The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

Chapter 7 - Rituals 559
work being the oranization of the Order of the Rainbow for Girls. In April 1922,
the degrees were exemplified on a class of 171 girls in the auditorium of the
Scottish Rite Temple in McAlester, Oklahoma, for the first time. Rev. Sexson
formed the Supreme or Governing Body in June, 1922, he himself being the
Supreme Recorder, later bearing the title of "Supreme Worthy Advisor
Emeritus" (p. 95).
Today, the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls has Assemblies in 46
U.S. States and in eight other countries, in Australia (both Queensland and New
South Wales), Brazil, Canada, Germany, Japan, Panama, and the Philippines;
Italy being in the early stages of starting Assemblies. 1514
Seen in the context of his time, Mr. Sexson certainly has chosen a symbolism
which pleases young girls, the - a little kitschy - beautiful rainbow and treasurehunting,
as an equivalent to hero sagas which might fascinate boys, like the
martyrdom of the Grand Master of the Medieval Knights Templar, Jacques de
Molai. The golden pot which, according to ancient tradition, is hidden at the end
of the rainbow, forms the quest story of the ritual. From the names of the Color
Stations we can draw parallels to the Order of the Eastern Star and the Amaranth,
which were conceived especially for women. In the founding times of these
orders, virtues like charity and faith were chosen as appropriate for female ideals.
In contrast to male Masonic rituals, the lectures for these androgynous orders are
drawn from "heroic women" taken from the Bible, which seemed more fitting to
the ritual authors than a thrilling murder legend of a master builder, or
corresponding "male" stories. More than fifty years after the conception of
above-mentioned orders for women, when the girls' order was created, these
values were still thought appropriate for personification in the ritual; there was
even the officer Patriotism added, in order to teach the young American girls
obedience to the Flag, a pars pro toto for their government and nation. No
wonder that the Order of the Rainbow for Girls employs characters like Service,
Love, Fidelity, Religion, etc. to illustrate the high tenets a young American girl
should live for.
Members of the OES, Master Masons, members of the Rainbow for Girls,
and majority members, all in good standing, may witness the Rainbow degrees
(p. 3). The main symbol of the Order, as the title anticipates, is the rainbow; thus,
in the Obligation there are "seven ties that bind" the girls together (cf. p. 5), and
the seven colors of the rainbow are used symbolically throughout the ritual. Only
a few paraphernalia are required for the exemplification of the degrees. Every
officer may be dressed in white. In front of each "Color Station" is a pedestal
with the color streamer representing the station's color.
The most important utensil is the "Pot of Gold", standing on the station of
Charity and covered with a cloth made of the seven colors of the rainbow (cf. p.
5), in order to hide it from view until the candidate is entitled to know its
contents, which are: the Holy Bible, the American Flag, the Declaration of
1514 Cf. homepage of the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls at http://www.iorg.org/