:48):
It's not like that, you're just kind of like sitting
but kneeling.
Speaker 12 (16:51):
I don't know.
Speaker 11 (16:52):
And I look up and my mom was in the room.
Speaker 10 (16:55):
Now, to give you context, my mom was in the
same sorority as me at the same school, so she
never told me, but obviously somehow she figured it out
or they call her. She calls and she knows what
time to be there, and she's got like a I
kind of remember her with like a book and she's
reading something. Now I'm not going to call it a
(17:15):
prayer because it wasn't a prayer, but it was like
she's reading something. Now you're completely like bewildered or whatever
the word is, like, because you're so early and you're like,
what's happening that I cannot remember anything she said because
I'm like.
Speaker 11 (17:28):
My mom's in here.
Speaker 10 (17:30):
And then I do remember going back out and one
of my really really good friends saying, like, dude, your
mom was in there, like so I can remember that,
and it was all red and my mom was wearing
either the same thing I was wearing, or like, I
don't know, maybe a slightly different version. And then it
goes on and on, and then I can remember going
(17:50):
into a big room and I think my big sister
was there and my mom and there was sort of
like a.
Speaker 11 (17:56):
Ceremony and my mom was involved in it. And I
think they give you something.
Speaker 10 (18:04):
I don't want to reveal what, because again I'm being like,
this is the one thing that I'm.
Speaker 11 (18:09):
Kind of a bit more secretive about. She gives me something.
Speaker 10 (18:12):
I'll call it a piece of jewelry, and it was
hers that she then gave to me.
Speaker 11 (18:20):
I actually think she did trust me at the time
and took it back. I think she still has it.
I definitely don't have.
Speaker 10 (18:24):
It, and I can remember, like the only other part
I will reveal is I had no idea what a
palm frawn was, and definitely through sorority life, I learned
I now know what a palm prawn was, So there
are definitely palm frons involved. And then I think it
was like a breakfast. Then it kind of gets normal
after sort of this ceremony. Then it's just like any
(18:46):
old other sort of sorority party. So that's the part
that I feel comfortable sharing. I definitely was on the
other side of initiation one or two times.
Speaker 11 (18:56):
I also think this is the other thing.
Speaker 10 (18:58):
I think it's kind of a pain in the ass
go to lie, Like I think it's a lot of
work to do. So I kind of remember seniors sort
of tapping out, like being like, I'm not doing initiation.
So that is the top top most secret things I
am willing to reveal, and I'm very curious to hear
what other people have to say.
Speaker 7 (19:17):
Okay, so for my initiation, I remember like always hearing
about fraternity initiations, but never really swarty initiations. I feel
like for fraternities it's usually like the end of their
pledge ship and like it's at the end of the semester,
end of the year, depending on the school and so
I feel like it was always like a big deal
(19:39):
for fraternity men to get initiated because it kind of
meant like they were at the end of all their
pledging and everything, so it was like a big deal
for them. But I never had really heard much about
Swarty initiation, So for me, I remember leading up to initiation,
the only thing we ever had to do was it
was like dressing up. So once we had to dress
(20:01):
up and like a nice outfit. It wasn't like anything
like really specific, but I remember just couldn't be like
workout clothes or jeans. Actually I think jeans were allowed,
but you just had to dress up and look nice.
But we got initiated with only like two months into
the year, so it wasn't that long. But I always
remember that leading up and like girls being really nervous
if they didn't dress up, Not that anything would have happened,
(20:21):
but we were all like nervous about what could happen
if we didn't dress up, and if we would get
in trouble or whatnot. I remember the day of initiation
was the Sunday after a huge football game at my school,
so I remember everyone honestly just kind of dreading it
like obviously it's a big deal to get initiated because
you're like finally into your swarty and like it's all
(20:43):
real and sealed. But I just remember everyone being really
hungover and having a really early start time, so no
one was really that excited about it. You also had
to get to the house really early and stay even
if your group was like at the very end. So
I remember just my group being at the very end,
but I remember being at the end, and then finally
it was my turn to go, and I remember they
(21:04):
made a mess up with my big because I had
a really close friend in my swarty and they thought
she was my big the entire time leading up to it,
I guess, so my Big wasn't there to get me
initiated because they didn't tell her to be there for
that time because they didn't know I was in the group.
So a random person initiated me, which was like a
bummer because it was always supposed to be a big
(21:25):
and that was kind of the whole like special part
of it. So I remember being really weirded out about that,
but it was fine. I was somebody didn't know, but
it was nothing crazy. I remember getting blindfolded and we
had to wear ritual whites. We had to be in
a white dress, and we had to wear socks with
no logos, which is so random, not thinking about it.
