The Masonic Calendar

All Freemasons will have noticed that Freemasonry follows a specific calendar, known as the Masonic Calendar. This calendar is mainly used for ritual purposes and to date the minutes of the various Masonic meetings. What is the origin of the Masonic calendar ? Is it an ancient custom dating back to the practices of the Ancient operative Freemasons ? What is the meaning of the Masonic calendar ? And did you know that there are several Masonic calendars ? Let's take a look at the Masonic calendar, its origins, its history, its usefulness and the different forms it has taken in different countries, rites and obediences.

The most common Masonic calendar

The most common form of the Masonic calendar is the one that adds 4000 to the calendar year. The year 2025 thus becomes 6025 in the Masonic calendar. But when does this masonic year begin ?

There are differences here, which often tend to disappear today. In English Freemasonry, and more generally in Anglo-Saxon Freemasonry, followed by Germanic Freemasonry, the Masonic year coincides with the calendar year, beginning on 1 January. This is the most logical. However, for a long time, French Masonic tradition had the Masonic year begin on 1 March, in order to be closer to Hebrew usage. However, this meant that the dates in January and February retained the previous year's date. Under this system, 28 February 2025 becomes the 28th day of the twelfth month of the year 6024, as the year 6025 only begins on 1 March. This is rather inconvenient and can be a source of confusion. Not to mention the fiscal year, which runs from 1 January to 31 December of the calendar year... This is why it now seems to be common practice in most craft obediences to make the Masonic year coincide with the calendar year.

 

But what are the names of the months used in the Masonic calendar ? For a long time, the names of the Hebrew months were used. But the system is not consistent, since the Hebrew months follow a lunar logic and have 29 days. As a result, the 12th month (Adar) is periodically doubled to form the month VeAdar. If we simply assign the Hebrew names of the months to the months of our year, the principle is of no symbolic interest. This is why it was gradually abandoned. The Grand Orient of France, for example, did so in 1826.

The most common practice today is to give the ordinal numerical adjective of the day and month, followed by the Masonic year, and then the secular date according to the calendar year. For example, we would write "the 27th day of the 1st month of the Year of the True Light 6025, i.e. 27 January 2025, vulgar era".

In French, "the year of the true light" is the most popular form, whereas in English it is more often said "in the year of Masonry". The Latin forms A.L. (Anno Lucis, year of the light) or A.M. (Anno Mundi, year of the world) are also used.

The origin of the Masonic calendar

Is the use of a Masonic calendar, which adds 4000 to the calendar year, a legacy of the old operative Masons or of the first speculative English Freemasons of the 17th  ? Not at all. This practice appeared with the birth of modern Freemasonry, which is generally dated to the foundation of the first Grand Lodge of London in 1717. Indeed, it was Anderson who first used this practice to date his Constitutions to 1723.

But what might be the significance of such a date ? Some may have taken it as a sign of a tolerance that wanted to offer a framework that was no longer determined solely by Christian tradition. This is certainly a bit anachronistic, since Anderson does not fundamentally question the Christian tradition. The tolerance proposed here concerns the Christian world which, since the Reformation, had been divided into several denominations and there was no question of accepting members of other religions. The choice of the Masonic year was rather intended to reaffirm the ancestral and primordial nature of Freemasonry, whose origins merge with the creation of the world.

 
James Ussher

For it is the origin of the world that is at stake here. Freemasonry has taken its inspiration from the date set by James Ussher (1580-1656), Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland within the Anglican community. Between 1648 and 1654, this Protestant prelate published three works on biblical chronology and came to the conclusion that the world was created 4004 years BC, and more precisely at nightfall on the night before 23 October ! For a very long time, this dating was held to be true by Anglo-Saxon Protestant circles, and is now scarcely accepted by some fundamentalist and creationist circles. It is amusing to note that until the 1990s, editions of the French translation of the Bible by John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) still included a footnote indicating ‘4004 BC’ for the first verse of Genesis. This footnote has disappeared from the 1996 edition.

It was Ussher's theory that was adopted by 18th century Freemasonry, rounding 4004 to 4000 for ease of calculation. In doing so, Freemasons were not endorsing any form of biblical fundamentalism, but simply following the generally accepted consensus. It was not until the eighteenth century that geologists began to realise that the world was much older than previously thought. The Freemasons did not set out to establish a pseudo-scientific dogma, but rather to affirm that Freemasonry was, in principle, as old as the world, whatever its age.

Other Masonic calendars

The Masonic calendar inspired by James Ussher's theories is the most widely used, but it is not the only one. Other chronological calculations or historical references have inspired other Masonic calendars. Here are some examples :

The Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite chose to follow the dating of the world in the Hebrew tradition, which placed it at 3760 BC, not 4004. So 3760 had to be added to the calendar year. This system is no longer widely used.

Other dates not related to the creation of the world have also inspired Masonic calendars.

The Royal Arch calendar begins in 530 BC, the date usually chosen for the rebuilding of the Temple by Zerubbabel. The era is expressed as A.I., Anno Inventionis, i.e. Year of Discovery, in reference to the discovery of the secret vault.

 

The Royal and Select Master begins his chronology at 1000 B.C., i.e. at the dedication of the Temple of Solomon. This is known as Anno Depositionis (A.D.) to commemorate the deposit of the Ark of the Covenant in the Temple.

As for the Templar degrees ("Strict Templar Observance", "Knight Templar"), their dating begins with the foundation of the Order of the Temple in 1118. In this case, of course, 1118 must be subtracted from the current year rather than added to it. This is known as the Anno Ordinis (A.O.), the year of the Order.

The usefulness of the Masonic calendars

Are the Masonic calendars really useful ? In practical terms, certainly not. Their interest is essentially symbolic and tells us how Freemasonry sees itself in the course of history. By this, we mean that it pretends to be linked to a founding event that gives it legitimacy.

A superficial view might consider the Masonic calendar to be a simple folk custom. But it is no more folkloric or ridiculous than wearing an apron and wielding a hammer and chisel in a lodge !