Masonic Collars and Sashes

While the Apron is the specific clothing of a Freemason, from the degree of Master Mason onwards, the Collars and Sashes take on great importance in the Masonic Regalia. A clarification of terminology is required first, particularly in the French context. In contemporary Masonic vocabulary, Collar refers to a wide ribbon worn as a necklace, and Sash refers to the same ribbon worn across the body, from the right shoulder to the left hip (or vice versa for certain higher grades). However, eighteenth-century French Masonic rituals only referred to the Ribbon (Cordon in French), specifying whether it was "worn as a necklace" or "worn as a baldric". In the Craft Freemasonry, the Collar is reserved for Lodge Officers, who wear it as an insignia of their office, while the Sash is worn by Master Masons as a mark of their degree. In the Higher Degrees, this distinction is no longer strict: in certain Degrees, all members wear a Collar, whether or not they are Chapter Officers.

Origins of Masonic Collars and Sashes

The Collar obviously fulfils a practical function: it serves to wear the insignia of the office held by a Lodge Officer or a Grand Officer. The ancient english Masonic illustrations show that it originally consisted of a simple thin ribbon, whose colour was apparently not defined. Nevertheless, blue soon became the colour of choice in English Freemasonry for the Grand Officers of the Grand Lodge. This was a deep blue, probably inspired by the cord of the Order of the Garter. A lighter blue was later adopted for the Craft Lodges. However, only the Officers of English Freemasonry wear a Collar, while the Master Masons wear no Sash.

The wearing of the Collar and Sash really took off in France. Here again, there is a clear reference to an honorific Order: the Order of the Holy Spirit, the most prestigious Order conferred by the French monarchy. French Freemasons therefore adopted a Ribbon of the same colour, i.e. light blue. The very use of the name Ribbon (Cordon in French) demonstrates the nobiliary, rather than Masonic, origin of this accessory, as it is the word used to identify the Regalia of these Orders. As these Ribbons were worn as a necklace or as a baldric, depending on the rank of the wearer, French Freemasonry added Sashes (i.e. Ribbons worn as a baldric) for the ordinary Master Masons. Allowing bourgeois to wear a Blue Ribbon (only in the Lodge, of course) meant that all Freemasons were equal. It was also a means of affirming that, rather than being a mere association of workers, Freemasonry was and always had been a prestigious Order, honoured by princes and kings. The wearing of Collars and Sashes can be compared with the wearing of swords in French Freemasonry. The Blue Ribbon, like the wearing of the sword, were privileges of the nobility, granted to all Freemasons in the secrecy of the Lodges.

The development of the Higher Degrees naturally encouraged the proliferation of all kinds of new Collars, Sashes and Collarettes, in various colours (black, red, green, white, crimson, etc.). And a third kind of Ribbon appeared in some Higher Degrees: the Scarf (Écharpe in French), which is also commonly named Sash in English. Instead of ending in a point like the ordinary Sash, the two ends of the Scarf remain separate and are adorned with fringes. 

Collars, Sashes and Scarves in contemporary Freemasonry 

Nowadays, the Lodge Officers and the Grand Officers and Dignitaries of the Masonic Orders, as well as the Officers of the Higher Degrees Chapters, wear a Collar in all the Masonic Rites, both continental and Anglo-Saxon. However, in the Anglo-Saxon Rites, they are rivalled by the Collar Chains worn, for instance, as part of the Full Dress of Grand Lodge Officers. The same applies to most regular Masonic Obediences Grand Lodges, such as the Grande Loge Nationale Française, where the Grand Officers also wear a Collar Chain in their Grand Dress. Outside the Anglo-Saxon world, however, Collar Chains are not used in Blue Lodges.

The Collar Chains dates back to the Middle Ages and were particularly used by the Orders of Chivalry, such as the Order of the Golden Fleece. Widely used in courts throughout Europe until the Renaissance, this type of collar gradually disappeared in favour of ribbon necklaces, except in Great Britain, where they are still today the distinguishing mark of the Mayors of England, Wales and Ireland, and the Provosts of Scotland.

The Sash is worn by the Master Masons in almost all the continental Masonic Rites (Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, French Rite, Memphis-Misraïm Rite, etc.), with the exception of the Rectified Scottish Rite, the Schroeder Rite and the Swedish Rite. In the latter, it is replaced by a small collarette adorned with a rosette. The Sash is also used in the Blue Lodges of the York Rite. In addition to the Collar, many Sashes appear in the High Degrees and Side Degrees, both continental and Anglo-Saxon.

The Scarf (also named Sash in English) is more unusual. In the Blue Lodge, it is found only in the Standard Rite of Scotland (this custom is probably of French origin) and in the Operative Rite of Solomon. The Scarf is more common in the Higher Degrees and in the Side Degrees, such as the Second and Third Orders of the French Rite, the Royal Arch, the Benevolent Knight of the Holy City, the Order of the Secret Monitor, etc.

Apart from Freemasonry, the French Compagnonnage, when it was revived in the 19th century, also adopted various coloured Scarves in imitation of the Freemasons.