“There is a handshake for each degree: Apprentice, Fellowcraft, and Master, i.e., the first three degrees and also in the higher degrees,” says Révauger. Several, Actuallyįreemasons greet one another with a variety of handshakes, all based on one’s rank within the organization. “And the beehive symbolizes the industriousness of the lodge.” 3. “Masons were originally working men who were supposed to be as busy as bees,” says Jacob. There’s another, lesser-known Masonic symbol drawn from nature: the beehive. The “G” at its center remains subject to dispute some experts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for example, believe the “G” in the symbol’s center represents geometry, a critical field to the first Freemasons, while others believe it represents God, the “Grand Architect of the Universe.” The Square and Compasses remains a popular symbol on Masonic rings. The most well-known Freemason symbol, “The Square and Compasses,” depicts a builder’s square joined by a compass. The “All-Seeing Eye,” or Eye of Providence, while not designed by Masons, has been used by the group to represent the omniscience of God. The Masonic square and compasses symbol is seen on the main floor wall at the headquarters of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Washington, D.C.įreemasons have long communicated using visual symbols drawn from the tools of stonemasonry. Today, these degrees are more philosophical.”ĭid you know? The Regius Poem, or Halliwell Manuscript, contains the earliest reference to Freemasons and was published in 1390. While not a secret society, per se, it does have secret passwords and rituals that originate with the medieval guild, says Jacob: “In the original guild, there were three stages: Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master Masons who oversaw everyone working on a site. Today, “Freemasons are a social and philanthropic organization meant to make its members lead more virtuous and socially oriented lives,” says Margaret Jacob, professor of history at the University of California, Los Angeles, and author of Living the Enlightenment: Freemasonry and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Europe. Grounded in the Enlightenment, the organization “still conveys core values, religious tolerance, thirst for knowledge sociability,” says Cécile Révauger, a Freemason, historian of Freemasonry and professor at the University of Bordeaux. With the decline of cathedral building, the focus of the society shifted. The Freemasons Are the Oldest Fraternal Organization in the Worldįreemasons belong to the oldest fraternal organization in the world, a group begun during the Middle Ages in Europe as a guild of skilled builders.
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