And then you couldn't have makeup on, so you had
(21:47):
to be in your ritual whites with socks and no makeup.
And then you would put on a robe in a blindfold,
but you would get like walked into this room and
it was dark, and then you'd have to like kneel
down on a pillow, and then I just remember them
really just reading something to me. The whole time.
Speaker 6 (22:05):
They were just reading, and then they'd like walk you
in a circle, and I think they like tapped on
her head or something. But then we like did a
lot of standing up and then kneeling down on the pillow,
but it wasn't that much standing up. But later on,
after all this was over, I remember hearing that once
I left the house and everything, one of the girls
(22:25):
in a different group passed out during initiation because I
guess her knees locked, which thinking back, I'm like, we
weren't even standing for that long, so I don't really
know how that would have happened. But they had to
like stop that whole group, and obviously everyone's blind folds
came off, so I just can't even like imagine what
that group was like. But I remember her knees locked
and she passed out, so they had to like stop
(22:47):
the whole thing, which is just wild. But she was fine,
Like I think she was just dehydrated, probably because of
the day before was a big party day with game
day and everything, and everyone was exhausted, so I think
her knees just locked and passed out. But yeah, definitely
not great. I do remember I was actually in charge
or like assisting to being in charge of like ritual
(23:10):
the following year, when I was a sophomore, I was
like the assistant ritual person and so pretty much the
initiation was my only job, and I actually got a
work opportunity, so I left that weekend, and my sorority
was really strict on excuses from all the rituals and
(23:30):
especial initiation, so I was like the only person allowed
to not go, which was really ironic because it was
literally my only job. But I remember all of my
friends being pissed because they all had to go and
sit there for like ten hours all day while I
was not even in town and it was like my
only job. So yeah, I remember that also, So I
never actually was on the other side of initiation because
(23:52):
then we would always get excused from it when we
were older, just because they wouldn't need juniors and seniors there.
So I never really got to see it from the outside.
But I feel like because we got to take our
blindfolds off, like at the very end of it.
Speaker 12 (24:03):
I like knew what it was.
Speaker 5 (24:06):
But yeah, I think.
Speaker 12 (24:07):
That's my initiation story.
Speaker 13 (24:23):
So basically there's not much that I can necessarily recall
from initiation. I feel like for me, at least, my sorority,
which I will not disclose, is very sort of known
to be like the Chill Sorority sort of the more
like Granola Sorority almost, And I think with that, like
all of our rituals that we do are so unplanned
(24:45):
or last minute done. And so I remember, at least
when I was a freshman getting initiated, I had no
idea what was going on, obviously because you are freshman
and you're not supposed to know. But then once I
was a sophomore, like rehearsing the whole entire little like
ritual in the morning, we all did it so last minute,
and it was so disorganized, and I like had no
(25:06):
idea as a freshman how much of a sort of
like flop it was, because you think it has to
be this like big, sort of rehearsed, you know, elusive,
secretive event, and it really just was not that at all.
I remember like people were laughing when they were singing
like a song. That was one of our parts is
we have to like sing a song. We're all basically
(25:26):
in these robes and we have to sing a song
while these girls are getting initiated, and then we start
having to hum the exact song the whole entire time,
and we're humming for about ten to fifteen minutes. So
that was always very interesting because we would hear so
many girls just like chuckling and laughing the whole time.
But to set the scene for a freshman or for
(25:47):
a new member that's just getting newly initiated. What was
hard for us was that our initiation always happened to
be the Sunday following Halloween, so it was always Hallowekend,
and it was always that Sunday, so everyone was just
like immensely hungover, but we all come to the house
bright and early in the morning at like eight am,
(26:09):
I believe, and we all have to come in and
they told us to wear a white dress and then
nude undergarments. And it was so strange to me as
a freshman, because I was like, why are these like
girls telling me to wear nude underwear?
Speaker 5 (26:22):
What are they gonna do?
Speaker 13 (26:23):
Like, are we gonna like undress in front of them
and we need to wear nude? It was like terrifying me.
But we show up to the house and we're in
our white dresses and best believe, I have my nude
undergarments on, and then we go upstairs into like the
girl's rooms. We had this like big room that fit
like ten people, and so we all just changed in
there into these like robes, and so they weren't like
(26:47):
cute little like bath robes necessarily, it was like a
not even we call them robes, but they were more
like togas or it looked like like a bed sheet.
