Traditions
Since 1979, Lambda Sigma Upsilon Latino Fraternity, Inc. (LSU) has been the first Latino fraternity to embrace the tradition of stepping. LSU believes stepping is historically and culturally relevant to Latinos by paying homage to their Indigenous and African ancestry. LSU's step teams have competed in various competitions across the nation and won the first ever LatinoStep Summer Step Competition in 2002 and regained the title in 2008. LSULF is also the first Latino-based fraternity to compete against the traditional Greek-lettered African American organization the Divine Nine.
LSU placed first in the 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010 LatinoStep Silk Summer Strolling Competition and other nationwide stroll competitions. From early on in the history of LSU, machetes have been incorporated in their step performances as they have special meaning and purpose to the fraternity. Although LSU's cultural identity symbol is the Taino, it has a consistent tradition of embracing and honoring indigenous peoples across the Americas and Africa such as the Aztecs, Zulu, Iroquois, Inca, Mohegan,and Mayans. The organization is commonly known as the most cultural Latino fraternity.
Another tradition commonly used by the organization is unique among fraternities. Although strictly non-violent, revolutionary symbols and imagery are commonly used within the organization’s members. It is common for members to speak of the organization as a movement and use symbolism of the Brown Berets, the Young Lords, and the Black Panthers parties of the 1960s such as the raised closed fist often used by these organizations to symbolize solidarity and struggle.
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Famous quotes containing the word traditions:
“And all the great traditions of the Past
They saw reflected in the coming time.
And thus forever with reverted look
The mystic volume of the world they read,
Spelling it backward, like a Hebrew book,
Till life became a Legend of the Dead.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1809–1882)
“Napoleon never wished to be justified. He killed his enemy according to Corsican traditions [le droit corse] and if he sometimes regretted his mistake, he never understood that it had been a crime.”
—Guillaume-Prosper, Baron De Barante (1782–1866)
“... the more we recruit from immigrants who bring no personal traditions with them, the more America is going to ignore the things of the spirit. No one whose consuming desire is either for food or for motor-cars is going to care about culture, or even know what it is.”
—Katharine Fullerton Gerould (1879–1944)