The Color Blue

The Blue Lodge (why “blue”?)

By RWB Curt Fullbright Crestwood-Anchor Lodge 443 A brother recently asked me “Why do we call our lodges Blue Lodges?” What is the significance of the color blue? Why not purple, red, green, etc? I told him I would do some research and attempt to find out.

According to Wikipedia, blue is the traditional color of regalia in lodges derived of English or Irish Freemasonry. The term was originally frowned upon but has gained widespread usage in America in recent times.

Moving on from Wiki info, I found many other miscellaneous sources.

Some authorities believe that blue has been, since ancient times, associated with truth, Deity, wisdom, and hope.

Per our own ritualistic lectures, our ancient brethren met on high hills and low vales, over which the blue vault of Heaven was the ceiling. Also, as Jacob, in his vision, saw the ladder ascending from Earth to Heaven, the covering of a lodge is a clouded canopy or star-decked heaven. These allusions seem to reinforce that blue, the color of the sky, is emblematic of all celestial attributes to which Masons aspire.

Blue is also the color of the oceans, of mountain streams, of lakes of pure drinking water --- so, to some, it is equally natural to follow that blue is emblematic of purity.

Now of course other “authorities” have even more to say about the color blue. As per Coils Masonic Encyclopedia, since ancient time, the color blue has been associated with immortality, eternity, and fidelity. References to the color blue in the Bible emphasize the special place blue has as a color symbolizing goodness and immortality. The Druids honored the color, and the Egyptians and Babylonians associated the color blue with their Gods.

In medieval times the Christians saw blue as the symbol of perfection and hope, as well as immortality and fidelity.

The color blue has long been associated with the Deity, even in ancient times when man worshiped the sun. The sun rose up into a blue sky and sank into a blue sky at the end of the day ---- so the color blue was associated with the sun as the Deity and therefore the color blue was associated with the virtues of a Deity.

Regardless of what authority you wish to believe, what I found was that the color blue is usually felt to represent water, the sky, or virtues related to a God or Gods. Numerous historians believe that the color blue was initially used in Craft Masonry to represent the sky.

My research has shown to me that there is not one definitive answer to the question of “Why Masonic Blue?”. Everything I found was one person’s opinion, or interpretation, of why the color blue is used so extensively in Freemasonry. It is not as if everybody got together a few years back and just picked a color. For me, today, blue for Masons symbolizes virtues such as brotherhood, loyalty, truth, and fidelity ----- or perhaps to remind Masons that they should seek out virtues as extensive as the sky.