Skip to main content
Museum of Freemasonry

Masonic Periodicals Online

  • Explore
  • Advanced Search
  • Home
  • Explore
  • The Freemason's Chronicle
  • Aug. 14, 1886
  • Page 4
Current:

The Freemason's Chronicle, Aug. 14, 1886: Page 4

  • Back to The Freemason's Chronicle, Aug. 14, 1886
  • Print image
  • Articles/Ads
    Article MASONRY ELEVEN THOUSAND YEARS AGO IN AMERICA. ← Page 2 of 3
    Article MASONRY ELEVEN THOUSAND YEARS AGO IN AMERICA. Page 2 of 3 →
Page 4

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Masonry Eleven Thousand Years Ago In America.

mediaeval cathedrals of Europe , or of King Solomon s Temple , or of the Great Pyramid , or even in Paradise Lodge , No . 1 , of the Garden of Eden , with Adam as Worshipful Master , we crave pardon for directing their atten .

Hon to Bro . Dr . Le Plongeon ' s " Sacred Mysteries among the Mayas and the Quiches , ll , 5 0 Years Ago , " just published by Bro . Robert Macoy . * This volume is a handsomely illustrated and finely printed one , and challenges the attention of the antiquary and the Freemason .

The reader is likely aware that the Mayas and Quiches were races or tribes of Indians ( so-called ) inhabiting Yucatan and Guatemala . Their origin is unknown , or only surmised . At one period they were quite highly civilized , but like the peoples of India , Egypt , Greece , and Rome ,

they rose and fell , and have left nothing behind them to tell the tale of their achievements and civilization , save a few fragmentary architectural remains , and equally fragmentary manuscripts . Bro . Le Plongeon has been a diligent student of these , as John L . Stephens and other explorers

and antiquaries were before him ; but he thinks he has found what they did not find , evidence of a remarkably remote antiquity , of the highest civilization , and of genuine Freemasonry . We are concerned only with his latter " find , " and shall invite attention to it .

Bro . Le Plongeon mtrodnces his work with a reference to the ancient mysteries of India , Egypt , and Greece—the Mahatmas or brothers of India , the Mysteries of Osiris in Egypt , and the Eleusinian Mysteries of Greece , preparatory to saying that

Maya colonists transported their ancient religions rites and ceremonies not only to the banks of the Nile , but to those of the Euphrates , and the shores of the Indian Ocean , not less than 11 , 500 years ago . First he describes to us an artificial mound of peculiar

construction at Uxmal , Yucatan , originally ninety-five feet in height , on the upper plane of the frustrum of which was the " Sanctuary , or Holy of Holies , with the ground plan in the shape of a cross . " This he styles the " Temple of Mysteries . " We quote again : —

The middle chamber is now devoid of decorations of any sort . Its length , seven metres , is to-day the only vestige which remains to incli cate that in it , in former times , were practised rites and ceremonies pertaining to the third degree of initiation . * * * The exterior of the monument was once ornamented with elaborate and beautifnlly

executed sculptures , which have now in great part disappeared . Still those that adorn the exterior walls of the Sanctuary remain as specimens of the beautiful handiwork and of the great skill of the

artists ; whilst the exquisite architectural proportions of the whole edifice bespeak the mathematical and other scientific attainments of the architects who planned the building and superintended its erection .

The ornaments that cover these walls are remarkablo in more than one sense . Tbey are not only inscriptions in tbo Maya language , written in characters identical with and having the same meaning and value as those carved on the temples of Egypt , but among them are symbols known to have belonged to the ancient sacred mysterips

of the Egyptians , and to modern Freemasonry . In August 1880 , among the debris at the foot of the mound just described , I found traces of what onco had been the statue of a priest . The part of the statue from the waist to the knee particularly attracted my attention . Over his dress the personage wore an apron with an extended hand ,

as seen in the adjoining illustration—a symbol that will easily be recognised by members of the Masonio Fraternity . * * * This may be considered the oldest kuown edifice in the world consecrated to secret rites and ceremonies ; and its builders the founders of the sacred mysteries that were transported from Mayax to India , Chaldea , Egypt and Etruria , by colonists or missionaries .

Does not the American reader feel prouder of his continent since it is alleged to be not only the seat of the earliest civilization of the world , but also of tne earliest

Freemasonry r And if he is asked , Where Masonry originated ? he can reply ( in the language of Dr . Le Plongeon ) , —In Yucatan ; And when ? At least eleven thousand five hundred years ago !

