The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 27, Ed. 1, Friday, December 1, 1989 Page: 3 of 6
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Once
r" and the thrill of sharing the
jLtf newsvithclubjtistcrsis
something that should happen only
once in a lifetime. Members of
iwomen's clubs havctheir own
special ways of telling their good
(news. '
Several girls stand in a circle
.humming their club song; the
lights are out. The flicker of a
single candle casts shadows in the
room. A candle is passed from
hand to hand the wavering candle-
light illuminating faces of anticipa-
tion. Minutes pass; then the candle is
out; the lights are back on; and a
newly engaged bride-to-be is sur-
rounded by her club sisters.
Every women's club on campus
has a special way to celebrate the
engagement of club sisters. The
Ko Jo Kai tradition of passing the
candle was started by the 1962
president of Ko Jo Kai Charla .
Stigers.
She got the idea from a Texas
Tech friend and she brought a
candle to club to tell the others
about her new found idea. "None
of the other clubs were doing it; I
thought it could be a tradition"
said Charla.
The idea was an instant success.
The president was the only one
told about an engagement and the
candle-passing ceremony took
place in dorms homes oclub
L
OS ANGELES (AP)-A
jungle-shrouded city of
pyramids and temples in
Guatemala was built as long ago as
630 B.C. showing that Mayan civ-
ilization blossomed about four cen-
turies earlier than believed scien-
tists say.
The findings may make the an-
cient city of Nakbe in northern
Guatemala one of the oldest in the
Americas researchers said.
"It's a very significant
discovery" said Arthur Demarcst
anthropology chairman at Vander-
bilt University in Tennessee.
The University of California
Los Angeles announced the fin-
dings by archaeologist Richard
Hansen and colleagues at UCLA
Utah's Brigham Young University
and Guatemala's University of San
Mayan
v r''
iffirSuPa Lifetime
members or at club meetings
depending on when the ring was
given by the fiance.
Today the idea is the same but
the time and place are different.
Wcdnesdayqght cjHb.&the only
time a pass-the-candletaJkes place .
Even girls who get engaged over
Christmas wait three weeks in
secrecy to tell their club sisters
first.
The Ko Jo Kai tradition now in-
volves several more details. During
the candle-passing a letter from
the fiance is read detailing the
events of their first date or some-
thing special about the couple.
"When the letter is being read
everyone tries to figure out who it
sounds like" said Abby Pope
graduated member of Ko Jo Kai.
After several trips around the
circle the curiosity is ended as the
candle is blown out the lights are
turned back on and an elated
member puts on her ring and
jumps on the nearest chair to tell
her romantic engagement story.
The women of Tri Kappa
Gamma have a similar tradition.
While club members sing devo-
tional songs the candle is passed
around the room and each girl '
views the ring that is neatly tied to
the candle by pink and gray rib-
bons. After the candle is blown
out a tape recording of the new
fiance's engagement story is played
by the club chaplain.
Carlos.
"We have substantial evidence
that this is the earliest Mayan ur-
ban center ever found" Hansen
said.
BYU anthropology chairman
Donald Forsyth added "We're
now going to have to push the
beginning of Mayan civilization
back further into the past."
Archaeologists once believed ad-
vanced Mayan civilization emerged
around A.D. 300 and ended 600
years later during what is describ-
ed as the "classic period."
Research conducted during 1978-
83 at El Mirador Guatemala
pushed that date back to 200 B.C.
But in excavating Nakbe 350
miles north of Guatemala City
near El Mirador Hansen's 50-
member team determined that
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"The tape helps people who
don't know your fiance get a feel-
ing of what he's like" said Julie
Stigers graduated member of Tri
Kappa Gamma. "It's the best way
to get engaged. You feel like
everyone is a part of your special
time' ' said Stigers who is the
daughter. of the founder of the
tradition.
The women of Delta Theta have
Discovery
about 100 stone pyramids and
other buildings dated from about
630 B.C. to 400 B.C. Some of the
site's 65000 pottery pieces
sculptures figurines and other ar-
tifacts also dated from this time.
