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Modern Freemasonry began when a group of pre-existing lodges in London, England decided to band together to form a governing body which they called the “Grand Lodge of England”. This occurred in 1717 and much of the language, titles and symbolism we use in our ceremonies date from that time.
Like any organization we have officers to provide leadership and direction for the group as a whole. There are 5 elected positions in a lodge as well as several that are appointed by the top officer, and the term of office is one year. The person who acts as president of the lodge, we call the Master; there is also a vice-president and an assistant vice-president which are called the Senior Warden and Junior Warden, respectively. The other two offices are Treasurer and Secretary, whose duties are self explanatory. The appointive offices typically include Deacons, Stewards, Marshal and Tyler. Most of these titles were based on the 18th century structure of the Church of England. The deacons assist the Master and Wardens during the meetings, the stewards are in charge of setting up the meeting room and providing refreshments after a meeting, the Marshal conducts processions, and the Tyler is the person that guards the door to the meeting room so no one will interrupt.
Freemasonry is a fraternal organization, just like college fraternities, the Eagles, the Elks, Moose, Odd Fellows, etc. except, we came FIRST! Since we are a fraternal organization we refer to one another as “Brother”. It is a sign of our respect and commitment to one another. You will also hear us refer to certain individuals as “Worshipful”. We do not use the term in a religious sense, but rather as it was used in the 18th century, where it was used as we use the word, “honorable”. In fact there are still court systems in some English speaking countries where the judge is referred to as “Your Worship”, or “Worshipful”. So if you hear someone refer to the Worshipful Master, it is like saying the “Honorable President” of the lodge. You may also hear us add an extra honorific to some of the titles of the Grand Lodge Officers, such as “Right” and “Most”. These merely set off and acknowledge those individuals as being elected rather than appointed, while the term “Most” is reserved only for the Grand Master.
We wear aprons; these remind us of the early stonemasons on whom our organization is based. They wore aprons to help keep their clothes clean while working in the quarries, or on the buildings where they practiced their craft. We likewise wear ours while we practice our craft, and ours are usually white which is to remind us to be pure in thought, word and deed.
The presiding officer wears a hat. Only the Master is allowed to wear a hat in our meetings. This is an ancient tradition and is a symbol of his leadership. It represents his responsibility to govern wisely, and at the end of his term in office, to pass that authority on to the next leader.
Some other objects that have symbolic meaning are the gavel, square, level, and plumb. The gavel is reminiscent of the common gavel, or hammer, used by a stonemason to break off the rough corners of stones so they can be more easily fitted for use in a building. In a lodge it is used by the Master and Wardens to keep order, much as a modern day judge uses his gavel in a court room. In the hands of the Master of the Lodge, it represents his elected authority to run the meetings and maintain order. One of its main functions is to call those assembled to attention.
Lastly, in response to prayers you will hear the masons assembled say “So mote it be” rather than “Amen”. This is again a carry over from the 18th century. The word “mote” is the equivalent of our modern word “may” or “might”. Therefore, “so mote it be” is the same as saying “so may it be”, which is effectively the translation of the Hebrew word “Amen”.
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