The ceremonies of the Quiches of Guatemala , we are told , were kindred to those of the Mayas of Yucatan . We learn from the Popol-Vuh , sacred book of the Quiches , that the applicants for initiation to the mysteries were made to cross two rivers , one of mud , the other of blood , before they reached the four

roads that led to the place where the priests awaited them . * * * Guards were placed all round , to prevent the candidates from holding intercourse with the outer world . Then a lighted torch of pine wood and a cigar were given to each . These were not to be extinguished .

St'll they had to be returned whole at sunrise , when the officer iu charge of the house came to demand them . Woo to him who allowed bis torch and cigar to get consumed . Terrible chastisements , death evfn , awaited him .

* Sacred Mysterit-s among the Mayas and the Quiches , 11 , 500 ye = irs ago ; their velatiou to the Sacred Mysteries of Egypt , Greece , Chaldea , and Iudia . Freemasonry in times anterior to the Temple of Solomon . Illustrated . By Augustus Le Plongeon . New York : Robert Macoy , 1836 .

Masonry Eleven Thousand Years Ago In America.

The author then goes on to state that the general ground plan of the " Temple of the Mysteries , " was in the shape of an oblong square , that is of their letter M , pronounced Ma ; that among the mystic symbols was an equilateral triangle , though which passed a ribbon tied in a knot , and a cross ; and he concludes : —

That sacred mysteries were celebrated from times immemorial in the temple of Mayax , Xibalba , Nachan ( Palenque of to-day ) , Copan and other places of Central America , there can be no doubt . * * * I have presented , without commentaries , a few of the facts that twelvo years' researches among the ruins of the antique temples and

palaces of the Mayas , a knowledge of their language ( still spoken by their descendants , and in some places , as in tho vicinity of Poten , iu all it 3 pristine purity , the deciphering of certain mural inscriptions

the stndy of the sacred book of the Quiches , and the interpretatiou of passages in the Troano MS ., have disclosed to me concerning the history , civilization , cosmogorical conceptions , religious tenets and practices of the ancient inhabitants of Yucatan .

It is fortunate that this work has appeared prior to the sixth and concluding volume of Bro . Gould ' s History of Freemasonry , to be devoted in part to America , since he now has the opportunity to make , as it were , the cap-stone the corner-stone of his history . If Freemasonry originated

in America , and India , Egypt , Greece , Etruria , and Great Britain owe to our continent the origin of their Ancient Mysteries and Freemasonry , the sooner it is generall y known and admitted the better it will be for America . And then too it helps to explain another fact . Boston , being

more remote than Philadelphia from the original seat of Masonry in Yucatan , naturally did not receive its Masonic light at so early a date as the " City of Brotherly Love . " Indeed , is it not possible it may be made to appear that Philadelphia itself was not only the " Mother-city of

Freemasonry in America " ( as it unmistakably is ) , but also the mother-city of Freemasonry in the world , and that 11 , 500 years ago the Mayas and Quiches of Central America came up to the Lodges of the Delavvares , erected on tho

present site of Philadelphia , and there received their Masonic light ? If Bro . Gould would delay the issuing of his sixth volume a few years , it is barely possible he might be enabled to include this statement !

But what are the actual facts with regard to the antiquity of American civilization ? Beyond a doubt the tendency of modern research is in favour of some antiquity for this civilization . It antedated the Spanish conquest , but how long is a matter of conjecture . It seems to be

agreed , however , that the Maya civilization was the most ancient of all that which was native ( so-called ) . There were schools in the principal towns of Guatemala , and the chief one had as many as 70 masters and 5 , 000 pupils . But the Mayas , like the Mexicans , were as fond of amusement

as they were of study , and had a great predilection for entertaining each other at banquets , and to their shame be it said , the feast lasted until all were intoxicated , and then the wives led their helpless husbands home . All the evidences of early civilization in Central America , as found in

monumental remains , manuscripts , and the writings of mediaeval Spanish authors , have been diligently considered by such scholars as Stephens and Bancroft , and we accept their views , rather than the more fanciful ones of speculative writers , who are always sure to find what they look

for . We cannot agree that the civilization of the Mayas and Quiches has been proven to antedate that of Egypt , Persia , and India . According to Stephens , there have not been found any Cyclopean ruins ; there is not a single

excavation ; and the pyramids are entirely unlike those of Egypt , in that they are merely platforms of earth truncated at the top , prepared expressly for buildings to rest upon them , and having no interior chambers . Mr . Step hens

says : — I am inclined to think that there are not sufficient grounds for the belief in the great antiquity that has been ascribed to these ruins ; that they are not the works of people who have passed away , and whose history has become unknown j but , opposed as is my idea to

all previous speculations , that they were constructed by the races who occupied the country at the time of the invasion by the Spaniards , or if some not very distant progenitors . And this op inion is f nnded npon the appearance and condition of the remains themselves . all

