2024

2025

2025

2026

You have heard the tolling of eleven strokes.

This is to remind us that with Elks the hour of eleven has a tender significance.

Wherever Elks may roam, whatever their lot in life may be, when this hour falls upon the dial of night, the Great Heart of Elkdom swells and throbs.

It is the golden hour of recollection, the homecoming of those who wander, the mystic roll call of those who will come no more.

Living or dead, Elks are never forgotten, never forsaken.

Morning and noon may pass them by, the light of day sink heedlessly in the West, but ere the shadows of midnight shall fall, the chimes of memory will be pealing forth the friendly message:

“To Our Absent Members.”

The Orignal Jolly Corks Toast

The Original Jolly Corks Toast Now Is The Hour When Elkdom'S Tower Is Darkened By The Shroud Of Night, And Father Time On His Silver Chime Tolls Off Each Moment'S Flight.

In Cloistered Halls Each Elk Recalls His Brothers Where'Er They Be, And Traces Their Faces To Well-Known Places In The Annals Of Memory.

Whether They Stand On A Foreign Land Or Lie In An Earthen Bed, Whether They Be On The Boundless Sea With The Breakers Of Death Ahead.

Whate'Er Their Plight On This Eerie Night Whate'Er Their Fate May Be, Where Ever They Are Be It Near Or Far They Are Thinking Of You And Me.

So Drink From The Fountain Of Fellowship To The Brother Who Clasped Your Hand, And Wrote Your Worth In The Rock Of Earth And Your Faults Upon The Sand.

"To Our Absent Brothers"

Origin of the Toast

In regard to the Elks' 11 O'Clock Toast and its origin, we have to go back long before the BPOE came into existence. One of the main contributions of Charles Richardson -- in stage name of Charles Algernon Sidney Vivan and founder of the American branch of the Jolly Corks -- was to deliver in the hands of newborn Elks the rituals and traditions of a fraternal organization started in England around 1010 A.D., the Royal and Antedeluvian Order of Buffaloes, to which he belonged prior to coming to New York.

The RAOB, or Buffaloes as we shall henceforth refer to them, also practiced an 11 o'clock toast in remembrance of the Battle of Hastings in October of 1066. Following his victory, William of Normandy imported a set of rules, both martial and civil in nature, to keep control of a seething Norman-Saxon population always on the edge of a revolution.

Among those rules was a curfew law requiring all watch fires, bonfires (basically all lights controlled by private citizens that could serve as signals) to be extinguished at 11 each night. From strategically placed watchtowers that also served as early fire-alarm posts, the call would go out to douse or shutter all lights and bank all fires. This also served to discourage secret and treasonous meetings, as chimney sparks stood out against the black sky. A person away from his home and out on the dearkened streets, when all doors were barred for the night, risked great peril from either evildoers or patrolling melitia.

The hour of 11 quickly acquired a somber meaning, and in the centuries that followed, became the synonym throughout Europe for someone on his deathbed or about to go into battle: i.e. "His family gatheried around his bed at the 11th hour," or "the troops in the trenches hastily wrote notes to their families as the 11th hour approached when they must charge over the top." Thus, when the 15 Jolly Corks (of whom seven were not native-born Americans) voted on February 16, 1868, to start a more formal and official organization, they were already aware of an almost universally prevalent sentiment about the mystic and haunting aura connected with the nightly hour of 11, and it took no great eloquence by Vivian to establish a ritual toast similar of the of the Buffaloes at the next-to-last hour each day.

The great variety of 11 O'Clock Toasts, including the Jolly Corks Toast, makes it clear that there was no fixed and official version until 1906-10. Given our theatrical origins, it was almost mandatory that the pre-1900 Elks would be expected to compose a beautiful toast extemporaneously at will. Regardless of the form, however, the custom is as old as the Elks.

At every meeting of the BPOE, and every social function, when the hour of 11:00 p.m. tolls, the Lodge conducts a charming ceremonial known as the "Eleven O'clock Toast." In fact, the clock tolling the eleventh hour is part of the BPOE official emblem, and is directly behind the representation of an elk's head in the emblem of the Order. Regular meetings of Subordinate Lodges have always been held at night.

In the earlier days, they were usually held on Sunday nights and were concluded about eleven o'clock. As the participants departed, the Brothers made inquiries about the absent Brothers and expressed sympathetic interest in the causes of their absence. It soon became a custom for some member to propose a toast to the Brothers who were not present. And in the course of time, this custom was quite generally observed whenever a group of Elks were together at eleven o'clock. Eventually, the Grand Lodge specifically provided for such a ceremony to be observed during Lodge sessions; and designated it as "The Eleven O'clock Toast".

