Edited by Azizi Powell
This Is Part I of a six part pancocojams series about the custom of designated members of historically Black Greek letter fraternities holding a staff or some other object during their new members' probates.
This post presents my conclusions about this custom based on my informal online research (i.e. by watching about a 100 YouTube videos of historically Black Greek letter sorority and fraternity probates. I watched these somewhat randomly selected videos between April 4, 2024 through April 12, 2024).
This post also includes online comments or information about this custom.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/04/videos-of-designated-members-of-alpha.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. That post showcases six videos of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. probates that include designated members holding a staff or some other objects during their new members' probates.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/04/six-youtube-videos-of-omega-psi-phi.html for Part III of this pancocojams series. That post showcases six videos of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. Inc. probates. These videos are given without any descriptions or any comments.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/04/six-youtube-videos-of-kappa-alpha-psi.html for Part IV of this pancocojams series. That post showcases six videos of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. probates that include designated members. These videos are given without any descriptions or any comments.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/04/six-youtube-videos-of-phi-beta-sigma.html for Part V of this pancocojams series. That post showcases six videos of Phi Beta Sigma, Fraternity Inc. probates. These videos are given without any descriptions or any comments.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/04/six-youtube-videos-of-iota-phi-theta.html for Part VI of this pancocojams series. That post showcases six videos of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity Inc probates. These videos are given without any descriptions or any comments.
The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, cultural, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are featured in these videos and thanks to the producers and publishers of these videos on YouTube. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to all those who are featured in these embedded videos as well as the producers and publishers of these videos.
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-historically-black-greek-letter.html for the closely related pancocojams series about the custom of designated members of historically Black Greek letter sororities carrying a mace or holding a staff during their organization's probates.
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Documenting how historically Black Greek letter fraternity and sorority probates wouldn't be complete without information about the close contact processional styles that the neophytes have when they enter the probate performance area.
I believe that those close contact styles were/are influenced by the South African Venda's [ethnic population] Domba dance which is also known as "the python dance". Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/01/similarities-between-venda-python-dance_7.html for a 2013 pancocojams post entitled "Similarities Between The Venda (South Africa) Python Dance & Historically African American Greek Letter Sororities Probate Line Formations".
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DISCLAIMER
I consider this pancocojams series on historically Black Greek letter fraternity custom of carrying a mace or holding a staff during probates (new members public presentations) to be a work in progress.
I haven't found any articles online or offline about these customs and I haven't spoken to anyone about these customs.
Hopefully, this series will result in documentation, discussion, and research on this subject.
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INFORMATION ABOUT THIS CUSTOM
The information in this post and in Part I of the companion series on this custom as practiced by historically Black Greek letter sororities is based on the conclusions that I reached from watching a number of YouTube videos of historically Black Greek letter probates.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-historically-black-greek-letter.html for that companion post with the title: "The Historically Black Greek Letter Sorority Custom Of Designated Members Carrying A Mace Or Holding A Staff During Probates (Part I - Information & Comments)".
For the historical and cultural record, please add and correct information about this custom in this post's comment section below. Thanks!
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EXPLANATION OF SOME TERMS
A "probate" is the first time that new members of historically Greek letter sororities or fraternities are introduced to the general public. The older terms "crossing over" and/or "coming out" were used in 1966 when I became a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc (Gamma Zeta chapter, New Jersey).
"Crossing over" metaphorically means stepping into the land where members of that Greek letter organization dwell). While some YouTube videos of this historically Black Greek letter organization event used the term "probates", it appears to me that most videos used the term "new member presentation" or some similar terms.
"Neos" (neophytes) are new members of a specific historically Black Greek letter sorority or fraternity.
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WHEN DID THE CUSTOM BEGIN?
YouTube videos of designated members of historically Black Greek letter fraternities holding a staff or some other objects (such as canes, decorated sticks, paddles, and/or flags) are a small subset of YouTube videos of those fraternities stepping and strolling.
Based on my admittedly informal research of watching probate videos of historically Black Greek letter fraternities the earliest date for a YouTube video that I've come across of historically Black Greek letter fraternities with this probate custom is from 2013 (Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.). 2013 is in contrast to 2009, the earliest date that I came across for a YouTube video of members of a historically Black Greek letter sorority (Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.) carrying a decorated or undecorated mace (i.e. the sticks that drum majors carry) during a probate. I didn't come across any YouTube video example of members of historically Black Greek letter fraternities holding maces decorated or otherwise.
As I noted in my post on historically Black Greek letter sororities https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-historically-black-greek-letter.html , this custom of designated members of a sorority (and not the new members of that sorority) carrying a mace during a probate eventually gave way to the custom of designated members holding a staff. The multiple YouTube videos (around 100) that I watched of Divine 9 probates suggests that the custom of carrying a staff was first done by sororities, but the custom of sorority members carrying a mace may have been an adaptation of fraternity members carrying a walking stick.
