Skulls and Bones
One of the more common motifs in American
fraternal jewelry is that universal symbol of death, the skull and crossbones.
Interestingly, this is only found among American fraternal orders and
not shared by their British cousins. (It is also worth noting that the
so-called “Secret Societies” of the United States are known as “Friendly
Societies” in the British Isles.)
The significance of this symbol varies
among orders and, surprisingly, seems to have no significance at all among
most of them. For example, most
Knights of Pythias fobs, charms, and lapel pins display the Skull and Bones.
Yet among jewelry sanctioned by the Pythian Supreme Lodge, the symbol
is not to be found at all. Much
the same is true among the Moose, Woodmen, and all the other orders whose fobs
frequently hang from ruby-eyed skulls. Like
the knight’s helmet, it was simply a stylish feature in the late Nineteenth
and early Twentieth Centuries.
Among at least a couple of orders it does
have symbolic significance. In
the Masonic Knights Templar, it is symbolic of Golgotha, the Place of the
Skull and the crucifixion place of Jesus Christ.
Among the Knights of Columbus, it is coupled with the initials TFMM
which stand for the Latin Tempus Fugit
Memento Mori meaning Time Flies; Remember [that you will]
Die. The skull and bones were an integral part of the rituals
of the Order of Knights of Pythias, Moose and the Woodmen of the World. The
Moose and the Woodmen did away with the utilization of the skull and bones in
their initiation ceremonies long ago, but the Knights of Columbus still use
them. The K. of P. used a full skeleton in the Page Degree, as did the Odd
Fellows
in the Initiation Degree.
In 1836, the
fraternal society of the "Skull and Bones" was established at Yale
University. It is an Ivy League Society of the Who's Who among
the Elite (rich and famous). It is a Senior year society which exists
only at Yale. Members are chosen in their Junior year and spend only one
year on campus, the Senior year, with Skull & Bones. In other words, the
organization is oriented to the graduate outside world. The Order meets
annually - patriarchies only - on Deer Island in the St. Lawrence River.
The Old Line American families and their descendants
involved in the Skull & Bones are names such as: Whitney, Perkins, Stimson,
Taft, Wadsworth, Gilman, Payne, Davidson, Pillsbury, Sloane, Weyerhaeuser,
Harriman, Rockefeller, Lord, Brown, Bundy, Bush and Phelps.
The
conspiracy theorists propose that these Elite inner circle members of the
Skull & Bones, the Bilderbergs, Council on Foreign Relations and
Trilateral Commission are conspiring to politically and economically dominate
the entire world under their New World Order.
A special "Thanks" Brother Denis P. McGowan who provided the history of these
Orders. Brother Denis P. McGowan is a dedicated fraternalist and student
of the history of American fraternal organizations.