It was just pure white like sheet on us. And
then a chord that we had to tie a specific way,
and none of us really tied it correctly, but it
was like we had to tie the chord to the
left and then once you get initiated, you had to
(27:09):
shift it to the right. And so it made sense
that they had asked us to wear new to undergarments
in kind of a weird way, because I guess they
couldn't disclose, like, yeah, you guys are gonna put on
these little like bed sheets. But made sense because I
did see a girl that had like red lace underwear
and you could very much see that through the little
thin rope, so that was interesting. And there's like parents
there and advisors and everything like that, so it was
(27:30):
funny that she was a little bit exposed. But then
we walked down in line with our bigs, and our
bigs walk us down, and then suddenly we hear everyone
like in a circle. The lights are off in the
chapped room, there's like candles, and they're singing one of
the like songs of our sorority, and it's so it
feels so like mysterious and almost kind of scary or
(27:51):
like something out of like like Scream Queens, the way
they do their like rituals. And so then they start
saying all this random stuff like sort of you know,
devouting yourself as a sister, like reading off of this speech,
and then we all go down and like get on
our knees and we write like on a signature on
this little book, just our name and that we're getting initiated,
(28:13):
and then we do like a little secret handshake with
the girl that is initiating us. So it was all
very funny to me as a freshman, and even as
a sophomore and as a junior too. It was always
so funny to be on the other side as well,
because you're just humming for like ten minutes straight while
you're watching these hungover girls kneel down and sign a
(28:35):
little book, and so it just was so funny because
you just get so tired of it and people are
humming terribly, or people are hungover. I had a friend
who last year was so hungover from Halloweken that she
had to walk out of initiation and then we could
hear her throwing up in the bathroom next door, and
then she just came back and acted like nothing happened
(28:56):
and like our advisors didn't bat and I or anything,
and then just kept singing the song. So yeah, I
think it's super super weird. Sometimes on the bright side,
I think that my sorority all has this sort of
like consensus that it's weird and it's a tradition and
we have to keep it up even though it's kind
of funny, although sometimes maybe we should have taken it
(29:18):
a little bit more seriously. I think we sharpen up
when the advisors are paying attention. But it definitely is
like a very interesting experience. Had you told me I,
like four years ago would be undressing in nude undergarments
and putting on a robe to like kneel in front
of like one hundred and fifty girls, I would be
really confused. But you know, love my sorority, and it's
(29:40):
such a fun experience but very funny moment nonetheless.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
And that was only the beginning. If you thought that
was intense, just wait because what happens next makes everything
you just heard sound like a warm up.
Welcome to Dirty Rush, The Truth about Sorority Life with
your hosts me Gia Judice, Daisy.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Kent, and Jennifer Kessler. Okay, folks, not to be dramatic,
but this really is the episode that even our producers
were hesitant to do because it involves breaking an oath
sworn by those who joined Greek life. We are lifting
the veil on the most mysterious part of joining a sorority,
which has never been discussed publicly until now.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
We're talking about initiation, the transition from pledge to sorority sister,
a process that has been kept top secret for well
over a century. This bonding ritual is so steeped in tradition,
generations of pledges have been sworn to secrecy, but today
those secrets are coming out.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
The following guests agreed to reveal what really happens during initiation,
provided they remain completely anonymous, to the point where we
as hosts couldn't speak to them directly. That is how
sacred this pact for sisterhoods around there is. The voices
you are about to hear have been altered, the identities blurred,
but the stories are one hundred percent authentic. This is
(01:08):
what every sorority in America doesn't want you to know.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
So initiation is definitely one of those things in sorority
life that is that people are more apprehensive to talk about.
I feel like because it's so ritual based and it's
so individual to the sorority, people are super secretive about it.
And there's definitely details that I feel protective over. But
(01:36):
it's hard to explain why. I think just because it's
so individual to your sorority and like that is your
entrance to all of it, and it feels so sacred.
But there definitely are some things that I am willing
to share. I think mostly it's just kind of a blur. Essentially,
(01:57):
you go to the house in different shifts of time
and am my sorority. I think there were three different
shifts of time, so there were three different groups of
girls that went to the house, and you're all kind
of shuttled into this room where you are supposed to
change into these robe gown things, and you don't really
(02:18):
know what's about to happen, so there's a lot of
anticipation and there's a lot of speculation beforehand between girls
about what's going to happen, and people would like to
think they know self or spread rumors about things that
are going to happen that are scary or whatever, but
really none. If it's scary, it's just unknown. And the
older girls come in once you're ready, And what happened
(02:41):
for us is they just took us room to room,
but you're supposed to close your eyes in between each room,
which I thought was really interesting, probably to just keep
that element of surprise alive. But everybody's like covering their
eyes and holding hands. I'm walking in the line and
it feels so silly. And then in room that we
ended up in within the house, there was a ritual
(03:04):
to be performed or something that was read and kind
of just took you through like all of the all
of these different ceremonies that represented the virtues of the
sorority or the most important symbols and things like that.