The climate and rank luxuriance of soil are most destructive to perishable materials . For six months every year exposed to tho deluge of tropical rains , and with trees growing through the doorways of buildings and on the tops , it seems impossible that after a lapse ot two or three thousand years , a single edifice could now bo standing .

Dr . Le Plongeon himself says of the Mayas ( as we have already quoted ) , " their language is still spoken by their descendants , and in some places , as in the vicinity ot Peten , in all its pristine purity . " Their language ot

“The Freemason's Chronicle: 1886-08-14, Page 4” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 21 July 2025, django:8000/periodicals/fcn/issues/fcn_14081886/page/4/.
  • List
  • Grid
Title Category Page
LATE HOURS IN FREEMASONRY. Article 1
THE SECOND AND THIRD DEGREES. Article 2
MASONRY ELEVEN THOUSAND YEARS AGO IN AMERICA. Article 3
LODGE HISTORIES. Article 5
CORRESPONDENCE. Article 7
FREEMASONRY AMONG THE ABORIGINES. Article 7
GLEANINGS. Article 7
Untitled Ad 8
Untitled Ad 8
Untitled Ad 8
Untitled Ad 8
Untitled Ad 8
Untitled Ad 8
Untitled Ad 8
Untitled Article 8
PROVINCE OF ESSEX. Article 8
PROVINCIAL GRAND LODGE. Article 9
CONSECRATION OF THE JOSHUA NUNN LODGE No. 2154, HALSTEAD. Article 10
MARK MASONRY. Article 11
CHISWICK LODGE, No. 2012. Article 11
THE SUBLIME DEGREE. Article 11
DIARY FOR THE WEEK. Article 12
THE THEATRES, &c. Article 13
Untitled Ad 13
Untitled Ad 13
Untitled Ad 13
Untitled Ad 13
Untitled Ad 14
Untitled Ad 14
Untitled Ad 14
Untitled Ad 14
Untitled Ad 14
Untitled Ad 15
Untitled Ad 15
Untitled Ad 15
Untitled Ad 15
Untitled Ad 15
Untitled Ad 15
Untitled Ad 15
Untitled Ad 15
Untitled Ad 15
Untitled Ad 15
Untitled Ad 15
Untitled Ad 15
Untitled Ad 15
Untitled Ad 16
Untitled Ad 16
Untitled Ad 16
Untitled Ad 16
Untitled Ad 16
Untitled Ad 16
Untitled Ad 16
Untitled Ad 16
Untitled Ad 16
Untitled Ad 16
Untitled Ad 16
Untitled Article 16
Page 1

Page 1

2 Articles
Page 2

Page 2

3 Articles
Page 3

Page 3

3 Articles
Page 4

Page 4

2 Articles
Page 5

Page 5

3 Articles
Page 6

Page 6

2 Articles
Page 7

Page 7

3 Articles
Page 8

Page 8

9 Articles
Page 9

Page 9

3 Articles
Page 10

Page 10

2 Articles
Page 11

Page 11

4 Articles
Page 12

Page 12

2 Articles
Page 13

Page 13

7 Articles
Page 14

Page 14

5 Articles
Page 15

Page 15

13 Articles
Page 16

Page 16

12 Articles
Page 4

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Masonry Eleven Thousand Years Ago In America.

mediaeval cathedrals of Europe , or of King Solomon s Temple , or of the Great Pyramid , or even in Paradise Lodge , No . 1 , of the Garden of Eden , with Adam as Worshipful Master , we crave pardon for directing their atten .

Hon to Bro . Dr . Le Plongeon ' s " Sacred Mysteries among the Mayas and the Quiches , ll , 5 0 Years Ago , " just published by Bro . Robert Macoy . * This volume is a handsomely illustrated and finely printed one , and challenges the attention of the antiquary and the Freemason .

