By Philip Guadagno
Lodge Chief of Eswau Huppeday Lodge
On the weekend of May 13-15, the May Ordeal for Eswau Huppeday Lodge was held. Not only were we beginning the journey of induction for new Brothers, but we were also launching our new Elangomat program.
In the past, we have been scrambling at the last minute to find Elangomats who were unprepared for the task and did not understand how to properly be an Elangomat. This weekend, we changed that. We had all of our Elangomats already lined up so we could assign them candidates. After check-in was finished, we took the Ordeal candidates to the dining hall for a final Cracker Barrel before we sent them off to the Pre-Ordeal ceremony. After a night alone, scant food, and a day of silent, arduous toil, they found themselves at the Ceremony Ring at the north end of camp to receive further knowledge about the Order and take upon themselves the Obligation. Once the Ordeal ceremony was completed, we had garnered 40 new Brothers to our Lodge. We led them down to the dining hall for Cracker Barrel and introductions to their Chapters. We closed out the weekend with a worship service, a business meeting, and by singing the Song of our Order.
