Saint John's Fires

Many Masons today make much of St. John's Day and in recent years we have seen blog posts, including posts on the Hedge Mason concerning the ritual bonfires still lit in Haiti. What I suspect that at least most Freemasons in North America have little or no awareness of is just how widespread that practice was and still remains.

Indeed, if historically Freemasons lit bonfires in celebration of Saint John's Day, they had a great deal of company. In Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man, Cornwall, Brittany, Spain, especially Galicia, and other parts of Europe, people regularly lit bonfires to celebrate Saint John's Day which in all practical terms coincides with the Summer Solstice.

The evening of 23 June, St John's Eve, is the eve of celebration before the Feast Day of St John the Baptist. The Gospel of Luke (Luke 1:36, 56--57) states that John was born about six months before Jesus, therefore the feast of John the Baptist was fixed on 24 June six months before Christmas. This feast day is one of the very few saints' days to mark the supposed anniversary of the birth, rather than the death, of the saint commemorated. In some rural parts of Ireland, particularly in the north-west, Bonfire Night is held on St. John's Eve, when bonfires are lit on hilltops.[5] Many towns and cities have "Midsummer Carnivals", with fairs, concerts and fireworks, around the same time. in County Cork in southwest ireland the night is commonly referred to as bonfire night and is among the busiest nights of the year for the fire services

 

 Tá Oíche Fhéile Eóin ar cheann de na féilte is ársa in Éirinn; téann sí chomh fada siar sin nach fios cathain go díreach a ceiliúradh don chéad uair í. Lastar tinte cnámh fós i roinnt áiteanna in Éirinn chun an fhéile a cheiliúradh. Ceiliúrtar Oíche Fhéile Eoin ar an 23 Meitheamh, seachas ag grianstad an tsamhraidh a thiteann ar an 21 Meitheamh. Is féile réamh-Chríostaí í ach, mar a tharla le féilte pagánacha eile, tá sí tar éis athrú le himeacht ama agus tá tionchar na Críostaíochta le feiceáil inti sa lá atá inniu ann. Mar shampla, is nós é, le linn na féasta, uisce beannaithe a chroitheadh agus paidreacha a rá chun Naomh Eoin chun go mbeadh rath ar an obair agus ar na barra.

The Knight Masons of the Universe, the Rose Croix, Kadosh Desert Fathers, Royal Arch Masons, Masters Masons, Family and townspeople all take part in this ritual administered by the Haitian Freemasons in Haiti.

In Galicia and even other parts of Spain, the feast day of San Juan is kept in a similar fashion, demonstrating the universal nature of this celebration.

So join us all now, Brothers:. and Sisters:. and all others to celebrate Saint John's Day, 2015!

The Circle of Philadelphes in Saint Domingue

Le Cercle des Philadelphes (1784-1793)

The Cercle des Philadelphes, was in its day a famous colonial academy in the old French colony of Saint Domingue (Haiti). The Cercle simultaneously embodied royalist and patriotic tendencies until the impact of the French and subsequently the Haitian revolutions smashed this delicate political balance.

Founded in Cap François, Saint Domingue (Haiti) in August 1785, the Cercle des Philadelphes was one of the most important learned societies of the Ancien Regime based in France's overseas colonies. During its brief existence, (it operated for only seven year), the Cercle promoted improvements in agriculture, manufacturing, the arts and the sciences, especially the health sciences. It published five volumes, and established communication with individuals with similar interests in the American Philosophical Society and other enlightenment societies of the time. The membership of the Cercle des Philadelphes included Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush.

In the 1780s, Cap François (Now Cap Haitien) was one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the Americas, and was the cultural capital of Saint Domingue (now Haiti). Having a lush climate and made wealthy by the use of slave labor, Saint Domingue was the wealthiest American colony during the later eighteenth century.  In 1784, a group of residents of Cap François established a model to improve the culture of their colony so as to match its financial success. Insisting that society could not exist "without the assistance of the sciences and arts," they founded the Cercle des Philadelphes.

The Cercle was motivated by a mixture of both Royalist and patriotic impulses among the colonial elite. Devoted to "bonheur commun," and motivated by "l'amour fraternal," the members of the Cercle studied the physical conditions, natural history, and medicine of what was soon to become Haiti — their goal was to promote agriculture, manufacturing, sciences, and the arts. Louis Narcisse Baudry de Lozières, the president, emphasized the social benefits of intelligence and the responsibility of gentlemen to support intellectual reciprocity and mutual assistance.


The Cercle was well received. It had official recognition and financial encouragement from the crown by 1786, and in1789, they were granted royal letters patent, and were the last to receive this before the Revolution. The Cercle also quickly established official ties with the Académie Royale des Sciences in Paris, with the American Philosophical Society, and many other societies, academies, and museums.



