As those of you in this group will be aware, I am a Freemason. I am a member of two lodges: Goliath Lodge #5995 UGLE, in London, and Philanthropic Lodge F&AM, Marblehead, Massachusetts. Last night, at one of our 4 meetings in a year, our new Worshipful Master and slate of officers was installed. It’s a yearly opportunity to take stock of our lives and our involvement with Masonry.
The ceremony was quite well-done (if I do say so myself). Our Director of Ceremonies and Preceptor was installed as Worshipful Master (heneceforth WM) and I jumped up two places, from Inner Guard to Senior Deacon. For those who are not familiar with Masonry in the UK and how it works, here’s a short introduction. No secrets will be divulged in this blog entry.
The Lodge room is a rectangle, with three chairs, one in the East, one in the South, and one in the West. As the Sun rises in the East, so the WM sits in the (ritual) East, to direct and rule the lodge. The Senior Warden closes the lodge on behalf of the WM, and thus sits in the West, where the Sun sets. The Junior Warden sits in the South, where he can survey the entrance to the lodge and determine whether all those present are Masons. These are the three principal officers.
The three junior officers are the Senior Deacon, who sits near to the right of the WM and carries messages and commands from him to the Senior Warden. This is my office for the next year. The Senior Deacon is also responsible for guiding some candidates through ceremonies. The Junior Deacon sits next to the Senior Warden, and is responsible for guiding those who are being initiated for the first time into Masonry through the ceremony. The Inner Guard sits on the left of the Senior Warden, and is responsible for opening and shutting the door, ensuring that all who enter are Masons, and receiving candidates and ensuring they are properly prepared for the ceremonies. This is the office I have filled for the past year.
There are other officers as well; I won’t go into all the rest except to note that there are Grand Lodge Officers, who hold office in the United Grand Lodge of England (the “mother lodge” as it were) and who drop by occasionally to ensure we are still doing things correctly and in order.
The ceremony was well-done. One of the strange facts that amazes non-Masons and those new to the Craft is that all Masonic ceremonies are conducted from memory. Some of them are most intricate, and some are not written in “modern” English. Each officer who has a role in the ceremony must memorise the words and actions he is to perform. This is a mixture of book work and just being present in Lodge often enough to get the cadence and the order of things in your mind. Next year, all being equal, I may be raised to the position of Junior Warden, which has most intricate words and actions; I must pay attention not only to what I am doing in the next few years, but also to what our brother Junior Warden is doing, in preparation for next year.
Afterwards, we have dinner together in what is called a “Festive Board”. It was most festive, including song and symbol. “The Master’s Song” is sung each year to the new WM. This year a friend of WM Ivor’s sung it, and afterwards the WM revealed that when he was WM in his mother lodge his friend was slated to sing the song for him, but had to be absent; thus being able to sing it when the WM was installed in a second lodge meant a great deal to him.
There are also many toasts, one of which is to visiting Masons. A response is then called for from one of the visitors. This visitor told a joke (you knew this was coming)…
A brother who was about to be elected WM of his lodge was a bit shaky in some of his ritual. A friend told him about a pet shop owned by a Brother Mason; this pet shop sold parrots that had a Masonic background: they were useful in learning ritual.
So the brother went to the pet shop and asked the owner about his Masonic parrots. The owner said, ‘They’re right over here.’ and brought him to a corner of the shop where there were three parrots on perches. One was wearing a Worshipful Master’s apron, one a simple Master Mason’s apron, and one a Grand Lodge Officer’s apron.
The one wearing the WM’s apron had a price tag on it: