This article is taken from the March 2022 issue of Fraternal Review titled, "The Festive Board Tradition".
From very early times, the festivals of St. John the Baptist (June 24) and St. John the Evangelist (December 27) were observed in the lodges. The custom seems to have derived from the practice of all guilds in medieval times to select some saint or saints as their patrons. Eleven or more guilds adopted St. John the Baptist but just when the two Saints John became patrons of the Freemasons is unknown. Originally it was the custom of lodges in Scotland to hold their meetings on St. John the Baptist Day. Later, that of St. John the Evangelist seems to have been preferred as the general head meeting day for the election of officers. But Mother Kilwinning Lodge and the lodges under it were enjoined by the Schaw Statutes to hold their annual meeting on December 20.
It will be observed that the first four meetings of the Grand Lodge of England were held on June 24 and two later meetings were held on December 27. By the regulations of the Grand Lodge of Scotland in 1736, the election of Grand Masters after the first was to take place on St. John the Baptist’s Day. The celebration of one or both of these festivals persisted for many years in symbolic lodges on both sides of the Atlantic and the old custom is therefore responsible for the dedication of lodges to the Holy Saints John.
But the brethren did not content themselves with feasting and drinking twice a year. They indulged at virtually every meeting and with added gusto if a candidate were present to defray the expenses. It was expected that he would do so and, up to recent times in some jurisdictions, the candidate was always looked to for this part of the proceedings. Since feasting and drinking was common in the eighteenth century, it was undoubtedly so in the seventeenth. In the Constitutions of the Grand Lodge of England of 1723, Charge VI (2), relating to behavior after lodge is over, declared:
"You may enjoy yourself with innocent Mirth, treating one another according to Ability, but avoiding all Excess, or forcing any Brother to eat or drink beyond his Inclination," etc.
Also, the Regulations adopted by the Grand Lodge at York in 1725 provided:
"4. The Bowl shall be filled at the monthly Lodges with Punch once, Ale, Bread, Cheese and Tobacco in common, but if any more shall be called for by any Brother, either for eating or drinking, that Brother so calling shall pay for it himself besides his club."
Eating and drinking was often indulged in the lodge itself and almost invariably at the banquets in connection with meetings. Indeed, in many places, the nineteenth century was far advanced before alcoholic liquors were entirely excluded from lodge premises.
Written by Henry Wilson Coil, Sr.