Apron

Apron. This word was originally napron from the French naperon, but it became corrupted into an apron. It is of general application to describe any sort of shield--from a piece of cloth to protect the clothing or on which to wipe the hands to a sheet of steel to protect the foot of a structure or a layer of concrete or rock on the face of a dam. Aprons have naturally been worn by workmen of all kinds and in all ages where needed and available. It would seem that the symbolical wearing of aprons by Freemasons in imitation of earlier operative Masons would be so normal and natural as not to require any erudite or intricate explanation. But the modern Freemason’s apron has become a white lamb’s skin apron, which adds two specific qualities. White is doubtless a normal ritualistic development to represent purity, and the lambskin is dictated by the ancient burnt offering of lambs. From these, we are led to investigate similar symbols of antiquity and learn that an apron was a kind of investiture which was common to solemn ceremonies. It resembles the girdle of the Israelite priest, the white apron of Mithras in Persia, the sash or zenner in India, the white robe of the Essenes, and similar symbols of the Ethiopians and the Egyptians. (See Oliver, Signs and Symbols of Freemasonry, Lecture X, p. 196.) So the cassock worn by church dignitaries is really an apron. See also Carlyle, Sartor Resartus, Ch. vi.

Notwithstanding the simplicity of purpose and symbolism, the apron has been subjected to inconsistent interpretations increasing with time. The operative custom would countenance a long apron extending to the knees, with a round bottom and a flap of the same shape, deep enough to be turned up and afford protection to the fore part of the trunk. With the exception of the flap, which was sometimes missing, that was practically the form and size of Masonic aprons in the 18th century. That is true of George Washington’s, one of which is preserved, and of the apron represented in Hogarth’s Night. The symbolic purpose would seem to be best served by a white color, a pure and spotless surface, but the fact was that aprons very soon began to receive various kinds of decorations and dashes of color in edgings and linings of blue, red, and green (Ireland). It would seem consonant with the purpose of neither the operative nor the speculative Fraternity to adorn the apron with ostentatious figures, drawings, representations of columns, arches, working tools, starry-decked canopies, indented tassels or Mosaic pavements, but the speculatives began that at some time in the 18th century. Since that time, the character of the decorations has changed and their ornateness has increased. There must have been much diversity of taste in the early days of the premier Grand Lodge, for the matter came under investigation as early as 1731, when, at the Quarterly Grand Lodge on March 17, the following was enacted (italics added):

”That none but the Grand Master, his Deputy, and the Grand Wardens should wear the Jewels in gold or gilt pendant to blue ribbons about their necks, and white leather aprons lined with blue silk.
”That all who have served any of the three Grand Offices should wear the like apron lined with blue silk in all lodges and assemblies of Masons.
”That Stewards should wear aprons lined with red silk, and have their proper jewels pendant on red ribbons.
”That all who have served the office of Steward, should be at liberty to wear aprons lined with red silk, and not otherwise.
”That Masters and Wardens of Lodges might wear their aprons lined with white silk and their respective jewels with plain white Ribbons, but no other color whatsoever.” (Gould’s History of Freemasonry, 1885 ed., Vol. 3, p. 139.)

These regulations however were altered following the Union of 1813. While it is laid down that, as to color, the Masonic apron should be pure and unspotted white and the material lambskin, the desire for some conspicuous indicia of rank has long since repealed the pure white, in most jurisdictions, and the economic factor has often substituted linen or cotton for lambskin except in aprons of distinction.

Even the United Grand Lodge of England requires the plain white lambskin apron only for the Entered Apprentice. Its regulations are as follows:

• Entered Apprentices: A plain white lambskin, from 14 to 16 inches wide, 12 to 14 inches deep, square at the bottom and without ornament; white strings.
• Fellow Craft: A plain white lambskin, similar to that of the Entered Apprentice, with the addition of only two sky-blue rosettes at the bottom.
• Master Mason: The same with sky-blue lining and edging, not more than 2 inches deep, and an additional rosette in the fall or flap, and silver tassels. No other color or ornament shall be allowed, except to officers and past officers of lodges who may have the emblems of their offices in silver or white in the center of the apron; and except as to the members of the Prince of Wales Lodge No. 259, who are allowed to wear the internal half of the edging of garter-blue, 3/4 of an inch wide.
• Grand Stewards, present and past: Aprons of the same dimensions lined with crimson, edging of the same color 3 1/2 inches, and silver tassels. Provincial and District Grand Stewards, past and present: The same, except that the edging is only 2 inches wide. The collars of the Grand Steward’s Lodge to be crimson ribbon, four inches broad.
• Grand Officers of the United Grand Lodge, past and present: Aprons of the same dimensions, lined with garter-blue, edging 3 1/2 inches, ornamented with gold, and blue strings; and they may have the emblems of their offices in gold and blue in the center.
• Provincial Grand Officers, past and present: Aprons of the same dimensions, lined with garter-blue, and ornamented with gold and with blue strings; they must have the emblems of their offices in gold and blue in the center within a double circle, in the margin of which must be inserted the name of the Province. The garter-blue edging to the apron must not exceed 2 inches in width.

The apron of the Deputy Grand Master to have the emblem of his office in gold embroidery in the center and the pomegranate and lotus alternately embroidered in gold on the edging. The apron of the Grand Master is ornamented with the blazing sun embroidered in gold in the center; on the edging the pomegranate and lotus with seven-eared wheat at each corner, and also on the fall; all in gold embroidery; the fringe of gold bullion. The apron of the Pro Grand Master the same.

The Masters and Past Masters of Lodges to wear, in the place of the three rosettes on the Master Mason’s apron, perpendicular lines upon horizontal lines, thereby forming three several sets of two right angles; the length of the horizontal lines to be 2 1/2 inches, and of the perpendicular lines one inch; these emblems to be of silver or of ribbon, half an inch broad, and of the same color as the lining and edging of the apron. If Grand Officers, similar emblems of garter-blue or gold.

It is obvious that these embellishments leave little trace of the symbolic pure white spotless vestment, and entirely subordinate its symbolic function to that of designating official rank. Very much the same styles prevail in the United States, with, of course, 57 times as much opportunity for variation. In one or two states, all aprons, including even that of the Grand Master, are pure white, spotless and unadorned. So, the Masonic apron is not only more ancient than the Golden Fleece or the Roman Eagle, more honorable than the Star or Garter, but also more ornate than any of them.

Some speculative brethren have worked intricate symbolisms about the square apron or the equilateral triangle in the flap and have computed the geometric proportions of the several dimensions and related them to ancient symbolism or the angles and orientation of the Pyramids. But the apron is not square, being rather rectangular or an oblong square, and the flap does not come near to forming an equilateral triangle, being isosceles instead. There is no more mysterious significance to the size or shape of the apron than there is to other regulations of Grand Lodges and, in this instance, such do not go back of 1813 when the United Grand Lodge of England was formed. The Capitular and Cryptic Rites have followed the example of the Grand Lodges in ornamenting aprons, the former adopting a scarlet edging, and the latter, purple. The Knights Templar formerly wore a black triangular apron, but this was abandoned years ago, probably because of the amount of other regalia Knights had to carry. In the Scottish Rite, aprons are not worn by the members, only ceremonial use being made of them in degree work, each degree having a different design. See Jones, Freemason’s Guide and Compendium, p. 449; RED APRON Lodge.

Macoy Collector's Note: Coil thoroughly demystifies the Masonic apron, highlighting how original operative simplicity gave way to ornate speculative rank designations, effectively debunking geometric pyramid myths attached to its dimensions.