And there was one room in particular where you instructed
(03:24):
to drink something. And I won't give the name of
it away because I feel like it would give the
name of my sorority away pretty easily. But you're instructed
to drink something, and I have a lot of food allergies,
so I was really apprehensive, and I was like, huh,
like no, I'm going to pass, Like what's in this?
And they're like, we can't tell you. It's a secret
(03:45):
and you just have to drink it. And I was
like no, like I have a lot of allergies, Like
can you just tell me what's in it? And they
wouldn't tell me what was in it, and they were like,
we think it will be fine, like it's stuff that
people would not typically be allergic to it, and I,
looking back, should have just stood up for myself more.
But I ended up drinking it and I was allergic
(04:06):
to the juice that was in it.
Speaker 5 (04:09):
It wasn't alcohol or anything.
Speaker 6 (04:11):
Bad like that.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
It was just this weird mixture of some sort of
juice that I was allergic to.
Speaker 7 (04:15):
To this day, I.
Speaker 5 (04:16):
Don't even know what was in it. They wouldn't tell me.
Speaker 7 (04:19):
But I did end up having.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
To leave Initiation early because I drank this juice and
I needed to go find a benadroll. So that was
my experience with Initiation. I got through a few of
the rituals, but I actually never completed the entire thing.
So it was interesting in the following years to be
(04:42):
an older girl who was leading initiation and to see
the other parts of it fully come together, because when
I was initiated, I didn't get to like fully experience
the whole thing through. One other thing that I loved
that they did that I thought was just the sweetest
part of it all was at the end, when you
went back into that original room that you were in,
(05:03):
rechanged into your robes and everything. They had slipped these
letters from older girls into our bags. So we all
left not like really knowing anything. But then later on
throughout the day, people started realizing that these letters from
older girls had been slipped into our bags, and it
was so fun to read just the words of encouragement
(05:23):
for college and the words of advice for soaking it
all in and like really enjoying your years and your sorority,
and everybody had.
Speaker 5 (05:34):
Such a sweet sentiment.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
So I thought that that was a really sweet part
of initiation as well.
Speaker 8 (05:40):
Okay, so when it was like mid day and we
got into our sororities and we're all so excited, and
I think, like when I was going through your rush,
it was like right before like the Bama Rush stuff,
and it got like huge, so but it was still
like I didn't know much about it. Whatever got my
(06:01):
bid and I was all excited and then like the
next day we're getting all of our information like okay,
initiation is in three weeks. And then so I think
for initiation we were kind of like, oh what is this?
And like you always like hear things, especially as a freshman,
and you don't really know like anything about sorority stuff,
(06:24):
Like you hear like these crazy like core stories that
are like they do blah blah blah, like they call
you fat like whatever, and so like that was always
something that we were scared about or like just like
any freshman would be that doesn't know anything about rush.
And then so I think it was three weeks later
we went through we had like meetings that we would
(06:45):
go in and they would talk about the sorority and
all the history of the sorority.
Speaker 5 (06:49):
And then our.
Speaker 8 (06:51):
Initiation day and the night before we got a text
and was like show up in nude underwear and in
new bra and white socks. So we were like, Okay,
this is really creepy, Like are we gonna be naked?
Like that's really weird. So anyway, we like we're all
kind of like thinking like what is about to happen.
(07:12):
We have to be all in nude underwear. This is weird.
Then we ended up going we like had blindfolds. They
like blindfolded us, and someone like brought us like held
our backs and like walked us to We were somewhere
like in the school, but it was like this random,
like big huge room with nothing in it. We had
(07:35):
blindfolds on, and then they like brought us up and
there was a curtain. We were like on a stage,
but the curtain was closed, and then they're like, okay,
you can take your blindfolds. Us change into this and
it was like this like white sack and it was
like so weird. And then we had like to tie
like a when then we had a rope to tie
(07:55):
around us and it was like just creepy. And then
we put blindfolds back on and then they let us
down like these stairs, and then we like walk into
a room that people are like humming and it's really
creepy and colty, and then like we all they lead
(08:17):
us into our circle and then they're like okay, singing
all these like weird chants and singing songs whatever, and
they're like okay, you can take off your blindfolds now,
and so we would take off her blindfolds and then
some people would like turn around and it would be
someone that they're like their relative, their mom, their sister
(08:41):
that was in the same sorority as them, and to
like they surprised them. They turned around and it was like, Oh,
my gosh, your mom's here, and that was like really cute.
