It looks like Masonic ritual and ceremony has been reduced to mere show, at least for an upcoming weekend festival in Texas.Drop by the Texas Independence Day Celebration at Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site at 11 a.m. or 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 3, or 10:30 a.m. and 12 p.m on Sunday, March 4, and you'll get to see a "Masonic burial re-enactment." Never mind they don't have a body to bury in this most solemn of all Masonic rituals. They're pretending to bury Sam Houston, who served as president of the Republic of Texas, senator for Texas after it joined the Union, and finally as governor.
He was ousted as governor when the Civil War began because although he was a slaveowner and an opponent of abolitionism, he refused to support the Confederacy when Texas seceded from the Union.
Houston was made a Freemason in Tennessee. Along with Stephen Austin and Anson Jones, Houston helped form the first Masonic lodge in Texas. Many of the men who died at the Alamo were Masons, including James Bonham, Almaron Dickinson, Davy Crockett, James Bowie and William Barret Travis.
While you are at the Celebration, you can see plays and "living history actors" portray many of the early settlers of Texas. And if you're lucky, you can share a "Texas-sized" birthday cake with the great-grandson of Sam Houston.
Image: A Masonic funeral procession in Michigan, circa 1917
Masons | Masonic Funeral | Small Town Freemasonry | Freemasonry | BurningTaper.com | Sam Houston | Texas | Burning Taper
I have been getting e-mails about it, but was unsure of the ceremony that is going to take place at the Scottish Rite Temple before the actual funeral ceremony.
ReplyDeleteI'm kind of the opinion right now to stay away until I am a MM, because I don't want to stire the pot right now. :)