Ordre du Chapeau Rouge

That most elite of all Masonic Orders

Jun 26, 2024

Have you heard of the Ordre du Chapeau Rouge? (Pardon my French, alas, I don’t know a word of French, but I do know that it sounds fancy to us Americans!)

Sorry, I digress. Back to the subject at hand…

Have you heard of the Ordre du Chapeau Rouge?

Don’t feel bad if you haven’t. It is a super elite, super secret Masonic Order, known to very few. Or maybe I made it up just now. I don’t know about you, but if I was a betting man, I’d go for the second possibility.

a tall tower with a red top — Photo by Estevão Teixeira on Unsplash

OK. Time to get serious here.

We do not have nearly enough Masonic groups competing for our Time, Attention, and Money. Seriously. So, to fill the void, I propose that we start another one!

I suggest that we start the Ordre du Chapeau Rouge! And that in doing so we can all declare ourselves Maitre des Chapeaux! Or, maybe it’s Matre du Chapeau. How the heck do I know, I told ya’ I don’t speak a word of French! But there it is, Maitre des Chapeaux looks better, so we are going with that one!

Time, Attention, and Money.

Well, that is a problem. None of us have enough of any of those things.

So, the Ordre du Chapeau Rouge shall have no dues. It shall ask for no time from any of its members.

If you want to join, all you have to do is buy a cool Red Hat, and wear it around to Masonic things. That’s it. Nothing else required. And it’s completely self selecting. If you already have a Red Hat like our Assistant Grand Secretary you don’t even have to buy one, you just have to wear it to the occasional Masonic thing!

Now of course this is Freemasonry. So there have to be some rules. Rules, Rules, Rules:

Supreme Rule #1: It can’t be some political hat.

Supreme Rule #2: It can’t be some religious hat.

No partisan politics or sectarian religion in Freemasonry and all that.

Supreme Rule #3: It can’t be a hat from the Scottish Rite, The York Rite, Shrine, or any other order.

That would be cheating!

So buy and wear a cool Red Hat and you are in!

If you can’t find a cool Red Hat give Madsen’s a call at 360-736-1336 or 800-822-2808. Tell em’ you need a Red Wool Crusher Hat in whatever size you wear and you’ll get to look just as goofy as me! Don’t worry, its cheap!

And you too can be like me, and VW Clayton who still has his Red Wool Crusher Hat from when he was a kid, and VW Larry who received a nice snazzy new one a week or so ago.

Hurry up! Quit reading this nonsense! Go buy your Red Hat! Then you can come back and read the rest!

Good, you’re back.

Anyhow, this is Freemasonry, and we love our Obligations, so we’ve got to have one of those too!

Supreme Obligation:

All members of the Ordre du Chapeau Rouge, all the Maitre des Chapeaux must commit to the promotion of Freemasonry and the ideals of Freemasonry, specifically: Brotherly Love, Relief, Truth, Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. Lest we steal your hat!

Now, of course, this is Freemasonry, so we must have a very long and honorable history. Thus…

The Supreme History Of The Order:

A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, on June 11, 2024 actually, I wrote about my Snazzy New Red Hat. And today, June 25, 2024, I’m writing about our Supreme Order. So that is our Ancient and Honorable history! Alas, not lost to the mists of time, but tantalizingly close!

But, this is Freemasonry, so we must have a philosophy!

The Supreme Philosophy:

“Members of the Order are fearless in the pursuit of truth; loving and charitable towards others; striving for a world in which all can enjoy the benefits of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.”

Please note how I put that baby in italics, to make it even more Supreme!

Don’t forget now, this is Freemasonry, so we have to have a hierarchy.

That means that I get to be in charge. ‘Cause you know, I invented the thing out of whole cloth. I deem myself Maitre Supreme des Chapeaux! The Head Honcho. But, don’t worry, the Constitution of the Order doesn’t give me any power.

Alas though, this is Freemasonry, so we need a snazzy name for our Red Hat groups, and we can’t very well call them Lodges.

So, we shall declare a group of the Red Hatted an Atelier. A workshop in my funky French!

Now, this is Freemasonry, so we’ve got to have us some Grips, Signs, and Words!

The sign, of course, is the ‘Tip o’ the hat.’

The grip, we don’t got one, ‘cause I didn’t think of one.

The words come to us, modified of course, from the book we all read as kids, The Catcher In The Rye. It’s a challenge response kind of thing:

Challenge- “Is that a deer shooting hat?”

Response- After hesitating and considering… “Hell No! This is a people talking hat. I talk to people in this hat.”

‘Cause if we didn’t modify it, and it was overheard by the profane they would probably call the cops and tell ‘em that we were planning to run around shooting people.

OK. That’s it. You now know everything that there is to know about the Ordre du Chapeau.

Except for the things I didn’t tell you because you aren’t of high enough Degree yet of course.

Seriously though. Seriously now. Seriously…

I propose that we buy Red Hats. And run around Masonic events wearing our Red Hats. And declare ourselves members of the Ordre du Chapeau.

Why?

Because it will be fun. And goofy. And sometimes we forget to have fun in Freemasonry. We need levity, and fellowship, for those things build Brotherhood.

But also, seriously (darn I’m gettin’ serious now) the Red Hat is a symbol of liberty. And in this time of growing illiberalism around the world, when Western ideals and values seem under continual attack, it might just be good to remind ourselves about the importance of protecting our birthright of freedom whenever we see a Brother in his snazzy Red Hat. It might even be a good excuse to buy him a drink!

So, will you join me? Will you wear a goofy Red Hat? Will you, like me, become a Mad Hatter?

Changing subjects entirely, Huge Congratulations to RW Brother Roger Nelson, Deputy Grand Master F&AM of Washington on his appointment as Deputy to the Supreme Council Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction!

RW Roger will be a superb leader of the Scottish Rite in Washington.

My friend, and great historian of Oregon Masonic history, Brother Johnny Edwards has started a Masonic Magazine to be delivered by email. Issue 1 is out now with more to come.

It’s called Lux.

If you would like to subscribe, just drop our Brother an email at:

johnny6_28_66@yahoo.com

He’ll send you the first issue, and add you to the mailing list for future issues.

I believe that he is accepting contributions as well.

Just in case you did the unthinkable, and missed the post about my snazzy new Red Hat, you can find it at: