“You don’t know how your choices are going to turn out. You just do the best you can.” ---Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City.

Dear Brethren:

Have you ever wondered why the Master wears a hat? I am sure that you have been in lodge a number of times and did not see the Master with his hat on. Should the Master wear a hat or not, and were did this custom originate?

As with a great deal of Masonry, there is no specific date as to the origination of the custom of the Master wearing a hat. Some will say that it has its foundation in the fact that kings were never uncovered—they wore their crown wherever he wished including the House of God. All had to uncover before the king, as all had to retreat from his presence by moving backward that none might “turn his back on his Sovereign.”

It is a “guess” that operative Masons of the Middle Ages copied the customs of the various royal courts, and required all Fellows of the Craft to uncover before the Master Mason. In the light of history and the etiquette of various ages, the most probable theory seems to be that the Master wears a hat today in imitation of the rulers of olden times who wore a hat or crown while those who owed them allegiance uncovered.

“When should the Worshipful Master remove his hat?” The answer comes from taste rather than law but, the Master should not remove his hat to speak from the East—it would be like the Master taking off his apron or jewel. The Master’s hat is not used as a head covering designed for warmth and protection from the weather, but as a badge of authority. Good taste would dictate its lifting when the Master speaks of or to Deity, of death, during the reading of passages of Scripture, and in the presence of the Grand Master.

The rule is – “The Master should wear his hat, and not let the old custom go by default, merely for personal convenience,” --this goes without saying.

The choice to become Master of the lodge is one that some of us make – we do not wish for royalty and wearing of a crown. We do not know how being the Master will turn out, we just do the best that we can and carry out the traditions which have been forged by our Fraternity.

Fraternally,
John Lacki, Jr.
Worshipful Master