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Colour Symbolism in Freemasonry
      By: Bro. Leon Zeldis

Bro. Leon Zeldis is the editor of "The Israel Freemason."
This STB is part of a paper printed in the 1992, Vol. 105. Ars Quatuor 
Coronatorum Transactions.
             Editor

    Colour is a fundamental element of masonic symbolism. It appears in the 
descriptions of aprons, sashes and other items of regalia, in the furnishings 
and wall-hangings of the lodge room for each degree or ceremony, in the robes 
worn in certain degrees, and in many other masonic accoutrements. The colours 
specified in each case appear to have no rational justification. As A.E. Waite 
wrote: "There is no recognized scheme or science of colors in Masonry. Here
and there in our rituals we find an 'explanation' for the use of a certain 
colour, but this usually turns out to be merely a peg on which to hang a
homiletic lecture about it, having little if any connection with the origins 
of its use." 
    This paper seeks to find some rationale behind the selection of colours 
as masonic symbols, restricting our examination to the Craft degrees, and 
those of the Ancient and Accepted (Scottish) Rite, with occasional reference 
to the Royal Arch.
    lt was early recognized that colours have a strong influence on the mind 
and therefore can be employed for certain moral or aesthetic ends, through 
symbolical, allegorical and mystical allusions. Newton wrote of 'the sensual 
and moral effects of colour.' where sensual must be understood as 'transmitted 
by the senses.' Goethe, too, wrote extensively on colour (over 2,000 pages!).

Masonic Blue

    Blue, then, is the Craft colour par excellence, used in aprons, collars, 
and elsewhere. Let us quote Bro. Chetwode Crawley. "The ordinary prosaic 
enquirer will see in the selection of blue as the distinctive colour of Free-
masonry only the natural  sequence of the legend of King Solomon's Temple. For 
the Jews had been Divinely commanded to wear...a 'riband of blue' (Numbers 
15:38).'A modern translation of that verse in Numbers is: 'You are to take 
tassels on the corners of your garments with a blue cord on each tassel.' The 
biblical text, then, refers to blue cords to be incorporated in the tassels 
worn by pious Jews, while Bro. Chetwode Crawley is speaking of blue ribbons 
which somehow became the embellishments of aprons, sashes and collars.
    Another suggested source of the colour mentioned by Bro. Chetwode Crawley 
could be its association with St. Mary, mother of Jesus, 'so prominent a 
figure in the pre-Reformation invocations of the Old Charges, drawing in her 
train the red ensign of St. George of Cappadocia, her steward and our Patron 
Saint.'
    Blue and red, the heraldic azure and gules, are sometimes associated with 
the chevron of the Arms of the Masons' Company.

The Masonic Symbolism of Colours

a) White
    White, the original colour of the masonic apron, was always considered an 
emblem of purity and innocence, exemplified in images such as the white lily 
or fallen snow.
    Plato asserts that white is par excellence the colour of the gods. In the 
Bible, Daniel sees God as a very old man, dressed in robes white as snow 
(Daniel 7:9). In the New Testament Jesus is transfigured on Mount Tabor before 
Peter, James and John, when his clothes became 'dazzling white, whiter than 
anyone in the world could bleach them' (Mark 9:3). Officiating priests of many 
religions wore and still wear white garments. In ancient Jerusalem both the
priests and the Levites who performed the Temple rites assumed white clothing.
    Among Romans, the unblemished character of a person aspiring to public 
office was indicated by a toga whitened with chalk. This is the origin of the 
word 'candidate,' from candidatus, 'dressed in white.' Verdicts at trials were 
decided by small stones (calculi) thrown into an urn: white to absolve, black 
to condemn.
    White signifies beginnings, virtualities, the white page lacing the 
writer, 'the space where the possible may become reality.' White is therefore 
understandably the colour of initiation. It is a symbol of perfection, as 
represented by the swan in the legend of Lohengrin. In this aspect it is 
related to light or sky blue, which in Hebrew is tchelet and may be connected 
semantically with tichla (perfection, completeness) and tadzlit (completeness, 
purpose). (See also the observations on the symbolism of blue.) Among the
Celts the sacred colours of white, blue and green were understood to stand for 
light, truth and hope. Druids were robed in white.
    White is also connected with the idea of death and resurrection. Shrouds 
are white; spirits are represented as wearing white veils. White, rather than 
black, is sometimes the colour of mourning, among the ancient kings of France,
for instance, and in Japan. White, finally, can signify joy. Leukos (Greek) 
means both white and cheerful; as does candidus in Latin. The Romans marked 
festive days with lime and unlucky days with charcoal.