The reader is likely aware that the Mayas and Quiches were races or tribes of Indians ( so-called ) inhabiting Yucatan and Guatemala . Their origin is unknown , or only surmised . At one period they were quite highly civilized , but like the peoples of India , Egypt , Greece , and Rome ,

they rose and fell , and have left nothing behind them to tell the tale of their achievements and civilization , save a few fragmentary architectural remains , and equally fragmentary manuscripts . Bro . Le Plongeon has been a diligent student of these , as John L . Stephens and other explorers

and antiquaries were before him ; but he thinks he has found what they did not find , evidence of a remarkably remote antiquity , of the highest civilization , and of genuine Freemasonry . We are concerned only with his latter " find , " and shall invite attention to it .

Bro . Le Plongeon mtrodnces his work with a reference to the ancient mysteries of India , Egypt , and Greece—the Mahatmas or brothers of India , the Mysteries of Osiris in Egypt , and the Eleusinian Mysteries of Greece , preparatory to saying that

Maya colonists transported their ancient religions rites and ceremonies not only to the banks of the Nile , but to those of the Euphrates , and the shores of the Indian Ocean , not less than 11 , 500 years ago . First he describes to us an artificial mound of peculiar

construction at Uxmal , Yucatan , originally ninety-five feet in height , on the upper plane of the frustrum of which was the " Sanctuary , or Holy of Holies , with the ground plan in the shape of a cross . " This he styles the " Temple of Mysteries . " We quote again : —

The middle chamber is now devoid of decorations of any sort . Its length , seven metres , is to-day the only vestige which remains to incli cate that in it , in former times , were practised rites and ceremonies pertaining to the third degree of initiation . * * * The exterior of the monument was once ornamented with elaborate and beautifnlly

executed sculptures , which have now in great part disappeared . Still those that adorn the exterior walls of the Sanctuary remain as specimens of the beautiful handiwork and of the great skill of the

artists ; whilst the exquisite architectural proportions of the whole edifice bespeak the mathematical and other scientific attainments of the architects who planned the building and superintended its erection .

The ornaments that cover these walls are remarkablo in more than one sense . Tbey are not only inscriptions in tbo Maya language , written in characters identical with and having the same meaning and value as those carved on the temples of Egypt , but among them are symbols known to have belonged to the ancient sacred mysterips

of the Egyptians , and to modern Freemasonry . In August 1880 , among the debris at the foot of the mound just described , I found traces of what onco had been the statue of a priest . The part of the statue from the waist to the knee particularly attracted my attention . Over his dress the personage wore an apron with an extended hand ,

as seen in the adjoining illustration—a symbol that will easily be recognised by members of the Masonio Fraternity . * * * This may be considered the oldest kuown edifice in the world consecrated to secret rites and ceremonies ; and its builders the founders of the sacred mysteries that were transported from Mayax to India , Chaldea , Egypt and Etruria , by colonists or missionaries .

Does not the American reader feel prouder of his continent since it is alleged to be not only the seat of the earliest civilization of the world , but also of tne earliest

Freemasonry r And if he is asked , Where Masonry originated ? he can reply ( in the language of Dr . Le Plongeon ) , —In Yucatan ; And when ? At least eleven thousand five hundred years ago !

The ceremonies of the Quiches of Guatemala , we are told , were kindred to those of the Mayas of Yucatan . We learn from the Popol-Vuh , sacred book of the Quiches , that the applicants for initiation to the mysteries were made to cross two rivers , one of mud , the other of blood , before they reached the four

roads that led to the place where the priests awaited them . * * * Guards were placed all round , to prevent the candidates from holding intercourse with the outer world . Then a lighted torch of pine wood and a cigar were given to each . These were not to be extinguished .

St'll they had to be returned whole at sunrise , when the officer iu charge of the house came to demand them . Woo to him who allowed bis torch and cigar to get consumed . Terrible chastisements , death evfn , awaited him .

* Sacred Mysterit-s among the Mayas and the Quiches , 11 , 500 ye = irs ago ; their velatiou to the Sacred Mysteries of Egypt , Greece , Chaldea , and Iudia . Freemasonry in times anterior to the Temple of Solomon . Illustrated . By Augustus Le Plongeon . New York : Robert Macoy , 1836 .

Masonry Eleven Thousand Years Ago In America.

