User:Sg647112c/Order of the Mayflower

The Most Honorable and Distinguished Order of the Mayflower is a civilian honor of merit, which was instituted on 4 February 2014 when the “Massachusetts Title of Honor Act” was signed into law by Governor Deval Patrick. The Order is intended to honor any current or former long-term resident of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (save for politicians while in office) for distinguished excellence or conspicuous achievement in any field benefiting the social, cultural, or economic well-being of the Bay State and its residents. The eponymous symbol of the Order is the mayflower (Epigaea repens) which was itself named after the ship of the Pilgrims.

Membership in the Order is conferred by a legislative act of the Massachusetts General Court, which must be passed by two-thirds of both chambers and signed by the Governor of Massachusetts. In the case of those Massachusetts residents who have been awarded the Medal of Honor, Congressional Gold Medal, or Presidential Medal of Freedom, their nomination is automatic and requires only a simple-majority in the legislative chambers. The honor may be made posthumously, however, the number of living members of the Order cannot exceed one for every 30,000 residents of Massachusetts (6,692,824 ÷ 30,000 = 223). Members of the Order may be censured or expelled either by legislative act or by three-quarters of the Order itself; expulsion from the Order is automatic upon conviction of a felony.

Those recognized are inducted into the sole grade of “Knight of the Order of the Mayflower” (regardless of gender) and may use the post-nominal “KtMA”. Since the title is neither hereditary nor has knighthood ever been considered a title of nobility, the honor does not violate Constitutional prohibitions. As is customary in the English-speaking world, male knights are properly addressed as “Sir John Smith” and female knights as “Dame Mary Jones”. Neither spouses nor children derive precedence from a family member’s membership in the Order.

The title of honor is described as the highest that the Commonwealth can bestow, and is seen as analogous to those of Kentucky Colonel, Nebraska Admiral, Indiana’s Sagamore of the Wabash, North Carolina’s Order of the Long Leaf Pine, Rhode Island Commodore, and others such as the several provincial and territorial orders of Canada.

The ceremonial head of the Order is the Chancellor, elected by the membership to a term of five years, and who holds a possition in Massachusetts’ order of precedence. Chancellors may serve more than one term, but not consecutively. The Order’s administrative chancellery is housed at the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) in Boston. The Order also works with the NEHGS’s Committee on Heraldry to design and record appropriate coats of arms and heraldic badges for awardees, by the issuance of letters patent. As public acts and records of the Commonwealth, these heraldic services may be contacted by any resident of Massachusetts or of other states, thus serving as the de-facto heraldic authority for civilian heraldry in the United States. Arms registered with the Society are protected from usurpation, and are inheritable by all direct descendant of the original registrant who bear his/her surname. Should another state charter its own heraldic authority, then the NEHGS would work with them to ensure that arms remain unique throughout the United States.

The Order typically holds its annual banquet on May 1st, marking the day in 1776 that the Great and General Court declared Massachusetts’ sovereignty. The MDCCLXXVI inscribed on the insignia of the Order is also a reference to this date.

The tartan used by the Order of the Mayflower was designed as a district tartan for Massachusetts by Nicholas Steward of Topsfield MA on 29 March 1993. However, on 16 May 2003 the Commonwealth adopted a different sett as its official tartan. This orphan design, which had been recorded in the Scottish Register of Tartans, was then adopted by the Order. The ribbon of the Order is also based on the tartan.