A secret society is a club or an organization whose activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence agencies or

guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or Irregular military, irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, Raid (military), raids ...

insurgencies, that hide their activities and memberships but maintain a public presence.

Definitions

The exact qualifications for labeling a group a secret society are disputed, but definitions generally rely on the degree to which the organization insists on

secrecy Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret. Secrecy is often controvers ...

, and might involve the retention and transmission of secret knowledge, the denial of membership or knowledge of the group, the creation of personal bonds between members of the organization, and the use of secret rites or rituals which solidify members of the group. Anthropologically and historically, secret societies have been deeply interlinked with the concept of the Männerbund, the all-male "warrior-band" or "warrior-society" of pre-modern cultures (see H. Schurtz, ''Alterklassen und Männerbünde'', Berlin, 1902; A. Van Gennep, ''The Rites of Passage'', Chicago, 1960). A purported "family tree of secret societies" has been proposed, although it may not be comprehensive. Alan Axelrod, author of the ''International Encyclopedia of Secret Societies and Fraternal Orders'', defines a secret society as an organization that: * is exclusive * claims to own special secrets * shows a strong inclination to favor its members. Historian

Richard B. Spence Richard Brian Spence (b. ''ca.'' 1951)"Spence, Richard B. 1951-."
''

of the University of Idaho offered a similar three-pronged definition: * The group's existence is usually not kept secret, but some beliefs or practices are concealed from the public and require an oath of secrecy and loyalty to learn. * The group promises superior status or knowledge to members. * The group's membership is in some way restrictive, such as by race, sex, religious affiliation, or invitation only. Spence also proposes a sub-category of "Elite Secret Societies" (composed of high-income or socially influential people), and notes that secret societies have a frequent if not universal tendency towards factionalism, infighting and claiming origins older than can be reliably documented. Spence's definition includes groups traditionally thought of as secret societies (

Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

and

Rosicrucians Rosicrucianism is a spiritual and cultural movement that arose in Europe in the early 17th century after the publication of several texts purported to announce the existence of a hitherto unknown esoteric order to the world and made seeking its ...

) and other groups not so traditionally classified such as certain organized crime cabals ( the Mafia), religious groups (

Order of Assassins The Order of Assassins or simply the Assassins ( fa, حَشّاشین, Ḥaššāšīn, ) were a Nizārī Ismāʿīlī order and sect of Shīʿa Islam that existed between 1090 and 1275 CE. During that time, they lived in the mountains of P ...

and Thelema) and political movements ( Bolsheviks and Black Dragon Society).

David V. Barrett David V. Barrett is a British sociologist of religion who has widely written on topics pertaining to new religious movements and western esotericism. He is also a regular contributor to ''The Independent'', ''Fortean Times'', and the ''Catholic ...

, author of ''Secret Societies: From the Ancient and Arcane to the Modern and Clandestine'', has used alternative terms to define what qualifies a secret society. He defined it as any group that possesses the following characteristics: * It has "carefully graded and progressed teachings". * Teachings are "available only to selected individuals". * Teachings lead to "hidden (and 'unique') truths". * Truths bring "personal benefits beyond the reach and even the understanding of the uninitiated." Barrett goes on to say that "a further characteristic common to most of them is the practice of rituals which non-members are not permitted to observe, or even to know the existence of." Barrett's definition would rule out many organizations called secret societies; graded teaching is usually not part of the American college fraternities, the Carbonari, or the 19th-century

Know Nothing The Know Nothing party was a nativist political party and movement in the United States in the mid-1850s. The party was officially known as the "Native American Party" prior to 1855 and thereafter, it was simply known as the "American Party". ...

s. Historian

Jasper Ridley Jasper Godwin Ridley, FRSL (25 May 1920 – 1 July 2004) was a British writer, known for historical biographies. He received the 1970 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his biography of ''Lord Palmerston''. Born in West Hoathly, Sussex, he was ...

argues that Freemasonry is, "the world's most powerful secret Society." The organisation "

Opus Dei Opus Dei, formally known as the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei ( la, Praelatura Sanctae Crucis et Operis Dei), is an institution of the Catholic Church whose members seek personal Christian holiness and strive to imbue their work an ...

" ( Latin for "Work of God") is portrayed as a "secret society" of the Catholic Church. Critics such as the Jesuit Wladimir Ledóchowski sometimes refer to Opus Dei as a Catholic (or Christian or "white") form of Freemasonry. Other critics label Opus Dei as "Holy Mafia" or "Santa Mafia" as the organisation is connected with various questionable practises including intense "

brainwashing Brainwashing (also known as mind control, menticide, coercive persuasion, thought control, thought reform, and forced re-education) is the concept that the human mind can be altered or controlled by certain psychological techniques. Brainwash ...

" of its members to exploit labor force as well as the direct involvement of members in severe crimes such as baby-trafficking in Spain under the dictator

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...

