The International Order of the Rainbow for Girls Explained

The International Order of the Rainbow for Girls, or Rainbow for short, started in the 1920s by a man named Mark Sexson. Since then, this Masonic youth organization has spread to almost every state and several countries as well, including Australia, Germany, Canada, and Aruba.

The main focus of Rainbow is to help young girls age 11-20 build self esteem, leadership skills, public speaking, and good will towards others. Community service is a huge part of Rainbow, with every assembly having their own project as well as each state having a state community service project. Girls can also earn merit bars they can wear on their dress. How the merit bars are earned vary from assembly to assembly.

Rainbow is broken up into assemblies, much like a "troop" in Girl Scouts, except you only have one assembly per general area. An assembly is usually made up of girls from the surrounding towns, however states like Hawaii only have 2-4 assemblies, so obviously their girls are more widespread. There is also an advisory board of adults as well as a Mother Advisor, who is the overseeing adult of the assembly.

Each assembly has 20 jeweled officers. A jeweled officer is one that is bestowed a jeweled necklace with the symbol of her office at installation. She wears the jewel only during meeting and retires it at the next installation. The Worthy Advisor is the highest ranking officer in an assembly. In some states she wears a tiara. She runs meeting as well as sets up a community service project for her term and activities for the members in which to participate. She also has term colors, a theme, and sometimes a quote from a religious text or song. A gavel is a typical installation gift for a new Worthy Advisor since this is how she controls meeting.

The next four offices are known as 'line officers'. The Worthy Advisor is also a line officer. Line officers are those who are in line to become Worthy Advisor, being Worthy Associate Advisor, Charity, Hope, and Faith in highest to lowest ranking order. In some states all these positions wear tiaras. Their jobs vary but overall it is to support the Worthy Advisor in her endeavors as well as fundraise money to help pay for bills during their upcoming term as Worthy Advisor.

Next in rank are the Recorder and Treasurer. Recorder takes notes of each meeting and reports any communications the assembly has received. Treasurer keeps the books in check and collects dues, pays bills etc.

Chaplain is next. Her job is to open and close meeting with a memorized prayer. She sits next to the Worthy Advisor as council. Although the Bible is mostly used, any religious text can be incorporated.

The Drill Leader is the next ranking officer. Her job is to escort people around the room and to present the American Flag during meeting.

Then there are seven colors stations representing each color of the rainbow: Love for red, Religious for orange, Nature for yellow, Immortality for green, Fidelity for blue, Patriotism for indigo, and Service for violet. Although these officers do not do much during normal meetings, they each have a paragraph explaining their station during initiation.

Confidential Observer and Outer Observer guard the meeting doors on the inside and outside of the meeting room respectively. They communicate with a certain number of knocks and only let in certain people that have permission from the Worthy Advisor to enter.

The last of the jeweled officers are musician and choir director. These are pretty self explanatory. There are also non-jeweled offices which include American Flag Bearer, Christian Flag Bearer, State Flag Bearer, Rainbow Flag bearer, and Pages to each of the directions (East, West, North, and South).

Each state has a Grand Assembly which is like a local assembly however to be a Grand Officer you must audition based on ritual (memorizing lines especially for Initiation), floorwork (how you walk about the room), and presentation. The offices are very similar with local assemblies with the exception that some Grand Assemblies include a Grand Soloist, Grand Historian, Grand Lecturer, and Associate Grand Drill Leader. The number of Grand Offices a girl may hold depends on the state. If the state is small, the number is unlimited and the girl does not have to be a Past Worthy Advisor in order to audition. If the state is large, like California for example, only one girl from each assembly can be considered a given year and must be a Past Worthy Advisor as well as a Master of the Grand Cross of Color, which is the highest service award Rainbow can bestow on a Rainbow girl or adult, and they are only allowed one Grand Office in their lifetime.

The Grand Worthy Advisor is the highest ranking officer in the state. She chooses a theme, colors, a mascot, and a charity for the year. She is installed much like a regular Worthy Advisor however at the end of her term she is given a Past Grand Worthy Advisor's pin where she is recognized for the rest of her life in any Rainbow Assembly. Some Grand Worthy Advisors are elected by their peers while others are chosen by adults. Also, some Grand assemblies promote their Grand Worthy Associate Advisor to Grand Worthy Advisor every year so she has a year to prepare for her duties. Other states announce who the next Grand Worthy Advisor will be on the eve of installation as a total surprise to the announced girl. In some states it is the only the Grand Worthy Advisor that wear a tiara. However in cases like California, nobody wears a tiara.

The dress code varies greatly from state to state. A general theme however is a floor length white dress, which in most cases is a bridal gown since there are not that many floor length white gowns that are not. Some states require hoop skirts to be worn so that when the girl walks so creates a floating effect. Others states have Grand Officer gowns that all match in style and sometimes color. Some states even require their Grand Officers to wear "bunyons" or fake hair pieces that are large curly buns so that everyone's hair is the same style.

General prohibitions are no visible tattoos, no funky hair colors, modest neck and back lines, and only certain jewelry can be worn. Any piercings other than ears must be removed for meeting. Travel dresses, or dresses that are made to wear while visiting other assemblies or states, usually follow the same code however color is permissible. Again, some states even have matching travel gowns that have a patterned fabric related to the theme of that state's Grand Worthy Advisor's term.

Along with dress code, there are several other rules that must be followed. Rainbow girls are expected to remain virgins. Some states require a contract to be signed promising they will remain celibate however this is more of an unspoken agreement. If a girl is found out, she is asked to leave however adults tend not to ask. Girls must also remain unwed, have no children, and believe in one god, although religion can be flexible.

Rainbow provides a safe environment for girls to grow, achieve, and have lots of fun. They build friendships that will last a lifetime and many memories they will never forget. For more information about Rainbow, go to www.iorg.org.