The Historically Black Greek Letter Sorority Custom Of Designated Members Carrying A Mace Or Holding A Staff During Probates (Part I - Information & Comments)

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest revision - April 14, 2024

This Is Part I of a five part pancocojams series about the custom of designated sorors carrying a mace or holding a staff while they lead new members of their sorority into those neophytes' (neos') probate.

This post includes my conclusions about this custom based on my informal online research (i.e by watching a number of YouTube videos).

This post also includes online comments or information about this custom.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/04/videos-of-probate-custom-of-designated.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. That post showcases multiple videos of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. probates that include designated sorors carrying a mace or holding a staff.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/04/delta-sigma-theta-sorority-videos-of.html for Part III of this pancocojams series. That post showcases multiple videos of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Inc. probates that include designated sorors carrying a decorated mace or holding a decorated staff.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/04/zeta-phi-beta-sorority-videos-of.html for Part IV of this pancocojams series. That post showcases multiple videos of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. probates that include designated sorors carrying a mace or holding a staff.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/04/sigma-gamma-rho-sorority-videos-of.html for Part V of this pancocojams series. That post showcases multiple videos of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. probates that include designated sorors carrying a mace or holding a staff.

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-custom-of-designated-members-of.html for Part I of the companion series for this post entitled "The Custom Of Designated Members Of Historically Black Greek Letter Fraternities Holding A Staff Or Some Other Object/s During Their Organizations' Probate."

The links for the other five posts in that series are given in Part I and every other post in that series. Each of those posts showcases six probate videos for each of the five historically Black Greek letter fraternities.
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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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INFORMATION ABOUT THIS CUSTOM

DISCLAIMER:
I consider this series on historically Black Greek letter sorority custom of carrying a mace or holding a staff during probates (new members public presentations) to be a work in progress.

A closely related pancocojams series about the custom of designated members of historically Black Greek letter fraternities holding a staff and/or other objects during their organization's probates will be published ASAP and the first link to that series will be added here.

The information in this post and in Part I of the companion series on this custom as practiced by historically Black Greek letter fraternities is based on the conclusions that I reached from watching a number of YouTube videos of historically Black Greek letter probates.

I haven't found any articles online or offline about these customs and I haven't spoken to anyone about these customs.
 
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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Based on the multiple YouTube videos that I have watched, it appears that the custom of designated members of historically Black Greek letter sororities carrying a mace or holding a staff only occurs during probates. One or more designated members of that organization holding a mace (and/or  in later videos carrying a staff) is particularly seen when that member or members leads the neos into their probate performance area.

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EXPLANATIONS FOR SOME TERMS USED IN THIS SERIES

"Pledge"
A pledge is a person who is in the process of becoming a member of a historically Black  Greek letter sorority or a historically Black Greek letter fraternity

"Neophyte" (Neo)
A neophyte (neo) is a new member of a historically Black Greek letter organization

"Crossing over" and "coming out" are older terms that refer to women or men officially becoming members of their sorority or their fraternity. A person can become an official member of their organization before their probate or during their probate, depending on that organization or the year that they went through the process of becoming member of that organization. "Metaphorically, "crossing over" or "coming out" means entering into the land where members of that Greek letter organization live/lived.

A "probate" (new member presentation) program is the first time that new members of historically black Greek letter sororities or historically Black Greek letter fraternities are  introduced to the general public.

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WHEN DID THE CUSTOM OF DESIGNATED SORORS BEGIN?
YouTube videos of designated members of historically Black Greek letter sororities (henceforth referred to as a soror) carrying a mace or holding a staff are a small subset of YouTube videos of those sororities.

Based on my admittedly informal research of watching probate videos of historically Black Greek letter sororities, The earliest date for a YouTube video that I've come across of historically Black Greek letter sororities with this custom is a 2008 Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority video. That video is featured as Video #2 in Part II of this pancocojams series. 

Based on the YouTube videos that I have watched, it appears that around 2018 the custom of designated sorors carrying a decorated mace at the beginning of probates became relatively common in all of the historically Black Greek letter sororities.

I've found YouTube videos of this custom for each of the four sororities that are members of the Pan-Hellenic Council (listed in order of their founding: Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc,; Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc, and Sigma Gamma Rho, Inc

As the years progressed, YouTube probate videos of historically Black Greek letter sororities include scenes of designated sorors holding taller, much more decorated staffs instead of maces, although decorated maces might still be held or carried by certain sorors,  

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WHO CARRIES THESE MACES AND/OR STAFFS?
The maces and/or staffs in these probate videos that I have watched are only carried or held by certain members of the sorority. It's likely that the women who carry the mace or hold the staffs are the DP (Dean of Pledges) and the ADP (Assistant Dean of Pledges) along with their other members of the sorority who help them (particularly in the case of large lines i.e. groups of pledges.

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HOW THE MACES AND STAFFS ARE DECORATED?
The maces in these YouTube probate videos of historically Black Greek letter sororities are either one of the colors or both of the official colors  of that sorority. As the years progressed, the decoration for the maces appeared to become more elaborate. For instance, for Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc, the maces may have ivy pants intertwining around its body since ivy pants are official symbols of that sorority. As the years progressed, the mace may also have a mirror attached to its top (since the mirror is an unofficial  symbol of AKAs.