Realms

Politics

Because some secret societies have political aims, they are illegal in several countries. Italy ( Constitution of Italy, Section 2, Articles 13–28) and Poland, for example, ban secret political parties and political organizations in their constitutions.

Colleges and universities

Many

student societies A student society, student association, university society, student club, university club, or student organization is a society or an organization, operated by students at a university or a college institution, whose membership typically consists ...

established on university campuses in the United States have been considered secret societies. Perhaps one of the most famous secret collegiate societies is Skull and Bones at Yale University. The influence of undergraduate secret societies at colleges such as Harvard College, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Emory University, the University of Chicago, the University of Virginia, Georgetown University, New York University, and

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...

has been publicly acknowledged, if anonymously and circumspectly, since the 19th century. British Universities, too, have a long history of secret societies or quasi-secret societies, such as The Pitt Club at Cambridge University,

Bullingdon Club The Bullingdon Club is a private all-male dining club for Oxford University students. It is known for its wealthy members, grand banquets, and bad behaviour, including vandalism of restaurants and students' rooms. The club is known to select it ...

at Oxford University, and the 16' Club at St David's College. Another British secret society is the Cambridge Apostles, founded as an essay and debating society in 1820. Not all British Universities host solely academic secret societies, for both The Night Climbers of Cambridge and

The Night Climbers of Oxford The Night Climbers of Oxford is a secret society, dedicated to nocturnally scaling college and town buildings in Oxford, England. The society is noted for its political activism, controversial acts, feats of climbing and parkour, as well as urban ...

require both brains and brawn. In France, Vandermonde is the secret society of the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers. Notable examples in Canada include Episkopon at the University of Toronto's

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

, and the

Society of Thoth The Society of Thoth ( Greek: Θώθ) was a secret society at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The club was founded in 1926 by members of the ''Ubyssey'' student paper as an "honorary journalistic society ...

at the University of British Columbia. Secret societies are disallowed in a few colleges. The Virginia Military Institute has rules that no cadet may join a secret society, and secret societies have been banned at

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

from 1847 to the present, and at Princeton University since the beginning of the 20th century.

Confraternities in Nigeria Confraternities in Nigeria are secretive student groups within Nigerian higher education that have been involved in violence and organized crime since the 1980s. The exact death toll of confraternity activities is unclear. One estimate in 2002 w ...

are secret-society like student groups within higher education. The exact death toll of confraternity activities is unclear. One estimate in 2002 was that 250 people had been killed in campus cult-related murders in the previous decade,"NIGERIA: Focus on the menace of student cults"
'' IRIN'', 1 August 2002 while the Exam Ethics Project lobby group estimated that 115 students and teachers had been killed between 1993 and 2003."Cults of violence"
'' The Economist'', 31 July 2008 The Mandatory Monday Association is thought to operate out of a variety of Australian universities including the Australian Defence Force Academy. The Association has numerous chapters that meet only on Mondays to discuss business and carry out rituals. The only secret society abolished and then legalized is that of The

Philomaths The Philomaths, or Philomath Society ( pl, Filomaci or ''Towarzystwo Filomatów''; from the Greek φιλομαθεῖς "lovers of knowledge"), was a secret student organization that existed from 1817 to 1823 at the Imperial University of Vilniu ...

, which is nowadays a legitimate academic association founded on a strict selection of its members.

Internet

While their existence had been speculated for years, internet-based secret societies first became known to the public in 2012 when the secret society known as Cicada 3301 began recruiting from the public via internet-based puzzles. The goals of the society remain unknown, but it is believed that they are involved in cryptography.

By location

Asia

;China *

Red Lanterns (Boxer Uprising) The Red Lanterns () were the women's fighting groups organized by village women who were not allowed to join the men's groups during the Boxer Uprising of 1900. Villagers said these women had supernatural powers and were called upon to perform tas ...

Red Spear Society The Red Spear Society began as a rural self-defense movement in Henan, Hebei and Shandong in northern China during the Warlord Era in the 1920s. These were local groups of small-holders and tenant farmers organized to defend villages against ro ...

* Tiandihui, Society of the Heaven and the Earth * Tong (organization) * Yellow Sand Society * White Lotus ;Philippines * La Liga Filipina *

KKK The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

;Japan * Black Dragon Society * Double Leaf Society * Gen'yōsha * Green Dragon (order) *

Kenkokukai The Kenkokukai (建国会) (National Foundation Society) was a Japanese secret society founded in April 1926. It was formed by the Nazi sympathizer Motoyuki Takabatake (高畠素之) along with Nagoya Anarchists Shinkichi Uesugi (上杉慎吉) and ...

* Sakurakai ;Singapore

Africa

;Nigeria * Abakuá * Ekpe *

Nze na Ozo The Nze na Ozo society (pronounced ''Nzeh nah Orzoh''), is the highest and most important spiritual religious and social grouping in the Igbo society of Southeast Nigeria. Initiation into the aristocratic Nze na Ozo society marks the person as ...

