Apron
The white apron every Freemason wears in the lodge, known as the badge of a Mason.
Meaning
Known as the 'unique badge of a Mason', the apron is the most recognisable item of a Mason's attire, the Grand Lodge of California explains; Masons wear it at lodge and at certain public events. George Thornburgh's 1903 monitor calls the white lambskin apron 'an emblem of innocence and the badge of a Mason; more ancient than the Golden Fleece; more honorable than the Star and Garter'. A plain white lambskin apron is also placed on a Mason's coffin.
Origin and history
The Masonic apron developed from the apron worn by operative masons in the Middle Ages, which was made from the skin of an animal, most probably a sheep, F. R. Worts wrote for the Quatuor Coronati research lodge. The earliest pictures of a Freemason's apron are the portrait of Antony Sayer, first Grand Master of the modern Craft in 1717, and the frontispiece of Anderson's Book of Constitutions of 1723. The Grand Lodge's minutes of 17 March 1731 allowed Masters and Wardens to line their white leather aprons with white silk.
Write in the Freemasons’ cipher
stringmash.comPigpen cipherThe grid cipher once used for lodge records, drawn from any text you type.See also
Square and compasses, The letter G, All-seeing eye, Double-headed eagle, Boaz and Jachin, Checkered pavement.
Sources
- Freemasonry Symbols, Masons of California (Grand Lodge of California)
- Masonic Monitor of the Degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft and Master Mason, George Thornburgh, 1903, approved by the Grand Lodge of Arkansas, Project Gutenberg, Entered Apprentice degree; burial service
- The apron and its symbolism, F. R. Worts, Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, vol. 74 (1961), pp. 133–37, Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon
Last reviewed September 25, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research