Astra Castra Ekstra
Oorsprong van die Titel van die Storie
History
The original group named Maccabees were a priestly family of Jews who organized a successful rebellion against
the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV and re-consecrated the defiled Temple of Jerusalem. "The aspects of Maccabeus's
feats that appealed to the founders of the modern Maccabees were steadfastness and persistence; his wisdom in the
use of power; and the fact that he seems to have been the first recorded military leader to order his soldiers to
reserve a part of their spoils for the widows and orphans of their fallen colleagues, and lastly his unwavering
determination to protect the particular nation and culture of his people in their ancestral land.". As a fraternal
organization, the Knights of Maccabees want to emulate his example.
19th Century
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In 1878, the Knights of Maccabees was founded by Nathan Boynton in London, Ontario in Canada and was
reorganized in 1883.
The Knights of the Maccabees had a membership of 209,831 in 1896.
20th Century
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By 1920 the ladies' auxiliary, Ladies of the Maccabees, alone claimed more than 200,000 members.
In 1926 they established their headquarters at the Maccabees Building in downtown Detroit, Michigan. In
1960 the Maccabees relocated to a new building in Southfield, Michigan - a suburb of Detroit. In 1986 they
built new 251,000-square-foot (23,300 m2) office building, once again in Southfield.
In 1941 the group gained control of the Michigan Union Life Association, furthering its transformation from a
benefit society into a modern, legal-reserve insurance company.
In 1962 the group changed its name again, this time to the Maccabees Mutual Life Insurance Company.
In the 1990s the organization was demutualized and sold to the Royal Insurance Group and operated under
the name Royal Maccabees Life Insurance Company.
In 1999 Royal Maccabees was sold by its parent company, Royal & Sun Alliance Financial Services, to
Swiss Re.[4] Swiss Re merged it into its subsidiary, Reassure America Life Insurance Company. [5]
21st Century
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In 2008, the Knights of the Maccabees has returned to its fraternal roots after a long history as a mutual
reserve life insurance company. Some remaining members in California revived the Knights of the
Maccabees no longer as a benefit insurance organization but completely as a Fraternity. It has been
modernized and redesigned for the 21st century with a new focus on the fraternal character of the Order [6].
As of January 2011, the Knights of Maccabees as a revived Fraternal organization has tents in Northern
California and Central Florida with some members located in other States in America, Canada, Israel and the
United Kingdom. [7].
Motto
The motto of the Knights of Maccabees is the Latin "Astra Castra Numen Lumen" which means "The stars my camp,
the Deity my light" [8].
Astra Castra, Numen Lumen
From OpulentOddities
"This review is ended. Sir Knights, retire to your homes in peace, and hold yourselves ever in readiness to
serve our noble cause." This is the end of the initiation ceremony of the Maccabees. Here is more
information about the focus of this piece and what it means:
Inscribed around the temple is "Astra Castra, Numen lumen" which means, "The stars are my camp, god
my light" "Numen" means divinity, so it doesn't necessarily have to be one certain religion at all.
"KOTM" stands for Knights of the Maccabees.
Based in Judaic tradition, the Maccabees became an organization much like the Knights of Templar.
Described as a "fraternal and benevolent legal reserve," they were concerned with taking care of each
other member and developed an insurance policy in the case of loss of limbs and death. They collected for
widows, for funerary costs, etc.
This is a beautiful medallion. Every member of the Knights of the Maccabee had one. This establishment
was created after the civil war and ended in 1962, when the Maccabees became an insurance company. It
was mainly based in Michigan, so to find one of these down in Florida is simply a treat!
For more information--it even shows you more pictures of what other medallions looked like, please go to
this site:
http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/masonicmuseum/fraternalism/maccabees.htm
Now that we've had our history lesson! The medal is on a brass chain with a lobster clasp. Dangling in the
back is a beautiful glass briolette.
I have in no way damaged this medal in making the necklace. The chain connects on the back. It is a Cpin and its just slightly bent down to keep it from sticking you. The sharp edge as been sanded down, but
the integrity of the piece is kept whole.
Around the neck is 18.5inches/47cms
The medal drops down 3.5inches/9cms.