Deutsche Orden der Harugari
Ritual for the Subordinate Lodges (Initiation)
Opening
n.d.
O.B.: Brothers, please come to order.
Gives one rap with the gavel.
Officers, please take your places.
Inner Guard, ascertain if the outer guard be present, and, if so, please
close the door.
Brother Warden, examine the brothers present, ascertain if each have the pass
word, and inform me of those without it.
The Warden asks each brother present to give him the pass word.
Warden: Brother O.B., the brothers are all correct.
One rap, the officers rise.
O.B.: Brother U.B., what are your duties in the lodge?
U.B.: To assist you in fulfilling the duties of your office, in
case of absence to take your place, if there be no Ex B. present, and to uphold
the laws of the order.
O.B.: Brother U.B., examine your right hand and your left hand
assistants.
U.B.: Brother R.H. Assistant, what are your duties in the lodge?
R.H.A. of the U.B.: To see to it that the brothers give the signs
correctly, and to assist in the initiation of new members.
U.B.: Brother L.H. Assistant, what are your duties in the lodge?
L.H.A. of the U.B.: To act in conjunction with your R.H.A., and in
his absence to take his place.
U.B.: Brother O.B., my officers are familiar with their duties in
the lodge.
O.B.: Brother Inner Guard, allow the brother Outer Guard to enter,
and take his place.
Brother Outer Guard, what are your duties in the lodge?
O.G.: To observe carefully that no stranger listens, to respond to
the sign for admission, when a brother desires to enter the lodge, and to see
that the brothers are clothed in their proper regalia.
O.B.: Brother O.G., you may take your place, and allow brother
I.G. to enter.
Brother I.G., what are your duties in the lodge?
I.G.: To receive the pass word, and in the absence of the O.G., to
take his place.
O.B.: Brother Warden, what are your duties in the lodge?
Warden: To examine the brothers carefully, before the opening of
the lodge, to inform you of all who have not the pass word, and to place the
regalia in the place designated for them.
O.B.: Brothers Secretary, what are your duties in the lodge?
Secretary: To keep a complete and impartial record of the
transactions of the lodge.
O.B.: Brother Financial Secretary, what are your duties in the
lodge?
Financial Secretary: To keep an accurate account as between the members and
the lodge, to receive all moneys due the lodge, and, upon receiving his receipt,
to deliver the same to the treasurer.
O.B.: Brother R.H.A., what are your duties in the lodge?
R.H.A. of the O.B.: To assist you in the proper execution of the
prescribed laws, and on my own part to open and close the lodge in due form.
O.B.: Brother L.H.A., what are your duties in the lodge?
L.H.A. of the O.B.: To observe that the brothers give the sign of
salutation, to assist in the initiation of new members, and in the absence of
your R.H.A. to take his place.
O.B.: Officers and Brothers: I hope and expect that each officer
will perform his duty, that the brothers will conduct themselves orderly during
the transaction of the business of this lodge, that each brother will look upon
the lodge as his family, upon which our prosperity and our contentment depend.
It is the duty of the O.B. not to permit any brother who has not the term pass
word to enter, unless he be a member of this lodge.
It is the unremitting duty of the O.B. in all transactions of the lodge to
act impartially and without prejudice, and to uphold the laws of the order.
I request the brothers to rise, and to assist my R.H.A. in the opening of the
lodge.
Gives two raps with the gavel.
R.H.A.: At the request of our brother O.B., I declare this lodge
to be now open in due form, and only such business may be transacted as shall
tend to promote Friendship, Love and Humanity.
O.B.: Brothers, during the sitting of the lodge no debate is
permitted concerning religion, or politics, in order that it may not become our
painful duty to apply fines and strict laws.
I hereby declare the lodge to be open in due form.
The O.B. and the U.B. give alternately one rap, and the O.B. another rap
which calls the lodge to order.
Preparatory Formula of the Ex B.
To be used in the initiation of Candidates.
An Ex B., nominated by the O.B. for the occasion, accompanied by the
secretary, retires to the ante-room, and presents the following questions to the
candidates.
1. What is your name?
2. Where do you live?
3. How old are you?
4. What is your business?
5. Are you both mentally and physically sound?
6. Were you ever proposed as a member of any lodge of the D.O.H.?
7. Have you read the constitution and the by-laws and are you willing to
abide by them?
8. Do you promise to keep locked within your bosom as a holy secret all that
may take place during your initiation?
9. Do you hereby agree to waive all claim to death and sick benefits if your
dues, assessments, and taxes are not paid at the legally appointed time?
10. Are you willing to take a vow which does not conflict either your
religious or your political convictions?
After the candidate has answered these questions satisfactorily, he must sign
his name in the book kept for that purpose, and the Ex B. must add thereto:—
initiated by Ex B. ….
Initiation
After the Ex B. has prepared the candidates, he leads them to the inner door
and gives the usual sign of admission.
I.G.: Who seeks admission?
Ex B.: A brother with candidates who wish to be initiated into the
secrets of our beloved order.
The I.G. repeats the above to the U.B. who says:
U.B.: You may admit them.
