International Association of Rebekah Assemblies
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The Rebekahs (or the Rebekah Lodges) are the female auxiliary of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. [1]
The Rebekah Lodges were founded in the early 1850s, largely due to the efforts of an Odd Fellow named Schuyler Colfax. Initially, the Rebekah Degree was granted at Odd Fellow Lodges, but by the 1880s, the Rebekahs and Odd Fellows conducted separate lodge activities, as they do today. The Rebekah Lodges get their name from the Biblical character of Rebekah. Rebekah Lodges are still active, despite the fact that the Odd Fellows now accept women as full members. There are male and female Rebekah members. Girls too young for membership in the Rebekahs may join the Theta Rho Girls' Clubs, just as boys can join Junior Odd Fellow Lodges. Rebekahs observe the Odd Fellows' creed of "Friendship, Love and Truth", and are engaged in many social and charitable activities worldwide.
[edit] References
- ^ "A Grand Gathering, but One With a Solemn Note", New York Times, August 26, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-08-26. "As with most matters of Odd Fellowship, nearly every aspect of the annual convention of the Sovereign Grand Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows must adhere to protocol. The dais for the officers’ banquet, for example, must be two-tiered and able to accommodate 50 people, important on the bottom, really important on the top. Seats for the sovereign grand master, the deputy sovereign grand master, the sovereign grand warden, the sovereign grand secretary and the sovereign grand treasurer. Seats for the leaders of the two uniformed branches, the Patriarchs Militant and its Ladies Auxiliaries. A seat for the president of the International Association of Rebekah Assemblies, established when the Odd Fellows long ago recognized “the need for a woman’s touch.”"