b) Blue
    Blue is the colour of the canopy of heaven: azure, cerulean or sky blue. 
'Universally, it denotes immortality, eternity, chastity, fidelity: pale blue, 
in particular, represents prudence and goodness.' In the Royal Arch, the Third
Principal is told that it is an emblem of beneficence and charity.
    In biblical times, blue was closely related to purple. Generations of 
scholars have puzzled over the correct meaning of tchelet (light blue) and 
argaman (purple), usually mentioned together, without reaching satisfactory 
conclusions. Only recently has the problem been finally solved in the course 
of far-reaching research into the dyestuffs and dyeing methods used by the 
ancient Phoenicians and Hebrews. Both colours, it turns out, were produced 
with dyeing materials extracted from murex, a shellfish abundant on the coast 
of Lebanon. The tchelet was obtained from a short-variety (murex trunculus);
the argaman came from two kinds: the singlespined murex brandaris and, to a 
lesser extent, the Red-mouth (thais haemastoma).
    Some historians have concluded that, in the Middle Ages in Europe, blue 
was low in popular esteem. The favourite colour was then red because the dyers 
could achieve strong shades of it which brought to mind the prestigious purple
of the ancient world. Towards the end of that period, blue gradually became 
recognized as a princely colour, the 'Royal Blue' which displaced red at 
court, red then being used by the lower classes and so regarded as vulgar. 
Blue and gold (or yellow) then became the colours of choice for shields, 
banners and livery.
    It may not be by chance, therefore, that the Master was said to be clothed 
in 'yellow jacket and blue breeches,' in the famous metaphor first used in an 
exposure, 'The Mystery of FreeMasonry,' which appeared in The Daily Journal
in 1730. The traditional explanations of the phrase relate it to the 
compasses, the arms of gold, gilt or brass and the points of steel or iron.
(Steel can certainly appear blue: iron can not!)
    Blue was used royally in France noticeably as the background to the fleur-
de-lys. It became associated with terms of prestige such as blue blood, cordon 
bleu (originally the sash of the Order of the Holy Spirit), blue riband (of 
the Atlantic) and blue chip.

c) Purple
    Purple is a symbol of imperial royalty and richness but can also relate to 
penitence and the solemnity of Lent and Advent in the seasons of the Christ-
ian church.
    Although described (in the Royal Arch, for instance) as 'an emblem of 
union, being composed of blue and crimson,' I believe this to be a somewhat 
contrived explanation. But an interesting fact, which appears to have escaped 
most writers on this subject, is that in the Cabbala, the Hebrew word for 
purple, argaman, is a mnemonic, representing the initials of the names of the
five principal angels in Jewish esoterism.

d) Red
    Red or crimson, the colour of fire and heat, is traditionally associated 
with war and the military. In Rome the paludamentum, the robe worn by 
generals, was red. The colour of blood is naturally connected with the idea of 
sacrifice, struggle and heroism. It also signifies charity, devotion, 
abnegation--perhaps recalling the pelican that feeds its progeny with its own 
blood.
    In Hebrew, the name of the first man, Adam, is akin to red, blood and 
earth. This connection with earth may explain, perhaps, the connection of red 
with the passions, carnal love, the cosmetics used by women to attract their 
lovers. It is the colour of youth. Generally, it represents expansive force 
and vitality. It is the emblem of faith and fortitude and, in the Royal Arch, 
of fervency and zeal. It has also a darker side, connected with the flames of 
hell, the appearance of demons, the apoplectic face of rage.
    Scarlet was the distinctive colour of the Order the Golden Fleece, 
established in 1429 by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy (1419-67). Not only 
was the mantle scarlet, but also the robe and a special hat --the chaperon--
with hanging streamers.

e) Green
    Green has been directly associated with the ideas of resurrection and 
immortality...The acacia (the masonic evergreen) has been suggested as a 
symbol of a moral lite or rebirth, and also of immortality. To the ancient 
Egyptians, green was the symbol of hope.
    The Grand Lodge of Scotland has adopted green as its emblematic colour, 
and, in varying shades, it is incorporated in the dress and furnishings of 
degrees and Orders beyond the Craft in English, Irish and Scottish Free-
masonry.

f) Yellow
    Yellow is rarely seen in lodge, except perhaps on the Continent. It is an 
ambivalent colour, representing both the best and the worst, the colour of 
brass and honey, but also the colour of sulphur and cowardice. Yellow is the 
perfection of the Golden Age, the priceless quality of the Golden Fleece and 
the golden apples of the Hesperides. It is also the colour of the patch 
imposed on the Jews as a badge of infamy. In the sixteenth century, the door 
of a traitor's home was painted yellow. A 'jaundiced view' expresses 
hostility, but the most memorable symbolism of yellow is that it reminds us of
the sun and of gold.

g) Black
    The three fundamental colours found in all civilizations, down to the 
Middle Ages in Europe, are white, red and black. These, too, may be regarded  
as the principal colours of Freemasonry: the white of the Craft degrees, the
red of the Royal Arch and of certain of the degrees of the Ancient and 
Accepted (Scottish) Rite, and the black of some of its others, and of the 
Knights of Malta. The other colours of the rainbow find limited uses; they 
serve only to frame or line the white lambskin upon which so many aprons are 
based, or for sashes and other items of regalia.
    Traditionally, black is the colour of darkness, death, the underworld 
although it was not introduced for mourning until about the middle of the
fourteenth century, such use becoming habitual only in the sixteenth. The 
'black humour' of melancholy (atara bilis), the black crow of ill omen, the 
black mass, black market, 'black days': all refer to negative aspects. The 
Black Stone at Mecca is believed by Muslims to have been at one time white; 
the sins of man caused the transformation.
    Black has also a positive aspect, that of gravity and sobriety; the 
Reformation in Europe frowned upon coloufful clothing. Formal dress for day 
and evening wear continues to be black. It is associated with the outlaw and 
the banners of pirates and anarchists, but also with rebirth and transforma-
tion.
    In the French and Scottish Rites, the lodge in the third degree is 
decorated in black and is strewn with white or silver tears, representing the 
sorrow caused by the death of Hiram Abif.

Conclusion
    A review of the traditional explanations for the choice of certain colours 
in masonic symbolism reveals their weaknesses. In considering the use of blue 
in the English regalia of a Master Mason, it has been possible to find a 
connection between one of the Hebrew words for that colour and the Holy Bible.


