The Masonic
Why Freemasons “Square” The Lodge Area?
A Masonic trestleboard is a design board for the Master Workman (Designer) to draw his plans and also designs upon to provide the workers a rundown of the work to be carried out. In today’s terms, we may call it a blueprint.
It is one of the 3 Movable gems, or jewels.
A trestleboard is a framework containing (generally 3) upright, slanted assistances (or legs) with one or more horizontal crosspieces on which to hang or display a product. Today, it is better called an “easel”.
Some jurisdictions worldwide call it a mapping board. It would be rather of a “circular logic” task to argue the difference, as, while neither can be fully verified (in historic writings), the “Tracing board” may extremely well have actually preceded (come before) making use of words “Trestleboard” since lodges in Europe (which pre-date American lodges), utilize words “Tracing Board”.
Hiram’s Looking up Board: Hiram Abif’s tracing board is believed to have been made from wood, covered with a finishing of wax. Every day he would attract his Master architect’s measurements and also symbols into the wax in order to advise his Master Masons of the job that was to be achieved.
At the end of the day, he would simply scrape off the wax and also pour a new layer of hot wax onto the board to prepared it for the following day’s work.
Masonic Tracing Board: Much later, in the days where the lodge was held in secret areas and also on hills as well as vales, (valleys) once lodge was in session, the Tiler (or Tyler) would certainly draw an oblong (rectangle-shaped) or oval square depiction (photo) into the dirt that represented the kind of the lodge.
Again, onto that tracing board was attracted the architect’s plan … the working devices in the degree that was to have functioned.
Masonic Trestle-Board: With the years, the Masonic Looking up Board progressed to charcoal or chalk on the floor of taverns where lodges were held back in the 1700s. After the lecture, the Stewards or the Entered Pupil, as a lesson in secrecy, would certainly get a wipe and also bucket and remove all traces of these illustrations.
This, clearly, was a rather tiresome and messy treatment, so towels or carpets were created which could be laid onto the floor as well as simply folded when the lecture was full.
Later, these fabrics (or rugs) were placed onto a table. As time passed, they were ultimately installed onto an easel …( a trestleboard) just like a drawing board at a building and construction site where each worker could obtain clear instruction regarding what his particular participation required.
When the group’s job was finished, it was apparent that each Master Mason not only recognized their details component in the undertaking yet just how their part (despite just how small), contributed to the building of the whole building (building).
The meaning of words “Nothing more remains to be done, according to old personalized, except to disarrange our emblems” is a referral to the currently old-fashioned use of these trestleboards (or mapping boards) throughout which the dust on the ground was erased or the chalk marks on the floor of these lodges was wiped or rubbed, to leave no trace of the type of the Lodge or the components attracted thereon.
The reason that our lines of traveling go to right angles within the lodge and also thus the factor that we “square” the lodge is a “throwback” to the antiquity of the ritual.
If the brethren were to walk atop the markings made in the dust on hill and also vale; atop the chalk on the flooring of the taverns; or walk upon and thus dirt the cloths or carpets made use of to provide the operations of that degree, the message of that lecture which was being worked could be partially or totally destroyed.
Masons Hill and Dale
For that reason, “Making Even the Lodge” in a semi-military-like accuracy, returns lots of centuries as the means of maintaining the routine as well as the degrees being worked so as not to damage the symbolism of their markings before their effectiveness on that particular day has actually been finished.
How old is using Tracing Boards?
Click on the link, below, to review this mapping board which was discovered throughout an excavation of the Mount Vesuvius volcano eruption in 79 A.D., … 1800 years before its exploration in 1874. Masonic scholars note its similarities to today’s Freemasonry trestleboards.
Tracing Board Found During Pompeii Excavation
Many modern lodges currently merely make use of a bulletin board system or digital e-newsletter to alert the brethren of a degree that will certainly be functioned. Others make use of PowerPoint or slide discussions.
Inexpensive Lodge Website Trestleboard:
Among the simplest ways, today, to inform most of the brethren (those with web gain access to) is to produce a website and ask its Web designer to consist of a current calendar.
Free Lodge Internet Site Trestleboard: The least costly (as well as easiest) means to develop a Lodge Trestle-Board is to merely produce a lodge e-mail address at Yahoo! (or other suppliers), e.g. (your-lodge-name-your-lodge-number@yahoo.com), which features a public schedule attribute to ensure that those that have web gain access to might just click the URL (address) of the updated calendar to view the moment and also day of levels to be carried out. (You can make the schedule available openly and also still keep your e-mail details, private).