And then one of my friends turned around and her
sister was there, and I don't know if it was
like just like we were so anxious and like her
(09:04):
seeing her sister as a surprise, but she just like
fainted and so that kind of like a damper on
the whole initiation process. So then the ambulance came.
Speaker 7 (09:16):
They checked her out.
Speaker 8 (09:19):
And she ended up being fine. But then we just
went right back to chanting our weird songs and singing,
and then we got like our pins and that was
about it.
Speaker 9 (09:45):
I remember initiation is a little bit of a blur
because it happened in the morning after, you know, freshman year.
I never really took a Saturday night easy, and our
initiation was on a Sunday morning, and I remember not
just me, but me and a bunch of my sorority
(10:05):
sisters had gone out the night before, and we were
just like scrambling to get to the house on time.
I remember, particularly my freshman year, the seniors were really
mean to us.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
They just were.
Speaker 9 (10:19):
Really just like on a high horse and just like
a power trip. And I remember them screaming at us
in the group chat, being like, if you are late
to your initiation time, you are being dropped from the sorority.
And so it was a really big deal that we
get there on time. And I remember me and my
friends down the hall in my dorm, who were also
(10:40):
my sorority. We all woke up late to like for
our initiation that was that morning, and it's a Sunday morning,
and we're all scrambling. We're ordering an uber to the
sorty house that's only just like across campus. Usually you
would walk, and we all scramble and get there on time.
But then we realized that they told us that we
(11:01):
need to memorize these so I'm going to stop myself.
The thing about initiation is that it's really even all easyars.
Speaker 5 (11:11):
Later something that's very sacred to sorority.
Speaker 9 (11:14):
And I was in a sorority that was just like
really prioritize tradition, so it was it's it's hard to
like reveal certain aspects, but I can say that we
did have these like ceremonial songs that we would all sing,
and it was a big especially to our sorority. We
(11:36):
really really like had to sing the songs. And they
had assigned us the songs prior to initiation, and we
were supposed to, like part of our initiation, learn these songs.
And you know, sometimes when you're hungover and you're just
still think you're still drunk, and I remember like being
put into robes to start the initiation. We're blindful did
(12:00):
crossing from room to room, and not only did I
not memorize the song that we were supposed to sing,
but none of us like remember the song that we
were supposed to sing. And we were being blindfolded and
walked from one room to the next, and I just
(12:20):
start cracking up. And then soon enough, like everyone in
the line walking to the next room, everyone is just
dying laughing. And these seniors that took our sorority very
seriously just were so pissed and they were like, you
guys are being so disrespectful.
Speaker 5 (12:40):
You can't believe you didn't learn the.
Speaker 9 (12:42):
Song, and we heard all about it on Chapter that
Monday morning. But in the moment we everyone just started
laughing and they didn't really know what to do with themselves.
Speaker 5 (12:51):
So soon enough, like we.
Speaker 9 (12:53):
Quieted the laughs and went on to the next room
and carried on with the ceremony.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
But needless to say.
Speaker 9 (13:02):
Our pledge class was then dubbed the worst PC ever
because when we came to Chapter that Monday morning, they
literally told us, you guys are the worst pledge class
we've ever had. We've never had people not know the
song nevertheless erupt in laughter while trying attempting to sing
(13:24):
the song, and we continued on that reputation. We all
got very close our pledge class, but we definitely really
pushed the envelope in terms of what was allowed in
when we all lived in the house and just moving on.
But we were all very close, And yeah, that's what
(13:45):
I remember about initiation.
Speaker 5 (13:47):
I also remember just being very hungover and not wanting
to go. So that's all I can really say.
Speaker 10 (13:53):
Initiation is like it's the one part of the sorority
that I'm probably the most secretive about, like the most
sort of protective about, And I.
Speaker 11 (14:03):
Don't really know why.
Speaker 10 (14:05):
I don't really know much about other initiations, so I
feel like other people are really secretive about it too.
Maybe it's the one thing that feels sacred. I don't
know if that's a weird way to describe it. There's
a few things I am willing to say, but of
all the things, like rush, I would give secrets living
(14:27):
in the sorority, Like I would never tell somebody my password,
the door knock, the handshake unless they were another member
of that sorority. Like even right now, I don't even
want to say what school I went to or what
sorority I was in, because I am going to say
a few things about initiation because I think there is
a lot of curiosity, And like I said, I know
(14:51):
a lot of things about Greek life, and I don't
know anything about other people's initiations, especially the boys.