After the Ex B. has entered with the candidates, he leads them to the centre
of the lodge room, and turns them over to the Guide, who addresses them as
follows: Halt! We are not surprised to see you cross the threshold of
our sanctuary, because we have been informed of your appearance here to-day, but
before you go farther, at the command of my brother, I must advise you of the
importance and magnitude of the step you are about to take, and to remind you
that you are about to join an order whose object is both grand and noble, and
one which it will become your duty as a member to help discharge.
It is the purpose of our order to preserve and foster the use of the German
language wherever is may be, to give to German speaking citizens am opportunity
to promote their spiritual and their material welfare, and to uplift and elevate
their social conditions. This is accomplished by joining into individual bodies,
called lodges, which are united by a common band, so that each member of the
order may feel and know himself to be a brother of every other member, and one
of a great whole.
Individually and together we walk by the side of the suffering and needy that
we may carry into our daily life and practice, through charity and benevolence,
the spirit of our order.
There is yet time for you to withdraw if you do not feel yourself resolute
enough to meet the enactions which the fundamental principles of this order
demand.
I ask of you, therefore, once again solemnly, do you wish to join our order?
— Ans.
'Tis well. You will not then hesitate to take a vow which shall not in any
way interfere with your religious or political convictions, but which is,
however, necessary to enjoy more fully the benefits of a secret order. Are you
willing to take such a vow? — Ans.
Then follow me to our brother U.B.
The Guide conducts the brother to the chair of the U.B. and speaks:
Guide: Brother U.B., here is a friend of virtue and benevolence,
who wishes to become a member of our beloved order, and is willing to place in
your hands the oath of fidelity and secrecy.
U.B.: Is the faithful fulfilment of an oath or a vow a sacred
matter to you? — Ans.
Then place your right hand over your heart, raise your left hand, and repeat
after me:—
O.B. gives two raps.
I, …, in the presence of the brothers assembled, do most solemnly promise
and vow that I will never communicate or betray in any manner to any one any of
the secrets of the D O. H., which are now to be entrusted to me. That I will
preserve outside of the lodge meeting an eternal silence concerning that which
.1 here see and hear, that I will hold fast to the constitution, by-laws, rules
and regulations of this lodge, and that I will obey all orders of the Grand
Lodge of the State of Conn., of the United States, or of their officers.
To the faithful performance of all this I pledge my honor.
O.B. gives one rap.
U.B.: This oath, my friend, binds you to preserve the greatest
secrecy, and to uphold the existing laws of this lodge. I will now have you
conducted to our brother U.B., who will further instruct you.
Brother Guide, conduct our friend to our brother O.B.
O.B.: My friend, as you first crossed the threshold of our inner
room it may be that the reception you received did not make on you that deep
impression which you have expected on entering a secret order. But as pure and
natural as are our principles, just to simple and unaffected are our forms, and
since we deem you to be a man who values the principles and noble deeds of an
order more than its forms, we hope in them at least to meet with your approval.
Nevertheless, precaution and foresight compel us, in order that we may keep
inactive and unworthy members from our midst, to have a preliminary examination
precede the initiation of each brother, and to require of each an oath which
because of its great significance shall bind him more closely and more
intimately to us.
Be assured that you are now in the midst of a great order, which has in
itself the inspiring consciousness that it is able to alleviate the sorrow and
the pains of its members, and to promote the welfare of each.
Brother Guide, conduct the candidate to our brother Ex B.
The Guide conducts the candidate to the chair of the Ex B.
Ex B.: I greet you now cordially, and with my whole heart call you
for the first time brother. You are now a member of a fraternal organization,
whose members regard virtue as their principle of life, and seek by faithful,
mutual fufillment to bestow on themselves all of the noble attributes which are
associated with and spring from virtue, that they may attain the noblest purpose
of mankind, that is to make others and themselves happy.
One of the noblest consequences of the practice of virtue is charity, and we
have made it a fundamental rule for us in our order to practice charity; in
fact, this should be the foundation stone of our order, and the pleasantest duty
of the brothers. We wish to do good not only to the brothers of our lodge, but
to those of the whole order, wherever it may be necessary. Only by mutual help
in all conditions of life can happiness be ours, and when we die, we shall have
the cheering hope that the tears of our widows and orphans, to whom we wish to
be ever helping fathers and brothers, shall be dried and their pain and sorrow
alleviated.
The needy and indigent shall ever find us true friends, and we shall try to
the best of our ability to alleviate their misfortune. May slandered honor find
consolation with us, and may misjudged right find in our love of justice the
most complete reparation.
But to enjoy in full the blessings of our fraternity in our narrower circle,
it should be our endeavor to treat with one another in truth, and with esteem
and respect, in order that the constant unity and harmony of the lodge may not
be disturbed, that our hearts may be attuned to peace and love, and that the
strength may be given us to fulfill our duties the more energetically and
easily.
Thus we fulfill the fundamental precepts of our order, for reciprocal equal
rights beget friendship, and benevolence creates love, and our common struggle
in life for these principles entitles us to the proud title of champions of
humanity.
