Christmas on the Home Front: Masonic Christmas cards in World War I and World War II

The Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library’s collection includes a large collection of material related to World War I and World War II. Like their fellow patriotic citizens, members of Masonic and fraternal organizations fought in the wars and supported them at home. However, even during times of war, daily life continues, and Americans whole-heartedly celebrated Christmas during these turbulent years. In the spirit of the holidays, here are two Christmas cards sent during World War I and World War II by Masonic organizations.

Sent by Colonial Chapter, No. 87, Order of the Eastern Star, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, this first card wishes its members a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Ella L. Smith, Worthy Matron, and Wm. F. C. Whitehouse, Worthy Patron. Illustrated with a garland of holly at the top and sides, the card also depicts the British, American, and French flags at the center. This card is undated, but the three flags represent the allied powers in World War I.

Massachusetts-based Brookline Lodge issued the second card, titled “Peace, Good-Will, Brotherhood.” The card’s design is hand drawn and written by hand. It was then mass-produced and sent out to members. Illustrated with holly, a lit candle and candle holder, as well as the square and compass, the card reads “May we ever cherish and defend such a way of life—and hold in sacred memory those who gave their lives that we might have Freedom.” T. Wesley Downer, Worshipful Master of the lodge in 1945, sent this card just a few months after the end of World War II. Brookline Lodge sent out this Christmas card during their twenty-fifth anniversary year. During their anniversary celebration, Henry S. C. Cummings, Secretary and Historian, stated “We cannot help but be reminded of this moment to a quarter of a century ago—for the first World War had just been won over those who schemed to change our way of life. We have again triumphed over these same forces of evil, and in a real sense, enjoy much the same impulses that stirred then in the hearts of men, in their desire for a friendlier, more orderly and righteous world.”

These Christmas cards help remind us of the importance of family, friends, and community in turbulent times. Happy Holidays from the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library!

Photo caption

Order of Eastern Star Christmas and New Years card, undated, Museum purchase, A2022/185/001.

Brookline Lodge Christmas card, 1945, Collection of the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library, A2019/125/001.

Golden Rule Lodge No. 5

This holiday season as we think about ideas of unity and goodwill toward all, we highlight this 1934 photograph of members from Golden Rule Lodge No. 5 on Owl’s Head Mountain in Vermont. Since 1857, members of the lodge, located in Stanstead, Quebec, have hosted this annual gathering. They meet in June at the summit of Owl’s Head Mountain, 2,425 feet above Lake Memphremagog. The lodge, originally founded in 1803 in Derby Line, Vermont, and named Lively Stone Lodge No. 22, included members from both Canada and the United States.

During the War of 1812, local governments prohibited Lively Stone Lodge from meeting, prompting Canadian members of the lodge to establish a new lodge in Stanstead. The new lodge, named Golden Rule Lodge, received its first charter from the United Grand Lodge of England in 1813. In 1856, the lodge received a new charter from the Grand Lodge of Canada. In 1857, the Grand Lodge of Canada granted the group a dispensation to carry out an outdoor Masonic communication at the summit of Owl’s Head Mountain. In 1861 the lodge petitioned the Grand Lodge of Vermont for the charter of Lively Stone, which had surrendered its’ charter in 1826.

In addition to the annual gathering—open to Masons from both countries—Freemasons from three American and Canadian villages in the area—Derby Line, Vermont and Rock Island, and Stanstead, Quebec—have often gathered for parades and other celebrations. This photograph shows a 1903 Masonic parade in Rock Island (below). 

Members of Golden Rule Lodge No. 5 still make the annual trek to Owl’s Head Mountain each June. The excursion is open to all Masons. Each year, a candidate for the Master Mason degree at the meeting on top of the mountain, carries a wicker basket that contains ropes, the flags of Quebec, the United States, and Canada, and Masonic tools, including a Bible, and a square and compasses. This ongoing tradition illustrates the power of brotherhood to transcend political borders and war. Do you know of other border lodges like Golden Rule Lodge No.5? Let us know in the comments below

Captions

Members of Golden Rule Lodge No. 5, 1934. Derick Studio, Orleans, Vermont. Gift of Philip N. Grime, 89.38.

Masonic Parade, Three Villages, 1903, from Matthew Farfan, The Vermont-Quebec Border: Life on the Line( South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2009), 58-59.

References

Matthew Farfan, The Vermont-Quebec Border: Life on the Line (South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2009)

Lee S. Tillotson, Ancient Craft Masonry in Vermont (Montpelier, VT: Capital City Press, 1930).