Speaker 11 (14:58):
I don't know anything about about what they do. So
here's what I will say.
Speaker 10 (15:03):
At the time when I was initiated, and I have
only vague memories of it, and I think that's also
because it's very early in the morning and you're kind
of tired, so and I only remember being initiated.
Speaker 11 (15:15):
I have some vague memories of that, and I remember
doing initiation like once. I can't I'm sure I did
it a few other times.
Speaker 10 (15:22):
So what I will say is I didn't live at
the house at the time in the sorority. I live
somewhere else, but I remember we spent the night in
the sorority, so I think you go you sleep in
other girls' rooms. This is all my vague memories, and
I can remember. I think my big sister wakes you
up very early, and you put on what they refer
(15:45):
to as a robe, but like we're not talking like
a Barefoot Dreams robe, Like this isn't like a cozy
like robe that has like coffee mugs on it. Like
it was like almost like a cap and gown type robe,
no cap, so I would call it a gown. And
I have a vague memory.
Speaker 11 (16:01):
Of a belt that was like a cord. I don't
want to say rope because that makes it sound scary,
but I think.
Speaker 10 (16:07):
It was like you tied the robe or the gown
so that you could like walk around. And I kind
of remember, like it was very early now if I
was blindfolded, I also don't totally remember. They might have
just said close your eyes I don't really like being blindfolded,
so I might have said, like, I promise, I'll close
my eyes, just don't blindfold me. And they kind of
(16:27):
like walk you around the house and you don't really
know where you are and you don't really know what's happening.
The part I will reveal is I went into this
room and I kind of knew what room I was
going into. The room was all red, and I look
up and I kind of remember being on my knees,
not in a weird way that sounds like inappropriate.
Speaker 11 (16:48):
It's not like that, you're just kind of like sitting
but kneeling.
Speaker 12 (16:51):
I don't know.
Speaker 11 (16:52):
And I look up and my mom was in the room.
Speaker 10 (16:55):
Now, to give you context, my mom was in the
same sorority as me at the same school, so she
never told me, but obviously somehow she figured it out
or they call her. She calls and she knows what
time to be there, and she's got like a I
kind of remember her with like a book and she's
reading something. Now I'm not going to call it a
(17:15):
prayer because it wasn't a prayer, but it was like
she's reading something. Now you're completely like bewildered or whatever
the word is, like, because you're so early and you're like,
what's happening that I cannot remember anything she said because
I'm like.
Speaker 11 (17:28):
My mom's in here.
Speaker 10 (17:30):
And then I do remember going back out and one
of my really really good friends saying, like, dude, your
mom was in there, like so I can remember that,
and it was all red and my mom was wearing
either the same thing I was wearing, or like, I
don't know, maybe a slightly different version. And then it
goes on and on, and then I can remember going
(17:50):
into a big room and I think my big sister
was there and my mom and there was sort of
like a.
Speaker 11 (17:56):
Ceremony and my mom was involved in it. And I
think they give you something.
Speaker 10 (18:04):
I don't want to reveal what, because again I'm being like,
this is the one thing that I'm.
Speaker 11 (18:09):
Kind of a bit more secretive about. She gives me something.
Speaker 10 (18:12):
I'll call it a piece of jewelry, and it was
hers that she then gave to me.
Speaker 11 (18:20):
I actually think she did trust me at the time
and took it back. I think she still has it.
I definitely don't have.
Speaker 10 (18:24):
It, and I can remember, like the only other part
I will reveal is I had no idea what a
palm frawn was, and definitely through sorority life, I learned
I now know what a palm prawn was, So there
are definitely palm frons involved. And then I think it
was like a breakfast. Then it kind of gets normal
after sort of this ceremony. Then it's just like any
(18:46):
old other sort of sorority party. So that's the part
that I feel comfortable sharing. I definitely was on the
other side of initiation one or two times.
Speaker 11 (18:56):
I also think this is the other thing.
Speaker 10 (18:58):
I think it's kind of a pain in the ass
go to lie, Like I think it's a lot of
work to do. So I kind of remember seniors sort
of tapping out, like being like, I'm not doing initiation.
So that is the top top most secret things I
am willing to reveal, and I'm very curious to hear
what other people have to say.
