The Shrine Explained: The Fez, the Parades, the Hospitals

Every town that has a Masonic building has probably also seen the little cars in a parade. That is the Shrine, and it is the most publicly visible face of Freemasonry in North America by an enormous margin.

It is also the most misunderstood, including by people who assume it is a high Masonic rank. It is not a rank and it is not a degree body at all.

What it actually is

Shriners International (historically the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, A.A.O.N.M.S.) is a separate fraternal organization, founded in New York in the early 1870s, whose members must be Master Masons in good standing.

Founded, more or less openly, as the fun wing. The Middle Eastern theming, the fez, the honorifics, and the whole aesthetic came out of a 19th-century Orientalist fashion and were chosen for color and spectacle rather than for any historical or religious claim. Shriners are cheerfully clear that the costume is a costume.

Members are Nobles. A local body is a Temple (some now say Shrine Center). The presiding officer is the Potentate.

How you join

1. Be a Master Mason in good standing. That is the gate, and it is the only structural requirement.
2. Petition a Shrine Temple, with signatures from current Nobles.
3. Be elected and go through the ceremonial.

There was for many years a requirement to first complete the Scottish Rite or the York Rite; that requirement was dropped decades ago. Master Mason is enough. If someone tells you otherwise, they are working from very old information.

The fez

The red fez with the tassel and the Temple’s name on it is the uniform, and it is worn only by Nobles. It is not Masonic regalia in the Craft sense and it has no place in a Blue Lodge.

The emblem on the front (a crescent, a scimitar, a sphinx, and a star) is the order’s own. The fez is personal, usually bought once, and worn for decades. Do not buy one before you are a Noble; wearing a Shrine fez without being one is the kind of thing that gets noticed instantly.

The clubs and units

This is the part that actually fills the calendar. Temples run units: motor corps with the little cars, clown units, oriental bands, pipe bands, drum corps, motorcycle units, classic car units, dune buggies, provost guards.

If you have ever wondered why a grown man owns a tiny car: he is in a motor corps, and the parade appearances raise money and awareness for the hospitals.

The hospitals, which are the actual point

Shriners Children’s is the reason the organization matters, and it is worth being precise about it: a healthcare system of pediatric specialty hospitals and clinics treating orthopedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate.

The care has historically been provided regardless of the family’s ability to pay, and that commitment is the thing Shriners fundraise relentlessly for: the parades, the circuses, the paper-sale drives, the golf tournaments. When a Noble asks you to buy a raffle ticket, that is where it goes.

If you want the current specifics on eligibility, locations, and how care is funded today, take them from Shriners Children’s directly rather than from any secondhand source, including this one. The model has evolved.

The reputation

The Shrine has a reputation among some Masons as the least serious body, and among some outsiders as an excuse for men in funny hats to drink. Both takes are lazy.

The honest version: the Shrine is deliberately, structurally the social and philanthropic wing. It carries none of the Craft’s ritual weight because it was never meant to. If you want philosophy, the Scottish Rite is down the hall. If you want to raise money for burned children while driving a tiny car in a parade, this is the room.

Plenty of men want both.

What you will end up buying

• A fez: after you are a Noble, and usually through the Temple.
• A Shrine ring or lapel pin: the crescent-and-scimitar emblem.
• A car emblem: the most-purchased Shrine item there is.
• Unit gear: entirely dependent on which unit you join, and occasionally an actual vehicle.

Browse what is catalogued: Shrine items.