Dates can be determined by the
radioactivity of carbon in organic
material associated with buildings
and pottery is dated by comparison
with the style of shards from
elsewhere in Central America.
"We have a small village with
wooden buildings from 1000 B.C.
to 600 B.C." Hansen said by tele-
phone from his home in Rupert
Idaho "Then all of a sudden v.
boom! They brought in rock and
fill and buried the village to make
platforms. On those they placed
their buildings."
Hansen said Nakbe's buildings
a different custom. A letter from
the fiance is read and then a sterl-
ing silver heart-shaped box with
the ring inside of it is passed
around the circle. Every other per-
son holds a candle and after the
box has circled three times the
engaged member blows out the
nearest candle and puts her ring
on.
Instead of passing a box the
women of Sigma Theta Chi pass a
diary that was started in 1969.
After the diary has circled several
times the engaged person who
holds the key to the diary says
"It's me." She then unlocks the
diary and signs her name and the ''
date of her wedding. Robin
Bcrgner graduated member of
Sigma Theta Chi said "Club
lasted forever that night. I let the
diary pass me once; I couldn't
wait; so I took it the second time
around."
The waiting process makes the
evening difficult for the engaged
member. "I had to be an actress
that night" said Amy Reeves
member of Tri Kappa Gamma
who had to wait until the last few
minutes of the club meeting.
Club members look for "painted
nails and girls that arc dressed '
up" said Sigma Theta Chi
member Lisa Beustring. Normally
the ceremony is standard but she
recalls one exception.
A couple of years ago Meliisa '
include 35- to 1 50-foot-tall plat- '
forms and flat-topped pyramids
many of which are topped by three
small temples and sculptures
depicting important gods and
kings. The buildings are solid
without interior rooms.
The scale of construction reflects
the emergence of an administrative
and religious elite to command
thousands of workers Hansen said.
Anthropologist John Graham of
the University of California
Berkeley said an even earlier
center of advanced Mayan civiliza-
tion may be found
Still Graham said the Nakbe
study "is part of the most exciting
Mayan discovery of recent de-
cades" The discovery solves a puzzle for
archaeologists: The Mayans seem-
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McVeyamemberofSiggies
didn't know it was her pass:the-key
taking place. "She was wearing a
t-shirt and orange high tops' ' said j
Lisa. Not only was the club sur-
prised bmso was she.
. Unexpected things have happen- H
K ed in other clubs. Tanya George a f
member of GATA blew out the
candle and told a long detailed
story of her engagement: ' '
"She was one of those people
that you think there is no way it
would be her' ' said the late Vonda
Dietz GATA member who was
interviewed before her death last
summer "Just when she had the
club hugging and bawling she told
everyone she was 'just kidding.' "
Girls dorms use the traditional
pass the candle and even organiza-
tions such as the Prickly Pear have
used her idea with a little twist.
. Tom Craig graduated yearbook
staff member said they have a pass
the book. "If you're the person
engaged" he says "you slam it"
Almost every club on campus
has adopted a similar tradition.to
announce an engagement. Charla
Stigers never realized what her
candle passing idea would become.
She never could have foreseen
that one generation later her own
daughter would be participating in
the tradition she herself had
started.
by Lisa Iayne Herndon
; f '
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ed to evolve more slowlyjfrom
farming communities tocities than
other pre-Columbian civilizations
to the north and south. But ar-
chaeologists' say Nakbe proves that
Mayan development occurred
more or less in step with the rise of
the Olmec culture in Mexico
thought to be the oldest civilization
of the Americas.
An archaeologist mapped some
of Nakbe's architecture in 1962
Hansen first visited in 1.987iind
his team conducted the first: full-
scale excavation last February
through April.
Hansen's team hacked their way
through dense jungle for. three
days and 40 miles to reach Nakbe
from the nearest road.
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The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 27, Ed. 1, Friday, December 1, 1989, newspaper, December 1, 1989; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101548/m1/3/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.