Speaker 7 (19:17):
Okay, so for my initiation, I remember like always hearing
about fraternity initiations, but never really swarty initiations. I feel
like for fraternities it's usually like the end of their
pledge ship and like it's at the end of the semester,
end of the year, depending on the school and so
I feel like it was always like a big deal
(19:39):
for fraternity men to get initiated because it kind of
meant like they were at the end of all their
pledging and everything, so it was like a big deal
for them. But I never had really heard much about
Swarty initiation, So for me, I remember leading up to initiation,
the only thing we ever had to do was it
was like dressing up. So once we had to dress
(20:01):
up and like a nice outfit. It wasn't like anything
like really specific, but I remember just couldn't be like
workout clothes or jeans. Actually I think jeans were allowed,
but you just had to dress up and look nice.
But we got initiated with only like two months into
the year, so it wasn't that long. But I always
remember that leading up and like girls being really nervous
if they didn't dress up, Not that anything would have happened,
(20:21):
but we were all like nervous about what could happen
if we didn't dress up, and if we would get
in trouble or whatnot. I remember the day of initiation
was the Sunday after a huge football game at my school,
so I remember everyone honestly just kind of dreading it
like obviously it's a big deal to get initiated because
you're like finally into your swarty and like it's all
(20:43):
real and sealed. But I just remember everyone being really
hungover and having a really early start time, so no
one was really that excited about it. You also had
to get to the house really early and stay even
if your group was like at the very end. So
I remember just my group being at the very end,
but I remember being at the end, and then finally
it was my turn to go, and I remember they
(21:04):
made a mess up with my big because I had
a really close friend in my swarty and they thought
she was my big the entire time leading up to it,
I guess, so my Big wasn't there to get me
initiated because they didn't tell her to be there for
that time because they didn't know I was in the group.
So a random person initiated me, which was like a
bummer because it was always supposed to be a big
(21:25):
and that was kind of the whole like special part
of it. So I remember being really weirded out about that,
but it was fine. I was somebody didn't know, but
it was nothing crazy. I remember getting blindfolded and we
had to wear ritual whites. We had to be in
a white dress, and we had to wear socks with
no logos, which is so random, not thinking about it.
And then you couldn't have makeup on, so you had
(21:47):
to be in your ritual whites with socks and no makeup.
And then you would put on a robe in a blindfold,
but you would get like walked into this room and
it was dark, and then you'd have to like kneel
down on a pillow, and then I just remember them
really just reading something to me. The whole time.
Speaker 6 (22:05):
They were just reading, and then they'd like walk you
in a circle, and I think they like tapped on
her head or something. But then we like did a
lot of standing up and then kneeling down on the pillow,
but it wasn't that much standing up. But later on,
after all this was over, I remember hearing that once
I left the house and everything, one of the girls
(22:25):
in a different group passed out during initiation because I
guess her knees locked, which thinking back, I'm like, we
weren't even standing for that long, so I don't really
know how that would have happened. But they had to
like stop that whole group, and obviously everyone's blind folds
came off, so I just can't even like imagine what
that group was like. But I remember her knees locked
and she passed out, so they had to like stop
(22:47):
the whole thing, which is just wild. But she was fine,
Like I think she was just dehydrated, probably because of
the day before was a big party day with game
day and everything, and everyone was exhausted, so I think
her knees just locked and passed out. But yeah, definitely
not great. I do remember I was actually in charge
or like assisting to being in charge of like ritual
(23:10):
the following year, when I was a sophomore, I was
like the assistant ritual person and so pretty much the
initiation was my only job, and I actually got a
work opportunity, so I left that weekend, and my sorority
was really strict on excuses from all the rituals and
(23:30):
especial initiation, so I was like the only person allowed
to not go, which was really ironic because it was
literally my only job. But I remember all of my
friends being pissed because they all had to go and
sit there for like ten hours all day while I
was not even in town and it was like my
only job. So yeah, I remember that also, So I
never actually was on the other side of initiation because
(23:52):
then we would always get excused from it when we
were older, just because they wouldn't need juniors and seniors there.
So I never really got to see it from the outside.
But I feel like because we got to take our
blindfolds off, like at the very end of it.
Speaker 12 (24:03):
I like knew what it was.
Speaker 5 (24:06):
But yeah, I think.
Speaker 12 (24:07):
That's my initiation story.