From these principles, my brother, you will perceive the grandeur and the
loftiness of this order, and for your part be always gladly ready, by your
deeds, to preserve for it the honor and the glory which justly belong to it as a
German order. Therefore, as often as your business permits, visit the lodge, and
keep yourself both within and without the lodge a worthy member.
If you have true and reliable friends, get them to join us, but be
nevertheless cautious, for it is better to be one of a small body of men of one
mind than it is to be one of a large body upon which discord and anarchy have
laid the gnawing tooth of ruin.
Brother Guide, conduct the brothers to our secretary that he may sign the
constitution and by-laws, and then again to our brother O.B.
When the former is done, the Guide accompanies him to the O.B.
O.B.: Dear Brother, I am pleased to see in you a member of our
organization, which has at all times, because of its lofty principles, enjoyed
the respect and the love of all the noble and the good. The earliest history of
the primitive German race is also the history of the origin of the order, a
history in which the many noble attributes of our ancestors above all the
peoples of the earth are so gloriously called to mind. It was chiefly into the
hands of the order of the Harugari, the priests of the ancient Germans, that the
political and the religious guidance of the German races was trustfully put.
With real German sense, with honest true heart it cared for the well-being of
the people, and fought with intrepid courage for their natural rights and
liberties.
It is to its influence that it is to be attributed that German faithfulness
and German honesty became in later years proverbial, and were glorified as the
splendid attributes of our race. But history tells us also of the terrible and
devastating wars between the Romans and the Germans, of the mighty migrations of
the peoples with their gigantic battles of annihilation, and of the rushing in
of revolutions in all spheres of political and mental life, under the mighty
influence of which the activity of the Harugari was shattered.
To the spirit of the new age, which filed the nineteenth century with its all
powerful ardent desire for unity among all the descendants of the German races
all over the earth, it was reserved to erect a new temple, which should have as
its foundation pillars, together with the acquisition of one thousand years of
civilization, the virtues of our forefathers as they were practiced and taught
by the Harugari in the deep shadows of the forests of oak: German faith, German
honesty, German sincerity.
This temple is the "Deutsche Order der Harugari," a fraternity
which is intended to effect and uphold the community of the German sons of all
races and in all places, and their affiliations with themselves and their
fatherland everywhere and at all times.
You are now a member of the same. Work with us zealously, faithfully and
honestly, and everywhere show yourself to be a real representative of human
right, a protector of virtue, a comforter in sorrow. a true German man, in
general, as a worthy brother of the Deutscher
Order der Harugari.
I will now continue to instruct you in the secrets of our order, Which
consist of six signs, namely:
A sign of admission,
A pass word,
A sign of salutation,
A sign of voting,
A sign of recognition, and
A grip.
If you wish to visit a lodge of this order you will find the lodge room
closed by two doors; in order to reach the inner door, knock, with, closed hand,
… times on the outer door. The Outer Guard will respond with the same sign and
open a slide in the door, in order to receive from you the term pass word, which
I will give you later.
By repeating the first part or half of this word you will gain admission to
the ante-room, clothe yourself with your proper regalia, and go to the inner
door, on which you will knock … times.
You will be admitted to the lodge in giving the complete pass word and your
name. If you are visiting another lodge of the order, you must give the inner
guard, beside your name, the number and name of this lodge.
Then pass to the centre of the lodge room and make the following sign. Please
give the sign after me. This sign of salutation you will first give to the O.B.,
whom you will find in every lodge of this order clothed in black regalia, then
face about and give the same sign to the U.B., who is clothed in red regalia.
The sign of voting is as follows: …. Like all the brothers you will give
this sign when voting on any question.
The sign of recognition is as follows: …. You may use this sign very
cautiously outside of the lodge in social intercourse to ascertain if brothers
of this order are present, who must give the following sign to prove to you that
they are brothers of your order.
The O.B. gives the sign.
Brother Guide, give our brother the grip.
After the Guide has given the candidate the grip the O.B. continues: Conduct
this brother to the ante-room and clothe him with the regalia proper to him.
The Guide conducts the brother again into the room, gives the sign of
salutation with him, and brings him to the O.B., who gives him the pass word,
presents him a constitution of the lodge, and requests the Guide to introduce
this brother to the lodge, whereby he gives the sign to rise. After the
introduction the O.B. gives one rap. This closes the initiation.
Closing of the Lodge
The O.B. gives one rap, the officers rise.
O.B.: Brother U.B., what is your last duty in the lodge?
U.B.: To thank the brothers for their attendance in the lodge, and
to request them all to appear in the next meeting.
O.B.: Brother Warden, what are your last duties in the lodge?
Warden: To collect the regalia and other properties of the lodge
and have careful charge over them.
O.B.: Inner Guard, what is your last duty in the lodge?
I.G.: To open the door and allow the brothers to depart in peace.
O.B.: I request the brothers to rise and give their attention to
my R.H.A.
The O.B. gives two raps, the sign to rise.
R.H.A. of the O.B.: At the request of our brother O.B., I herewith
declare this lodge adjourned in due form until the next meeting at … o'clock.
O.B.: I declare this lodge adjourned in due form.
The O.B. and the U.B. give alternately two raps.