Under this provision, whenever a Lodge was in session at that hour, the regular order of business was suspended for a few moments while the Exalted Ruler recited the beautiful ritual prescribed, concluded with the words: "To our absent Brothers." Since women were permitted to join the Elks since 1995, the toast is now pronounced as "To our absent Members."

1. NEW RULE 2025 - ANYONE MEMBER IN GOOD STANDING AT THE TIME OF THE CONTEST IS ELIGIBLE TO COMPETE.

2. The Grand Lodge Ritualistic Committee will be responsible for the Contest, rules, and any changes in the rules of the Contests. States will be notified of any changes in the rules after the Grand Lodge Session the year before the next Grand Lodge Contest.

3. The 11 O’clock Toast Contest will use the Toast listed on page ii in the Ritualistic Manual (519900). This is the Toast used during the Ritual Team Contest.

4. The 11 O’clock Toast Contest will be held before the Flag Charge Contest. The time of the preliminaries is subject to change in accordance with the Grand Lodge schedule. Any change of time will be announced preceding the Grand Lodge Session.

5. There will be an EASTERN OR WESTERN DIVISION breakdown in this Contest. The top 2 contestants of each Division will compete in the Finals before the Ritual Final Four performs on Monday in the same room as the Ritual Finals.

6. The contestant’s order of appearance will be done by the Grand Lodge Area their State is located. The contestants need to check in with the Ritual Committee before the Contest. The time of check-in is subject to change. Each State will be notified of their performance times by their Area Representative of the Ritualistic Committee.

7. The Contest and scoring will begin when the Contest Chairman says, “It is the hour of recollection.” There will be no restarts if a contestant commits some mistake. Only restart allowed is if there is an obvious distraction from any outside source.

8. The contestant must be pre-registered for the Grand Lodge Session they will be competing.

9. The dress will be business, coat, tie, or Lodge attire.

10. The contestant must be the 11 O’clock Toast Contest winner from their State or the runner-up of that State Contest. This will be the State Contest held previous to the Grand Lodge Contest.The State’s Secretary and State Ritual Contest Chairperson must verify that the individual has won or is the runner-up and competing in place of the winner at least 15 days before the 1st day of the Grand Lodge Session of the Contest. 

11. If, for any reason, the State Association does not hold a State 11 O’clock Toast Contest, and they want to send an individual to the Grand Lodge Toast Contest, besides meeting the criteria listed above in items 8, 9, and 10, that individual must be approved by the State President or the State Ritual Chairperson.

12. Once an individual wins the Grand Lodge 11 O’clock Toast Contest, they cannot compete in any future Grand Lodge 11 O’clock Toast Contest.

13. There is a .25 penalty for a repeat performer (one who has competed in this Contest at Grand Lodge) in the Eleven O’clock Toast Contest. Florida State competition will waive the .25 penalty at the State competition if you have not competed in the prior three years.

14. Scoring will be based on the Grand Lodge Ritualistic Committee’s 11 O’clock Toast computing, not the Ritual Contest. The primary difference is the Toast Contest will not be scored on Deportment. Impressiveness will count for 60% of the score instead of 50%; Word Accuracy counts for 30%, and Pronunciation makes up the remaining 10%. The Judges will place a separate score for each contestant as they do the Candidate in the Ritual Contest, at the bottom of their sheet, based on a point system of 1 to 100 (THIS IS USED ONLY AS A TIEBREAKER). If there is still a tie, the individuals that are tied will be named the winner of that position. 

15. All 14 Ritual Judges at Grand Lodge will be used to judge the Contest. There will be 5 Ritual Judges and 2 Word Judges judging in the East and the West. The Judge with the highest score and the Judge with the lowest scores are thrown out, just as in the Ritual Contest. In the Finals, all 10 Ritual Judges and 4 Word Judges will be used. The highest two (2) scores and the lowest two (2) scores will be tossed during the Finals of the Toast Contest. The Grand Lodge Ritualistic Committee will compute the scores.

16. The first four (4) places of this Contest will be introduced during the Ritualistic Committee Report at the Tuesday morning Grand Lodge Session.

17. The first four (4) places will be recognized by having their names placed on the Grand Lodge website in the same location as the All-American Officers, Final Four of the Flag Charge, and the Final Four Ritual Teams.

18. The winner of the Eleven O’clock Toast Contest will be awarded the “Ted Callicott” plaque, named in honor of PGER Ted Callicott, a ritual man. The Tennessee State Elks will sponsor the plaque.