Post #495185 by bigbrotiki on Sun, Nov 22, 2009 11:36 AM

On 2009-11-21 18:11, abstractiki wrote:
It is my experience that our masonic activities rarely involve alcohol and the shiners are known to have much more "fun"! if you know what i mean :)

Apparently, this was the purpose of the Shriners to begin with:

"In 1870, there were several thousand Masons in Manhattan, many of whom lunched at the Knickerbocker Cottage at a special table on the second floor. There, the idea of a new fraternity for Masons stressing fun and fellowship was discussed."

And that Stan & Ollie film is as good as any a connection

For me as a a pop culture historian the obvious connection between Tiki and Shriners is that both appropriated an exotic culture as their theme. This form of romantic exoticism happened to different cultures, be it Japanese, Mayan or Egyptian, at different periods in the West, and it was based more on fantasy than on fact. Americans were especially carefree and inventive with it.

Just as in Tiki style, exotic temples were erected:

They even had their own mugs and bowls :D :

(now where is that Fez-wearing Tiki Aloha shirt when I need it...!?)

And the Shriners always had a sense of humor about themselves, just like Tikiphiles :) :

This CAN get a little scary, though:

The reasons for the decline of the Shriners also parallel those of Tiki culture:
In the late 60s, when the big generation gap shifted the attention of the world towards youth culture, the Shriners, just like Tiki style, were relegated to the stodgy, the "establishment", the conservative, old generation.

I mean look at the line up of old geezers in that U-Tube video above! But this is another parallel: Today's Tikiphiles engage in a form of ancestor worship that mends the wounds created by the 60s/70s generation war, by showing appreciation for some of the aspects of our forefathers culture. The biggest irony of Shriner culture today is how its basically Islamic symbolism clashes with today's terrorized reality - not unlike Tiki's palm trees and huts did with the Vietnam war in the late sixties.

All this being said, I would like to point out though that Tiki culture and Shriner culture are two different things. :)

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2009-11-22 12:19 ]