The real purpose of paddles to the Greek community is actually primarily just used as gifts. Once an individual starts pledging a fraternity or sorority, they are usually given several tasks throughout the weeks that they are pledging. As a pledge class, one task includes making and decorating a paddle, either for their big brother/sister or, in many cases, their pledge master who has taught them vital information throughout the pledge process. Creating a paddle is just one of many activities done to bring brothers and sisters together. The actually paddle itself is not cheap. Smaller paddles are about $22 while larger paddles can be an upwards of about $100. Once these paddles are purchased, there are no limits on how to actually design the paddles, but what most people put include the person's name that the gift is going to, what fraternity/sorority they are in, activities that they are involved in, and other unique designs. No two paddles will ever be the same.
Below are just some examples of Greek paddles:
I have always scene paddles and never realized what they were actually used for. I would have figured that these paddles were used as a decoration because i see them over all of my friends walls. Some people put alot of time and effort into decorating them which is very fascinating.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great idea for a gift! It is very meaningful and a lot of time and effort is put into making them.
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting and cool. I've seen these paddles a couple of times before and did not know what they were and now I know.
ReplyDeleteI liked this post very much, because we did not know the meaning of the paddle. I like the different idea's and decorations added to the ones that you displayed.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very informative post that really shows greek life traditions in a positive light
ReplyDelete