Page 8 The North Carolina Mason March/April 2018
Taking it to the districts
It happens every year. From January through May, in
lodges large and small, from Murphy to Manteo, from
Boone to Beaufort, brethren gather to meet and greet
their new Grand Master.
ey come together to laugh, catch up, to listen a little and learn a
lot … and to chow down. Barbecue, steaks, Cornish game hen, fried
shrimp, beef tips, chicken and pastry, and Brunswick stew are on the
menu, prepared by the finest Masonic chefs (well, and sometimes their
wives and sisters of the Eastern Star), showing their stuff.
It's not just friends they have come to see. ere are gavels that travel,
jewels that gleam, robes fit for royalty, a rainbow row of chairs pegged
to the wall, stars from afar, shining tiled floors, theater seating of all
shapes and colors … and a skull or two perched atop a dusty shelf.
Most brothers arrive in suits. But some march to a different
drummer, donning overalls or matching silken jackets, pulling on
gloves so white they gleam, or rocking a black tie and tux every now
and again.
It doesn't matter who you are or what you wear, what's on for dinner
or what's on the agenda. What matters is the joy, the friendship, the
community that happens when brothers once again enter that sacred
retreat of friendship and virtue …
District meetings bring brothers together to hear news, appeals for giving and maybe
even a good joke or two.