From the YouTube videos that I watched it appears that Divine 9 sororities included the custom of holding decorated staffs before Divine 9 fraternities, but further research needs to be done to substantiate that. Based on the YouTube videos that I have watched, it appears that it wasn't until around 2018 that the custom of designated members of certain historically Black Greek letter fraternities carrying a decorated staff became relatively common.
From the YouTube videos that I watched, it appears that Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity is the Divine 9 fraternity that most consistently follows the custom of designated members holding a staff with the fraternity's letters on it during a probate. Members of Kappa Apha Psi carried small crimson and cream canes on their arms for the use of neos during their probate show. in some videos that I watched, members of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity carried tall sticks decorated in their organization's official colors of royal blue and pure white. And in some videos member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity carried tall sticks decorated in their organization's official colors of crimson and cream. In both cases those sticks might be considered substitutes for maces. Some Iota Phi Theta Fraternity probate videos have the members-not the neos- carrying a shovel, an object that has esoteric meaning for that fraternity.
I've only come across one YouTube videos as of the publication date of this pancocojams post (April 12, 2024) of members of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. adhering to this custom if you count holding lit torches or torch-like sticks as part of this custom. That video and some other Omega Psi Phi Fraternity videos are showcased in this pancocojams series. Of course, this doesn't mean that there are no chapters of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity that don't adhere to the custom of carrying staffs during probates.
In at least one Omega Psi Phi Fraternity video that showed neos on probate proceeding to their new presentation event, a member of that organization was shown with a dog (a pit bull?)" in leash. In that video and in some others the men on probate wore gold dog collars and mimicked the attack and barking actions of dogs when they were approached by the members who were responsible for pledging them.
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WHO CARRIES THESE STAFFS?
The staffs in these probate videos that I have watched are only carried or held by certain members of the fraternities. It's likely that the men who carry the staffs are the DP (Dean of Pledges) and the ADP (Assistant Dean of Pledges) along with their other members of the fraternities who help them (particularly in the case of large lines i.e. groups of pledges.
A "pledge" is a person who is in the process of becoming a member of that Greek letter organization. When a pledge "crosses over" (officially joins that sorority) she is referred to as a "neophyte" ("neo").
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HOW ARE THESE STAFFS DECORATED?
Based on the videos that I've watched, it appears that most of the staffs that are held during historically Black Greek letter probates are decorated with the Greek letters of the fraternity and that fraternity's founding date.
These staffs may (also) be painted or decorated in one or both of the two official colors of that fraternity.
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These staffs aren't as highly decorated as the staffs that are held by designated members of historically Black Greek letter sororities. In keeping with American cultural norms, these fraternity staffs don't have any flowers or glittering decorations.
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WHAT OTHER OBJECTS THAT ARE CARRIED OR HELD DURING THESE PROBATES?
The YouTube videos of historically Black Greek letter fraternities probates includes some scenes of designated members carrying flags with the name of their fraternities. I didn't notice any flags in videos of historically Black Greek letter sorority probates.
I also came across some YouTube videos of members of these fraternities carrying what appeared to be wooden paddles..
One major difference that I noticed between these fraternity probates and sorority probates is that in a lot of Divine Nine fraternities the neos carry a shield or just the first person in that fraternity line carries a shield. (The first person in a historically Black Greek letter fraternity or sorority line is called the "ace".)
In the YouTube videos that I watched this probate custom of the ace holding a shield was limited to members of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc.
In many YouTube videos of historically Black Greek letter fraternities the men "on line" (i.e. pledges) wear partial or complete face masks. Only a few YouTube videos of Divine nine sorority probates showed neos wearing any masks.
A number of videos of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity showed their neos carrying lanterns which is a symbol with esoteric meaning for that fraternity.
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WHAT ARE THE CULTURAL INFLUENCES ON THIS CUSTOM?
The major cultural influences that I noted in the first post in this pancocojams series about this custom historically Black Greek letter sororities also influenced this custom among most of the Divine 9 fraternities.
Listed in no particular order, I believe these cultural influences were (are)
1. African American drum majors carrying maces
2. Egyptian Gods, Goddesses, and royalty carrying staffs
3. Mardi Gras Indians carrying decorated staffs.
In addition to those cultural influences, my guess is that the custom of historically Black Greek letter fraternities and sororities carrying staffs has also been influenced by other African cultures, including Zulu (South African) customs.
African Americans could have learned South African [and other African customs besides those of Egypt and South Africa) in a number of ways, including the mass media (before the internet), through books/magazines, cultural travel to South Africa, as well as through South African dance groups performing in the United States and/or South African students studying at historically Black colleges and universities in the United States.
In the 1970s and 1980s with the rise of pride in our African ancestry, on African Americans were particularly fascinated with the image if not the real history of Shaka Zulu.
Video #1
Zulu Men (Amabutho)
SeeYa Films, Jun 28, 2021
These are Zulu men dressed in their traditional attire
singing their traditional songs.
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Video #2
[WARNING: This YouTube video includes topless women]
Unity in Motion: Celebrating Zulu Heritage Through Tribal
Dance 🕺💃
Tekweni, Oct 27, 2012
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This concludes Part I of this pancocojams series.
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