Acacia

Acacia. The Acacia tree, native of warm climates, is also known as Cacia and is supposedly the Shittah (plural Shittim) wood of the Old Testament. The name is sometimes spelled Cassia. There is some difficulty in retracing the symbolic use of the Acacia, though certain it is that some evergreen has been used for many years, possibly centuries, as a symbol of immortality or of a resurrection. This is a good place to point out that Masonic symbols and alleged symbols have undergone extreme treatment from various writers, and it is not always possible to tell where truth leaves off and imagination takes hold. It must be observed that, so far as any symbol has Masonic significance, that teaching is stated in the ritual, which ought not to be varied to meet the tastes of writers howsoever eminent. By that authority, the Acacia marks the head of the grave and is an emblem of immortality. Any other Masonic meaning depends on pure assertion. How this symbol came into the Masonic ritual is uncertain but, aside from any use that may have been made of it in Palestine, it is clear that a sprig or bough was used in many areas of the world for a funeral symbol, a tribute to the dead, or for other spiritual effect. That this usage, and also the Legend of Hiram Abif, appeared in the ritual as early as 1730, or within thirteen years after the formation of the premier Grand Lodge, is shown by the references to both found in Samuel Prichard’s Masonry Dissected, published at London in that year. A more significant discourse is found in Martin Clare’s Defence of Masonry, published in the same year, answering Prichard’s diatribe. (See CLARE, MARTIN.)

Macoy Collector's Note: The Acacia remains one of the most recognizable and universally revered emblems in speculative Masonry. This entry outlines its dual significance in biblical architecture and structural symbolic lore.