Black

The common acceptance of black as a symbol of sorrow or mourning is not applied in Craft ritualism, though the popular regard for black crepe may be in evidence at Masonic funerals. The French degrees, however, often make use of it by the clothing of the officers or the decor of the lodge room, and this has also been adopted in some of the Scottish Rite degrees. There have been considerable discussions about the black uniform of the American branch of the Knights Templar, which does not conform to the dress of the Medieval Order, which was white with a red cross on the breast, the latter being used in British and Canadian priories or preceptories. The theory followed in the United States seems to have been that black was adopted in respect of the m*rtyred de Molai and his associates. It must not be ignored, however, that practical considerations played a part, it being apparent that for public m*litary parades in which the American Knights Templar indulged extensively (which their British and Canadian fraters did not) white uniforms would be difficult to keep white. A white plume in the chapeau was required by the American regulations, though at least one Grand Commandery, that of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, (and possibly that of Maryland), retained the black plume by some claim of right to follow the previous regulations in effect prior to the adoption of the white plume or perhaps prior to the organization of the Grand Encampment of the United States.