SQUARE
MASON & ARCH MASON: BLUE LODGE & RED LODGE
Lennox J Hernandez
DistGOrator, PDistGStwd (RA)
Freemasons today need to
have a sound understanding of the discipline and be aware of its many nonritual
aspects, in addition to learning the rituals for Initiations, Passings, Raisings
and Installations. Presently, I wish to advance the Masonic knowledge of our
newer brethren on some of the basic symbols of our Fraternity. As a background
we must remember that it is generally accepted that modern Speculative Masonry
is either directly or indirectly descended from the stonemasons’ craft of
medieval days, referred to as Operative Masonry, distinct from the later
Non-Operative Masonry, and the Speculative Masonry of today. We must remember
too, that some form of Speculative Freemasonry would have existed long before
the formation of the earliest Grand Lodges – 1717 in England, 1725 in Ireland,
and 1736 in Scotland.
Have you ever wondered why
the Square and Compasses, which identifies you as a Freemason, became the key
symbols of our Fraternity? Also, have you ever wondered at the colours of aprons
and collars apart from white, that is, why blue and why red? In the case of the
colours blue and red, the Rev Neville Cryer in his 1996 publication, The Arch
and the Rainbow, notes that “a lot of time and ingenuity in discussing the
origin and appropriateness of Masonic colours could have been saved …” if
certain traditional facts of Operative Masonry were better known (Cryer, 27).
Traditional facts of Operative Masonry would also explain the use of the Square
and Compasses. For my talk today on these particular traditions of Operative
Masonry being incorporated into Speculative Masonry, I will lean heavily on Rev
Cryer’s publication and to a lesser extent, on a 1922 publication entitled
Ancient Freemasonry: an Introduction to Masonic Archaeology by Frank C Higgins,
a prolific North American Masonic writer.
Though evidence of early
Freemasonry is scarce, what is available shows that the Freemasonry which
developed after the formation of the first Grand Lodge in England in 1717 used
many of the medieval stonemason’s tools and customs to allegorically teach moral
and spiritual values; hence its description as Speculative Masonry. Our rituals
tell us about the traditions of secret words and signs of recognition used by
our Operative fore-fathers and of the symbolic uses of the Square and Compasses.
However, it is to the actual practices of the Operatives we must turn, for any
explanation on the origin of these symbols and the use of the colours blue and
red, in Speculative Masonry. Bro Cryer notes that from their earliest time of
existence the Operative Masons were divided into two classes – “Straight or
Square Masons and Round or Arch Masons” (Cryer, 26). Some masons were less
skilled and did only straight work, hence the term Square Mason, whilst those
who were skilled enough produced arches and other curved work, becoming better
known as Arch Masons; these latter commanding higher wages because of their
greater skill. In those days when an inn displayed a sign that said “The Square
and Compasses” it meant that both classes of working masons congregated there (Cryer,
27). Incidentally, each class was divided into seven grades, from Apprentice to
Master Mason (see Appendix 1). According to Bro Cryer, if the young apprentice
“… decided to be a Straight Mason he was given a square and if an Arch Mason the
compasses” (Cryer, 27). Thus, says Cryer, “the very combination of these
implements in present Freemasonry reveals that materials and customs from both
classes were adapted in order to form the new practice after 1717” (Cryer, 27).
Knowing this origin of our
key symbols lends more understanding to the later development, in 1751, of the
rival Antients Grand Lodge whose members strongly advocated that ancient
Freemasonry comprised not three, but four degrees, their fourth degree being the
Order called the Royal Arch (or Holy Royal Arch). Higgins notes that the seven
degrees of the Operative Arch Masons were put into three grades “Arch Masons”
“Royal Arch Masons” and “Holy” or “Sacred Royal Arch Masons” (Higgins, 159)
concepts which are not to be found in the three degrees of Craft Masonry, but in
the Royal Arch. These omissions in the Premier Grand Lodge were noticed by the
older Operative Masons, and this, together with the Irish tradition, says Cryer,
“… helped in the formation of Arch Masonry and subsequently the practices of the
Antients from the 1750s.” Thus, were the Antients not right in saying that the
Premier Grand Lodge was not following ancient practices, because these Arch
Mason traditions from operative practice were not
included in the post-1717
Freemasonry? What about the colours Blue and Red used in Craft Masonry? In
Operative practice, says Cryer, “the colour of the Square Mason was blue whilst
the Arch Mason was distinguished by red” (Cryer, 27). (I need to remind you that
I am here speaking about English Freemasonry, not Scottish or Irish which uses
other colours.) Evidence of these traditions of the old Operative Masonry is in
the heraldic arms of the Operatives. A Guild of Operative Free Masons that Rev
Cryer says flourished in England until about 1870 (Cryer, 25) had its original
heraldic arms granted by King Edward IV who reigned 1461–1483. Cryer shows a
photograph (albeit B & W) of this heraldic arms, depicting the supporting figure
of a mason on
the right side holding a
square and (says Cryer) having blue-facings on his jacket, whilst that on the
left holds a pair of compasses and (says Cryer) has red facings on his jacket
(see Appendix 2). This clearly tells us that the distinguishing colour of the
Operative’s Square Mason was blue and his mason’s symbol the square, whilst the
equivalents for the Arch Mason were red and the compasses. In English
Speculative Masonry, we have the blue of the Master Mason and the red (with dark
blue) of the Royal Arch Mason, a combination of the Operatives’ colour
traditions.
Thus brethren, the
inclusion of the Royal Arch as part of Ancient Freemasonry upon the union of the
two Grand Lodges in 1813 was truly the union of the Square Mason and the Arch
Mason, making the use of the combined Square and Compasses an appropriate symbol
of the modern Fraternity, and the colours blue and red respectively, appropriate
for our Lodge and Royal Arch regalia. In American Masonic practice this colour
tradition is expressed in the respective nicknames, Blue Lodge and Red Lodge.
References and
Beresiner, Yasha. 2005.
The 4th
Degree in the Craft.
Pietre-Stones Review of Freemasonry (Internet Article, Accessed 2005-04-04).
Cryer, Rev Nevelle Barker.
1996. The Arch and the Rainbow.
Dyer, Colin. 1983.
Symbolism in Craft Freemasonry.
Higgins, Frank C. 1922.
Ancient Freemasonry: An
Introduction to Masonic Archaeology. Internet book
(google.co.uk) Accessed
2009-12-30.
United Grand Lodge of
exhibition at Freemasons’
Hall,
Appendix 1
The seven Operative
Mason’s grades were (Cryer, 26):
1. Apprentice to the Craft
of Free Mason.
2. Fellow of the Craft of
Free Mason.
3. Super Fellow, who had his
mark.
4. Super Fellow Erector, who
worked on the stone construction.
5. Super-intendent of the
Craft, or Menatzchim.
6. Passed Master of the
Craft, who had literally “passed a technical examination” to attain the position
of a Master.
7. Master Mason, or Grand
Master of the Craft of Free Masons
Appendix 2
Heraldic arms of The
Worshipful Society of Free
Masons, Rough Masons,
Wallers, Slaters, Paviors,
Plaisterers and Bricklayers
(Cryer, facing p 214)
L J Her nandez 2010-03-13