* Ogboni ;South Africa *

Afrikaner Broederbond The Afrikaner Broederbond (AB) or simply the Broederbond was an exclusively Afrikaner Calvinist and male secret society in South Africa dedicated to the advancement of the Afrikaner people. It was founded by H. J. Klopper, H. W. van der Merwe, ...

;West African *

Crocodile Society The Crocodile Society was a West African secret society that practised cannibalism. The Crocodile Society existed in Liberia and Sierra Leone in the late 1800s and early 1900s.Mitchell, Harry (2002) Remote Corners: A Sierra Leone Memoir The Rad ...

* Leopard Society * Poro, a secret men's society * Sande society, the female counterpart to the Poro society * Simo (society) ;Zimbabwe *

Nyau Nyau (also: ''Nyao'' meaning ''mask'' or ''initiation'') is a secret society of the Chewa, an ethnic group of the Bantu peoples from Central and Southern Africa. The Nyau society consists of initiated members of the Chewa and Nyanja people, form ...

Europe

;Germany * Illuminati *

Order of the New Templars The Order of the New Templars – ''Ordo Novi Templi'' was a proto-fascist secret society in Germany founded by Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels (the code name of Fascist agitator Adolf Joseph Lanz) in 1900. Lanz used this order to spread his ide ...

* Ordo Templi Orientis ;Ireland * Irish Republican Brotherhood * The Defenders ;Italy *

Propaganda Due Propaganda Due (; P2) was a Masonic lodge under the Grand Orient of Italy, founded in 1877. Its Masonic charter was withdrawn in 1976, and it transformed into a criminal, clandestine, anti-communist, anti-Soviet, anti-leftist, pseudo-Masonic, a ...

;Serbia *

Black Hand Black Hand or The Black Hand may refer to: Extortionists and underground groups * Black Hand (anarchism) (''La Mano Negra''), a presumed secret, anarchist organization based in the Andalusian region of Spain during the early 1880s * Black Hand ...

;United Kingdom *

* Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn *

The 16' Club The 16' Club, commonly referred to as The Sixteens, the College Sixteen or simply 16, is a private dining club for male members of St David's College, Trinity Saint David. It is the only remaining undergraduate dining club at the university ...

5 Hertford Street 5 Hertford Street (5HS) is a private members' club in Mayfair, London, which was described in 2017 as London's most secretive club. It has annual membership costs of £1,800 and is owned by the English businessman Robin Birley. Its interior des ...

;Pan-European *

Ancient Order of Freesmiths The Ancient Order of Freesmiths, or ''Alte Orden der Freischmiede'' is a secret society originating in Europe during the Middle Ages. Since around 1864 the order has established an international membership but it does not publicly disclose the numbe ...

(''Freischmiede'') * Freemasonry *

Rosicrucianism Rosicrucianism is a spiritual and cultural movement that arose in Europe in the early 17th century after the publication of several texts purported to announce the existence of a hitherto unknown esoteric order to the world and made seeking its ...

North America

* Collegiate secret societies in North America ;United States *

Bohemian Club The Bohemian Club is a private club with two locations: a city clubhouse in the Nob Hill district of San Francisco, California and the Bohemian Grove, a retreat north of the city in Sonoma County. Founded in 1872 from a regular meeting of journal ...

* Knights of the Golden Circle *

Order of the Star Spangled Banner The Order of the Star Spangled Banner (OSSB) was an oath-bound secret society in New York City. It was created in 1849 by Charles B. Allen to protest the rise of Irish, Catholic, and German immigration into the United States. To join the Orde ...

* Skull and Bones

South America

;Brazil *

Shindo Renmei was a terrorist organization composed of Japanese immigrants. It was active in the state of São Paulo, Brazil during the 1940s. Refusing to believe the news of Japan's surrender at the end of World War II, some of its most fanatic members used ...

Opposition

Many

Christian Church In ecclesiology, the Christian Church is what different Christian denominations conceive of as being the true body of Christians or the original institution established by Jesus. "Christian Church" has also been used in academia as a synonym fo ...

es forbid their members from joining secret societies. For example, ¶41 of the General Rules contained in ''Discipline'' of the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection teaches:

References

External links

Secret Societies: a very short history
– Documents of

, Jesuits, Illuminati, Carbonari,

Burschenschaften A Burschenschaft (; sometimes abbreviated in the German ''Burschenschaft'' jargon; plural: ) is one of the traditional (student associations) of Germany, Austria, and Chile (the latter due to German cultural influence). Burschenschaften were fo ...

and other organizations * Stevens
The cyclopædia of fraternities (2nd ed.)
A dated review of the subject.
Secret Societies in Australia and English Freemasonry
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