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Cookies & Milk with Santa at Khiva

TODAY IN MASONIC HISTORY (9/26/1872): The Shriners began with the first official meeting at Mecca Temple, now known as Mecca Shriners, in New York.

Shriners adopted Turkish fezzes, name-dropped Muhammad, Allah, and Islam as part of their rituals. The reason being that Shriners back then wanted to project for themselves an image of being the “playground of Masons,” and that back in 1872, all things Middle-Eastern or pseudo-Arabic were deemed wildly "exotic" and "fun", far from the modern-day perception that such images now conjure. In fact, after the September 11 terror attack in New York, some Shrine branches have allegedly changed their names to get rid of any Islamic reference. However, though their main rituals still have Islamic elements, such were obviously used without any real intent of promoting or mocking Islam whatsoever. Such were merely injected from the very beginning in order to add an air of vague mysticism and therefore attract membership.

Some Shriners believed that their organization can be traced to some ancient Persian crime-watch group, not realizing that, in actuality, their organization was merely set-up for the sake of "fun." In fact, the group’s lengthy name, "Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine" was chosen specifically to fill out the initials AAONMS that serve as an anagram for "A MASON."

Despite the "fun" objective, Shriners International has now become the most charitable institution ever spawned in the entire history of organized Freemasonry, providing complete medical care to burned and crippled children wherever they are found.