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A fraternal order is a voluntary membership group organised as an order, with an initiation ritual and traits alluding to religious order, chivalric order or pseudo-chivalric orders, , or secret society. Fraternal orders typically have secular purposes, serving as social clubs, cultural organizations and providing a form of social welfare through reciprocal aid or charitable work. Many friendly societies, benefit societies and mutual organisations take the form of a fraternal order.
Fraternal societies are often divided geographically into units called lodges or . They sometimes involve a system of awards, medals, decorations, styles, degrees, offices, orders, or other phaleristics, often associated with regalia, insignia, initiation and other , secret greetings, signs, passwords, oaths, and more or less elaborate , as in chivalric orders.
In the more social type, each is generally responsible for its own affairs, but it is often affiliated to an order such as the Independent Order of Odd Fellows or the Independent Order of Foresters. There are typically reciprocal agreements between lodges within an order, so that if members move to other cities or countries, they can join a new lodge without an initiation period.
The ceremonies are fairly uniform throughout an order. Occasionally, a lodge might change the order that it is affiliated to, two orders might merge, or a group of lodges will break away from an order and form a new one. For example, the Independent Order of Foresters was set up in 1874 when it separated from the Ancient Order of Foresters, also called Foresters Friendly Society, which itself was formed from the Royal Foresters Society in 1834.
Consequently, the histories of some fraternal orders and friendly society are difficult to follow. Often there are different, unrelated organisations with similar names.
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