One of my favorite things about Masonic Ritual and Practice is how it preserves customs that arose for specific purposes a few hundred years ago, and which purposes it no longer serves.

As you no doubt have noticed, Masons have a custom of walking around the outside of the Lodge room and making 90 degree turns whenever possible. This is something a few Brothers have a tendency to overdo by making a series of zigzag turns to navigate the diagonal pathway from the outer door into the “Working Area” of the Lodge room, which really isn’t necessary as the custom of squaring the Lodge applies only in the main space of the room.

So, you might ask: Does this practice have any particular symbolic significance? The answer is, “No.” The custom of walking around the outside of the Lodge room and making 90 degree turns arose during a time when a common practice among Masons was to deploy a reusable floorcloth or carpet decorated with the symbols of the Degree in the middle of the Lodge room. We started walking around the outside of the Lodge room for the entirely mundane reason that we didn’t want to soil the floorcloth with our dirty shoes. Then, as with many things in Masonry, when we stopped the regular use of floorcloths and the reason for the custom was no longer there, we continued the custom of squaring the Lodge anyway.