Lead by a group of impressive talent, including the lawyer, Baudry de Lozières, by the Royal Physician Charles Arthaud, and the famous writer M. F. E. Moreau de Saint Méry, the  Cercle reached 160 members by the late 1780s, including members from a broad spectrum of the upper classes in Saint Domingue. Physicians, judges and lawyers, planters and merchants, as well as public officials were all found among its membership, and the Cercle added carefully chosen foreign members, including Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush. It did not last, though. Damaged by the Revolution in France, the Cercle finally collapsed as a result of the revolution in Saint Domingue in 1792.


While the Cercle des Philadelphes was not essentially a Masonic organization, it shared the basic motivations found among the enlightenment Freemasonry of its day. Further, the vast majority of its membership, including esteemed North American members such as Benjamin Franklin, were Freemasons. This connection can readily be seen in its logo which prominently includes a beehive and bees, a well known Masonic symbol. It should also be kept in mind that a number of Masonic lodges in France at the time bore the name Philadelphe, including the military lodge into which Napoleon Bonaparte was initiated a few years later, in 1798.

Masonic Protest in Brazil

Masons protest in a public square and demonstrate dissatisfaction with the Dilma Government The Masons invited society to reflect on the current situation in the Brazil. Carrying banners and placards, a Lodge of Masons organized a march to protest against the current political, economic and social situation faced by Brazil during the day last Saturday (March 22, 2014). Masons advocate freedom of expression, respect for the law and based upon their ethical principles, protested against corruption and high tax rates. They are asking the Judiciary to protect equal rights for all Brazilians, among other demands.

Worshipful Master Marcos Barbosa

The protest occurred in Getúlio Vargas Square in downtown Caratinga, Brazil. The march was organized by the Lodge "Loja Obreiros de Caratinga" and "Fraternidade Acadêmica de Caratinga." According to Marcos Barbosa, the Worshipful Master of Lodge Obreiros de Caratinga, other lodges in the country also engaged in protests to encourage Brazilian society to reflect on the political and economic situation in Brazil. Marcos Barbosa also highlighted that the march was supported by the Masonic Lodges of Ipanema and Simonésia, and some brothers in Manhuaçu and the lodges of Loja Caratinga Livre and Filhos da Acácia. During the protest, the Masons also warned of a possible dictatorship in the country.


 


Obrigado a Roberto Marilia e Raquel Borsari. 
Thanks to Roberto Marilia and Raquel Borsari.

Saint John's Day — Redux, Pt. II

So here is the second part of the video you all waited so patiently for me to post. This is what you've really been waiting for. We get pyrotechnics here.

The ritual itself is actually quite interesting, with traditional religious song, and sigils which Haitians might call vevers, which are in the tradition of the medieval and renaissance ceremonialists. The names written around the base of the pyre are the names of the Angels which are commonly used in Theurgic rituals.

The Masonic ritual viewed in these two videos is a public ritual, one in which the majority of the city of Jacmel attends and in which they participate. This was record several years ago in Jacmel, which is southwest of Port au Prince, the capital. Similar rites are practiced by other lodges across Haiti and are annual events much anticipated by the members of the lodge and the local population alike.

Not at all what modern North American Freemasons are used to, but very much in keeping with what came over from Southern France in the mid 18th Century when Haiti was still Saint Dominque, and the most prosperous colony in the entire New World.

St. Johns Day - Redux

Ok, so it is not midsummer. The unofficial final weekend of Summer in the US has just past, and I'm as inclined to push the clock back a month or two as the rest of you are - unless you have school age children. My son teaches grade school, so it's no longer an issue for me.

However, totally unrelated to all of that, I just came across a great film of a midsummer bonfire recorded by the Brethren of a lodge La Parfaite Sincérité de Couers Reunies No.4 in Jacmel, Haiti.

Freemasonry is historically closely tied to the veneration of Saint John the Baptist. However, as Tobias Churton notes in his book, The Mysteries of John the Baptist: His legacy in Gnosticism, Paganism, and Freemasonry (2012), "There are in the world two prinicple groups of people for whom John the Baptist has significant spiritual meaning, though in the case of Freemasons, I should say a group for whom John ought to have spiritual meaning; Masons have mostly forgotten why they were once "St. John's men.

Well, in Haiti, a land where the spirit has exceptional power, perhaps precisely because there's little opportunity for people to chase that nightmarish chimera we call here "the American dream", it appears that at least some Freemasons have not forgotten.

I apologize if this has been posted elsewhere, and will excuse myself by noting that this material is worth repeating.