Speaker 13 (24:23):
So basically there's not much that I can necessarily recall
from initiation. I feel like for me, at least, my sorority,
which I will not disclose, is very sort of known
to be like the Chill Sorority sort of the more
like Granola Sorority almost, And I think with that, like
all of our rituals that we do are so unplanned
(24:45):
or last minute done. And so I remember, at least
when I was a freshman getting initiated, I had no
idea what was going on, obviously because you are freshman
and you're not supposed to know. But then once I
was a sophomore, like rehearsing the whole entire little like
ritual in the morning, we all did it so last minute,
and it was so disorganized, and I like had no
(25:06):
idea as a freshman how much of a sort of
like flop it was, because you think it has to
be this like big, sort of rehearsed, you know, elusive,
secretive event, and it really just was not that at all.
I remember like people were laughing when they were singing
like a song. That was one of our parts is
we have to like sing a song. We're all basically
(25:26):
in these robes and we have to sing a song
while these girls are getting initiated, and then we start
having to hum the exact song the whole entire time,
and we're humming for about ten to fifteen minutes. So
that was always very interesting because we would hear so
many girls just like chuckling and laughing the whole time.
But to set the scene for a freshman or for
(25:47):
a new member that's just getting newly initiated. What was
hard for us was that our initiation always happened to
be the Sunday following Halloween, so it was always Hallowekend,
and it was always that Sunday, so everyone was just
like immensely hungover, but we all come to the house
bright and early in the morning at like eight am,
(26:09):
I believe, and we all have to come in and
they told us to wear a white dress and then
nude undergarments. And it was so strange to me as
a freshman, because I was like, why are these like
girls telling me to wear nude underwear?
Speaker 5 (26:22):
What are they gonna do?
Speaker 13 (26:23):
Like, are we gonna like undress in front of them
and we need to wear nude? It was like terrifying me.
But we show up to the house and we're in
our white dresses and best believe, I have my nude
undergarments on, and then we go upstairs into like the
girl's rooms. We had this like big room that fit
like ten people, and so we all just changed in
there into these like robes, and so they weren't like
(26:47):
cute little like bath robes necessarily, it was like a
not even we call them robes, but they were more
like togas or it looked like like a bed sheet.
It was just pure white like sheet on us. And
then a chord that we had to tie a specific way,
and none of us really tied it correctly, but it
was like we had to tie the chord to the
left and then once you get initiated, you had to
(27:09):
shift it to the right. And so it made sense
that they had asked us to wear new to undergarments
in kind of a weird way, because I guess they
couldn't disclose, like, yeah, you guys are gonna put on
these little like bed sheets. But made sense because I
did see a girl that had like red lace underwear
and you could very much see that through the little
thin rope, so that was interesting. And there's like parents
there and advisors and everything like that, so it was
(27:30):
funny that she was a little bit exposed. But then
we walked down in line with our bigs, and our
bigs walk us down, and then suddenly we hear everyone
like in a circle. The lights are off in the
chapped room, there's like candles, and they're singing one of
the like songs of our sorority, and it's so it
feels so like mysterious and almost kind of scary or
(27:51):
like something out of like like Scream Queens, the way
they do their like rituals. And so then they start
saying all this random stuff like sort of you know,
devouting yourself as a sister, like reading off of this speech,
and then we all go down and like get on
our knees and we write like on a signature on
this little book, just our name and that we're getting initiated,
(28:13):
and then we do like a little secret handshake with
the girl that is initiating us. So it was all
very funny to me as a freshman, and even as
a sophomore and as a junior too. It was always
so funny to be on the other side as well,
because you're just humming for like ten minutes straight while
you're watching these hungover girls kneel down and sign a
(28:35):
little book, and so it just was so funny because
you just get so tired of it and people are
humming terribly, or people are hungover. I had a friend
who last year was so hungover from Halloweken that she
had to walk out of initiation and then we could
hear her throwing up in the bathroom next door, and
then she just came back and acted like nothing happened
(28:56):
and like our advisors didn't bat and I or anything,
and then just kept singing the song. So yeah, I
think it's super super weird. Sometimes on the bright side,
I think that my sorority all has this sort of
like consensus that it's weird and it's a tradition and
we have to keep it up even though it's kind
of funny, although sometimes maybe we should have taken it
(29:18):
a little bit more seriously. I think we sharpen up
when the advisors are paying attention. But it definitely is
like a very interesting experience. Had you told me I,
like four years ago would be undressing in nude undergarments
and putting on a robe to like kneel in front
of like one hundred and fifty girls, I would be
really confused. But you know, love my sorority, and it's
(29:40):
such a fun experience but very funny moment nonetheless.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
And that was only the beginning. If you thought that
was intense, just wait because what happens next makes everything
you just heard sound like a warm up.
Hosts And Creators
Jackie Goldschneider
Jennifer Fessler
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