In the later 20 teens to this date (2024), the custom of designated sorors carrying medium size maces appeared to be  largely replaced with the custom of designated sorors holding tall highly decorated staffs. Those staffs (also called "poles" in some word only online pages) were/are highly individually decorated and usually feature the sororities' official colors, and one or more of these elements: the sororities' letters (composed of the first letter in the organization's Greek name), the year that the sorority was founded, items that are significant to or unofficially represent that particular sorority, office designations such as "Prez" for the President of that chapter etc,  I have also come across examples of staffs that appear to be lighted (i.e. that glow in the dark). However, in contrast to the traditions of the New Orleans Mardi Grass Indian staffs (which I believe have greatly influenced this sorority custom- read immediately below) , I haven't noticed that these sorority staffs are decorated with any beads or feathers. staffs.

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WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CULTURAL INFLUENCES ON THIS CUSTOM?

Here are videos of what I believe to be major cultural influences on the custom (given in no particular order and numbered for referencing purposes only)  

1. DRUM MAJORS CARRYING A DECORATED MACE

Alcorn State SOD + Golden Girls | Marching In vs Jackson State (Soul Bowl) 2022

 

Smash Time Productions, Premiered Nov 20, 2022 [Alcorn, Mississippi] 
-snip-
From the videos that I've watched of sorors carrying a mace during probate, the mace is medium length *not as long as the maces in video #2) and appears to only be used as a walking stick that is a symbol of authority (i.e. no twirling, pointing, or signals are done with the mace).

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2. EGYPTIAN GODS, GODDESS, AND ROYALTY CARRYING STAFFS 
The custom of holding staffs during ritual events can be traced to ancient Egypt (Northeast Africa).

Here's an excerpt from Magic in the Ancient World: Egyptian Deities and Uses by Thomas Ellison,
June 15, 2021
"Many Egyptian deities and pharaohs depicted on ancient tablets, stelae, statues, and scarabs carry a Heka scepter, or crook and flail, which we can see in the illustration above. A “sekhem” (power) scepter was carried by rulers and important officials and was used to designate earthly or state power. In the present day, the name of the healing practice Seichim, which is similar to reiki, takes its name from the word. The heka scepter, meanwhile, designated magical power and was used for purposes of healing."

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3. MARDI GRAS INDIANS HOLDING DECORATED STAFFS 
I believe that the custom of certain sorority members carrying decorated staffs at the beginning of new members' probates can also largely be traced to the customs of the Plains Indians and from them, the contemporary customs of the Mardi Gras Indians (Louisiana). Click http://www.nativeartstrading.com/dance%20sticks.htm for photographs of and notes about Native American "Marking Sticks, Dance Sticks, Staffs etc.).

Here's a 2013 YouTube video of New Orleans Mardi Gras Indians that includes examples of Mardi Gras Indians staffs:   

 NOLA Mardi Gras Indian Super Sunday 2013 in HD  

Byron Caplan, Oct 15, 2013

This the spring of 2013, I attended the Mardi Gras Indian Super Sunday in NOLA.  I was testing out a new camera.  I forgot about the video until now, so i thought i'd throw something together and see what i could get.  this is the result. 

Jockamo feeno ah na nay!
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The beaded and feathered garments are a blend of West African (particularly Ghanaian) and Plains Indian attire, but I don't think that the West Africans carried beaded/feathered large fans or held beaded/feathered staffs.

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AN EXCERPT FROM AN ONLINE DISCUSSION THREAD ABOUTWHETHER A NON-BLACK GREEK LETTER SORORITY SHOULD INCLUDE THE CUSTOM OF CARRYING SORORITY STAFFS DURING THEIR PROBATE

From https://www.reddit.com/r/NPHCdivine9/comments/1bjhz51/probate_stick/

[Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.]

r/NPHCdivine9 [NPHC] National Pan Hellenic- Council -informally known as the Divine Nine [D9] 

1. hoopygoddess23, 2024

Probate Stick

Discussion

"Hello everyone,

A collegiate member of our sorority is asking if it would be okay to use a "probate stick" at their new line's introduction.

I was wondering if any other sorority has done this before because we do NOT want to appropriate another's traditions."

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Reply
2. EmpressRae, 2024
"Hey sis - fellow Latina - the usage of a probate staff is very intimate to D9. While I agree with some that the tradition is deeply internal I think there’s a lot of ways Lambdas and other Latino orgs can embrace similar cultures. For example, doing a staff that mirrors more of the topilli would be a beautiful way to channel Latin heritage without necessarily biting D9 culture.

I also encourage you to read some of my earlier sentiments here as far as making sure that you’re supporting your org but not biting D9 traditions in a way that can rub your local chapters the wrong way. We’re all unfortunate enough to be colored in America - but we can celebrate each others sameness and differences without necessarily biting each others style or stepping on each others traditions."

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Reply
3. TokennekoT, 2024
"If yeeneem know what it's called, gonehead sit this one out. Nothing good can come of this."

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Reply
4. DiamondAuthority, 2024
"My thoughts exactly. Just because they've "always" done "PROBATES" doesn't mean it wasn't bitten from Black culture, which they are not a part of, nor do they understand it whatsoever."

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Reply
5. Stunning_While6814, 2024
"Honestly I crossed over 20 years ago and the probate stick (*staff) was not a thing back then at least not at my campus. So idk 🤷🏽‍♀️"

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Reply
6. DimensionOk8548, 2024
"No"

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Reply
7. Any-Doubt7355, 2024
"So they’re called staffs, honestly I have really only ever seen D9 orgs use them BUT a lot of LGCs use their shield instead and either the new members hold it in front of them in the typical march stance or an ADP holds it"
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https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ADP
"ADP

Assistant Dean of Pledges traditionally found in African American Fraternities and Sororities.

My ADP kept our line focused on the goal."
by Thutmoses April 24, 2007
-snip-
DP = Dean of Pledges

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This concludes Part I of this five part pancocojams post.

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