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on through additional media and forms of communication. At heart is the same fundamental human need – just expressed a little differently. If rituals are so evident in all walks of human life, to what extent, then, are masonic rituals different from those in which we all engage? Are they just extensions of a basic human, social and cultural need for symbolic exchange or somehow different?
4.2 Ritual – the masons’ view Most people are familiar with the composition of at least some aspects of masonic ritual. Rarely, however, do they have much insight into their symbolic functions and meanings. But why are these rituals present and what purpose do they serve?
RITUAL
In the Grand Secretary’s words:
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‘The ceremonial side is really one of our great differentiators, but … they are just plays … and they are rather nice plays … they are parables …’ He added: ‘… they are completely open to the public. You can have copies of them. You can go across the road and buy them. There’s nothing secret [about them].’ In a real sense the masonic rituals are theatrical versions of initiation rites that have always characterised our societies and continue into the present day. In traditional societies, even those that have achieved a degree of acculturation to Western norms, initiations
marking the transitions from boyhood to manhood are still enacted. In our interviews with masons all over the country we focused on the ritual aspects of life within the lodges. To what extent did their previous perceptions of masonic ritual attract them into the Craft in the first place? Or was the potential for increased social networking and bonding a more significant reason for their joining? Perhaps surprisingly, it was the younger masons who put the greatest emphasis on the rituals, seeing them as a distinct pull of Freemasonry from the beginning. One made a comment that was typical of many: ‘What I was aware of was a little bit of pomp, theatrics going on. My life was very casual; open-neck shirts, jeans, t-shirts. The simple fact of the matter is that people like getting dressed up. There are people in this lodge that really don’t like the pomp and ceremony, but I am completely the opposite, I like that. It probably was, at one point, a factor that was driving me towards the armed forces and one of the reasons that I went into one of the cadet corps. If I am going out for a night and I can get away with wearing black tie then I will. I like the pomp and ceremony, turning out looking smart and making the effort.’ For at least some youngish men there is a perceived need for a degree of formality or ‘pomp’ in the otherwise informal and casual worlds that they inhabit. As the more formal rituals of British life decay – think of the church, dressing for dinner, putting on one’s ‘Sunday best’, etc. – the opportunities to meet in a group, dress up and act out what are essentially allegorical stories and moral tales become, for some, a distinct attraction. The emphasis on the role of ritual and its value to many of them was expressed very clearly: