Secret handshake
A secret handshake is a distinct form of handshake or greeting which indicates membership in or loyalty to a club, clique or subculture. The typical secret handshake involves placing one's fingers or thumbs in a particular position, one that will be recognized by fellow members while seeming to be a normal handshake to non-members.[1] This is most frequently associated in the popular consciousness with college fraternities, fraternal orders and secret societies.
Examples
[edit]In the Roman mystery religion Mithraism, members were initiated with a handshake, and members were known as syndexioi (united by the handshake).[2]
Freemasons are among the long-standing users of secret "grips" (similar to handshakes) as tokens.[3]
Some (but not all) of the denominations from the Latter Day Saint movement also use secret grips as tokens, adopted and adapted from the concept of grips used as tokens in Freemasonry[4] (similar to how other tokens have been adopted and adapted for Judeo-Christian ordinances, such as bread/wine, circumcision,[5] immersion in water, etc.).
Secret handshakes are also used by college fraternities in the United States, and used by members as recognition symbols in later life.[6]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ Duncan, Malcolm C. (2005). Duncan's Masonic ritual and monitor: or, Guide to the three symbolic degrees of the ancient York rite, and to the degrees of mark master, past master, most excellent master, and the royal arch (3rd ed. with additions and corrections ed.). Florida: Sweetwater Press. ISBN 978-1-58173-530-7.
- ↑ M. Clauss, The Roman cult of Mithras, p. 42: "That the hand-shaken might make their vows joyfully forever"
- ↑ Buck, Kate (2018-02-08). "Do Freemasons really have a secret handshake?". Metro. Retrieved 2024-10-14.
- ↑ "Temple Ceremony / Masonry". Mormon Stories. Retrieved 2024-10-14.
- ↑ Tabor, James D. (2017-02-02). "Egyptian Circumcision Before the Time of Abraham". Religion Matters: From the Bible to the Modern World. Retrieved 2026-05-20.
- ↑ "Secret handshakes greet frat brothers as Wall Street women trail". Financial Post. December 23, 2013. Retrieved 2024-10-14.