Raising the Banner for Brazilian Masonry
The archive of the Henry Wilson Coil Museum of Freemasonry includes gifts and tokens from blue lodges and Grand Lodges (from Masonic plates to baseball jerseys!) around the world. Some of them more curious than others. Take, for instance, this small antique pennant, created in commemoration of the 10-year anniversary in 1968 of the August and Respectable Symbolic Lodge (“Aug ∴ E Resp ∴ Log ∴ Simb ∴”) Fraternidade e Silencio No. 43, chartered by the Brazilian Grand Lodge of the State of Guanabara—in the city and state of Rio de Janeiro.
Masonry has a long and fascinating history in Brazil, beginning around the turn of the 19th century, predating the country’s independence. Most estimates peg the number of lodges in the country now at close to 1,700.
“The variety of rites, rituals, and works that Brazilian craft lodges are able to use places Brazil in its own special category for Masonic visitors,” says Master Mason, Logos Lodge No. 861 member, and expert on all things Brazilian, Valdeir Faria F.
“As a native to Goias, a state in the heart of Brazil, I’m happy that Freemasonry is one of my strongest bridges back to the place I hold dear in my heart and where the royal art has had so much influence,” Faria says.
Check out this piece and many other artifacts from the Grand Lodge archive, and make sure to visit the latest exhibition during Annual Communication Oct. 18-20, titled From the Hands of Fellowship: Masonic Folk Art from the Collection of the Henry W. Coil Library and Museum of Freemasonry.