Why is it called BLUE LODGE?
By Brother Elton Trindade
The question always is " Why is it called BLUE LODGE ?" Here is some inside in this subject from my research.
Why have we adopted blue into the lodge name? Where does it come from? What does it represent and mean?
The mother of all Freemasonry. The place where every man begins his journey into the Ancient Craft of Free and Accepted Masons. “The Blue Lodge” - It has been here in America that the term “Blue Lodge” has become popularized and so widely used. Originally, it was frowned upon, and Lodges were called, Craft Lodges or Ancient Craft Lodges, some were even called a St. Johns Lodge.
According to Coil’s Masonic Encyclopedia, there may be a number of reasons why symbolic lodges are called Blue Lodges. Since ancient times, the color blue has been associated with immortality, eternity, and fidelity. References to the color blue in the Bible emphasize the special place blue has as a color symbolizing goodness and immortality. The Druids also honored the color while the ancient Egyptians used the color to represent Amun, one of their most important gods. The ancient Babylonians associated the color blue with the gods. In Medieval times, Christians saw blue as the symbol of perfection and hope, and well as of immortality and fidelity.
It is not known when blue first came to be associated with Freemasonry, although some historians think that initially the color was used in Craft Masonry to represent the sky. Today, blue for Masons symbolizes brotherhood and symbolizes the fact that Masons should seek out virtues as extensive as the blue dome of heaven.
Albert Mackey’s Encyclopedia of Freemasonry under “Blue” has further light to share. He says “Blue is emphatically the color of Masonry. It is the appropriate tincture of the Ancient Craft degrees.
The Hebrew word for blue when referring to spiritual matters is tekhelet התכלת derived from a root word meaning perfection.
It is well known that among the ancients, initiation into the mysteries and “perfection” are synonymous terms and this is why blue is the appropriate color for the greatest of all the systems of initiation the world has ever known, The Ancient Blue Lodge Craft.”
Beyond the allegory and symbolism of the color blue, there is the reality of millions of men who have experienced things beyond themselves, transformed and evolved into their highest potentials, reached even further to give the same to other men, while standing in and being a member of a Blue Lodge.
It is said over and over again, “There is no other degree “higher” then the third degree and being a Master Mason. There is no higher distinction in our entire institutional Fraternity! ” With that being said, we all should remember, support and love our Blue Lodges, where we began as good men and through the motherly love of our Ancient Craft Lodge, we were brought into the world anew….literally brought from the dark to the light, to rise as GREAT MEN!
