The Quarterly Brotherhood Dinner: More Than a Meal

Every quarter, after the regular communication on the second Tuesday, the brethren of our Mother Lodge adjourn to the refectory for what the old ritual calls "the festive board." Outsiders sometimes imagine this to be a formal banquet. It is not. It is a supper of plain food, eaten among friends, and it is one of the most important parts of masonic life.\n\nThe supper always follows the same order. Grace is said by the Chaplain. The Master proposes the first toast — to the craft — and the brethren drink standing. The Junior Warden then proposes the second toast — to the visitors — and each visitor present is invited to say a few words about his own lodge.\n\nAfter the toasts come the songs: a few old masonic ballads, well-known to every brother, and usually rendered with more enthusiasm than musical accuracy. Nobody minds if you cannot sing. You are expected to join in anyway.\n\nBut the real work of the evening begins once the formal toasts are over and the brothers start moving between tables. This is where the brother who was silently worrying about his mortgage will quietly mention it to the Treasurer. This is where the widow of a Past Master, invited as a guest, will be quietly told that her heating bill for the coming winter has already been paid from the benevolent fund. This is where the young Entered Apprentice who could not afford the new set of working tools he wanted will find a wrapped gift on his chair before he leaves.\n\nNone of this is recorded in the minutes. None of it is announced. It is simply what brothers do for one another, around a plain supper table, once the aprons are folded and the lodge is technically closed.\n\nIf you have only ever attended the lodge meeting itself and never stayed for supper, you are missing at least half of what Freemasonry actually is.