There are a couple of reasons that spring is a magical season for members of fraternity and sorority life. Reason number one, of course, is tank tops, but reason number two is the ceremonial pinning.

A pinning is when a member of a fraternity gives his chapter pin to a girl in a sorority he is dating to represent his feelings for her. Pinnings can be casual or serious, depending on the couple. Some pinnings are even treated as a pre-engagement party for the couple.

The pinning serves as a uniting of the fraternity and sorority as well as the couple being pinned. Sororities sometimes serenade the brothers of the fraternity and there is always a fun-filled reception after the gentleman pins his girlfriend. But the exchange is not as simple as it sounds. The ceremony that precedes the pinning is quite a show. Before the guy places his chapter’s pin over his girlfriend’s chest, the couple must sit before the entirety of their fraternity brothers and sorority sisters, who have gathered together in formal wear to listen to all of the couple’s most secret and embarrassing stories.

It is the couple’s closest friends that conduct the delightful humiliation of the two. You could call it reckless, you could call it cruel or you could call it an act of brotherly or sisterly affection.

Sure, there is a possibility that you learn something about your boyfriend or girlfriend at the pinning that you never, ever wanted to know. But as long as there is a party afterward and the relationship survives the ceremony, then the couple has done a beautiful thing. Let the spring romance begin.