"Some Ceremony Peculiar to Themselves": The Continuation of a European Masonic Ceremony in Nineteenth-Century Wisconsin
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2021-08-01
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Society for German-American Studies and the University of Kansas Libraries
Abstract
With organ music playing in the background, six young children followed a procession of lodge officers toward the symbolic East of the lodge room, where the Master of the lodge awaited them. When the children approached, accompanied by their parents, the Master asked questions of each child’s father. Their answers adequate, the Master of the lodge dipped one hand of each child in a font of water, saying, “I wash thee with pure water. May God maintain thee in that innocence and purity of heart, of which this cleansing is a symbol.” He then held a gold triangle bearing Masonic emblems to the forehead of each child while reciting a blessing. The brethren of the lodge made a vow to protect the children throughout their lives. The Senior and Junior Wardens, two officers of the lodge, announced the end of the ceremony. After a speech by the Orator and a prayer by the Chaplain, the children, lodge officers, parents and others in attendance recessed from the room.
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This article is published as Chariton, J. D. (2023). Review: "Some Ceremony Peculiar to Themselves": The Continuation of a European Masonic Ceremony in Nineteenth-Century Wisconsin. Yearbook of German-American Studies, 56, 21-40. https://doi.org/10.17161/ygas.v56i.20050.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.