The emergence of aprons

It dawned on me recently that while we know that Freemasonry predates the Grand Lodge formation of 1717 by at least a few hundred years, for that time prior it was much more secretive regarding who its members were and their meetings. Sometime between the purely operative times and 1717, you had speculative Masons come into the mix. It has often been said that this happened due to the Lodge being a safe(r) place for free thinking which would not have been openly tolerated. With that in mind, it stands to reason that a brother, especially a respected member of the community, would not want to advertise his involvement.
While rings and lapel pins are common place today and could be easily hidden, an apron is pretty recognizable. Operative Masons could probably get away it, but what about speculative Masons? It seems hard to believe that people who were so concerned with keeping their identities secret would identify themselves by owning, much less wearing, an apron. So, this begs the question, when did aprons come into use for speculative Masons?

Not saying I have all of the answers, but after I wrote this I did some digging on the subject.

Anthony Sayer, the first GM of the Grand Lodge is wearing what appears to be an apron in a portrait. The painting that shows it is a copy of the lost original. The copy was produced in 1749/50. Also, Anderson's Book of Constitutions (1723) has some illustrations that appear to show the Tyler with a stack of aprons, seemingly indicating that they were held in the lodge and shared. The first written reference to a Masonic apron was 1731 and discusses how the Master and Wardens may decorate their white leather aprons.

There also seem to have been some drastic changes regarding the size, shape, and how they were worn early on.

Most of this information comes from here: http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/aqc/apron.html

Now, regarding the pre-speculative origins of the apron...there are lots of theories on that, some of which are very interesting, but I'll leave those for a different thread.

I know that this is a touchy subject, but.......... There is a possible connection to the white tunics worn by the Knights Templar and the tunics worn by the majority of those involved in the peasants revolt, Wat Tylers Rebellion in 1381
no firm stance, just saying.

Based on my recent epiphany regarding the shape and fashion of aprons, I thought I'd revisit this topic.

As with any aspect of Freemasonry, symbols abound the apron. At the same time, there are also practical reasonings for various aspects. In the words of Sigmund Freud, "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar". That being said, since none of us really know for sure, I thought it'd be interesting to talk about some of the different facets of our aprons and dissect the practical versus the esoteric reasons.

For instance, it's color. Is this for a symbolic purpose or simply because some methods of tanning leather naturally result in that color? What about the type of leather it is made of? Symbolic, or because that particular animal was plentiful in the British Isles? The purpose of wearing it; was it just harkening back to the operative days, or does it hold a more symbolic purpose? We could probably come up with a few more as well.

Keep in mind, I'm not talking about what it means NOW, I'm talking about the reasons it was likely adopted to begin with. Many groups assign meanings to items already in use, and to me, this is artificial. I'm more curious about why it was adopted to begin with and why in that particular form.

There are no right or wrong answers (unless someone has a time machine I can borrow to check your answers), I'm more interested in brainstorming some ideas and creating discussion.

I always wondered, since they are termed Badges why we only wear them in lodge or on special days?

coachn said:

The Aprons, on the Surface,
Reflect the Act's Premise.
But, they are not Aprons;
for Certain They're Curtains,
and we are those men
Who Hide Behind Them.​

Click to expand...

Very interesting. Can you provide some more background/source for this?

hanzosbm said:

Very interesting. Can you provide some more background/source for this?

Click to expand...

Yep, I'll PM you back channel on it.

Interesting stuff, I'd never considered these things before. I would certainly be interested in more info.