The author then goes on to state that the general ground plan of the " Temple of the Mysteries , " was in the shape of an oblong square , that is of their letter M , pronounced Ma ; that among the mystic symbols was an equilateral triangle , though which passed a ribbon tied in a knot , and a cross ; and he concludes : —

That sacred mysteries were celebrated from times immemorial in the temple of Mayax , Xibalba , Nachan ( Palenque of to-day ) , Copan and other places of Central America , there can be no doubt . * * * I have presented , without commentaries , a few of the facts that twelvo years' researches among the ruins of the antique temples and

palaces of the Mayas , a knowledge of their language ( still spoken by their descendants , and in some places , as in tho vicinity of Poten , iu all it 3 pristine purity , the deciphering of certain mural inscriptions

the stndy of the sacred book of the Quiches , and the interpretatiou of passages in the Troano MS ., have disclosed to me concerning the history , civilization , cosmogorical conceptions , religious tenets and practices of the ancient inhabitants of Yucatan .

It is fortunate that this work has appeared prior to the sixth and concluding volume of Bro . Gould ' s History of Freemasonry , to be devoted in part to America , since he now has the opportunity to make , as it were , the cap-stone the corner-stone of his history . If Freemasonry originated

in America , and India , Egypt , Greece , Etruria , and Great Britain owe to our continent the origin of their Ancient Mysteries and Freemasonry , the sooner it is generall y known and admitted the better it will be for America . And then too it helps to explain another fact . Boston , being

more remote than Philadelphia from the original seat of Masonry in Yucatan , naturally did not receive its Masonic light at so early a date as the " City of Brotherly Love . " Indeed , is it not possible it may be made to appear that Philadelphia itself was not only the " Mother-city of

Freemasonry in America " ( as it unmistakably is ) , but also the mother-city of Freemasonry in the world , and that 11 , 500 years ago the Mayas and Quiches of Central America came up to the Lodges of the Delavvares , erected on tho

present site of Philadelphia , and there received their Masonic light ? If Bro . Gould would delay the issuing of his sixth volume a few years , it is barely possible he might be enabled to include this statement !

But what are the actual facts with regard to the antiquity of American civilization ? Beyond a doubt the tendency of modern research is in favour of some antiquity for this civilization . It antedated the Spanish conquest , but how long is a matter of conjecture . It seems to be

agreed , however , that the Maya civilization was the most ancient of all that which was native ( so-called ) . There were schools in the principal towns of Guatemala , and the chief one had as many as 70 masters and 5 , 000 pupils . But the Mayas , like the Mexicans , were as fond of amusement

as they were of study , and had a great predilection for entertaining each other at banquets , and to their shame be it said , the feast lasted until all were intoxicated , and then the wives led their helpless husbands home . All the evidences of early civilization in Central America , as found in

monumental remains , manuscripts , and the writings of mediaeval Spanish authors , have been diligently considered by such scholars as Stephens and Bancroft , and we accept their views , rather than the more fanciful ones of speculative writers , who are always sure to find what they look

for . We cannot agree that the civilization of the Mayas and Quiches has been proven to antedate that of Egypt , Persia , and India . According to Stephens , there have not been found any Cyclopean ruins ; there is not a single

excavation ; and the pyramids are entirely unlike those of Egypt , in that they are merely platforms of earth truncated at the top , prepared expressly for buildings to rest upon them , and having no interior chambers . Mr . Step hens

says : — I am inclined to think that there are not sufficient grounds for the belief in the great antiquity that has been ascribed to these ruins ; that they are not the works of people who have passed away , and whose history has become unknown j but , opposed as is my idea to

all previous speculations , that they were constructed by the races who occupied the country at the time of the invasion by the Spaniards , or if some not very distant progenitors . And this op inion is f nnded npon the appearance and condition of the remains themselves . all

The climate and rank luxuriance of soil are most destructive to perishable materials . For six months every year exposed to tho deluge of tropical rains , and with trees growing through the doorways of buildings and on the tops , it seems impossible that after a lapse ot two or three thousand years , a single edifice could now bo standing .

Dr . Le Plongeon himself says of the Mayas ( as we have already quoted ) , " their language is still spoken by their descendants , and in some places , as in the vicinity ot Peten , in all its pristine purity . " Their language ot

  • Prev page
  • 1
  • 3
  • You're on page4
  • 5
  • 16
  • Next page
  • Accredited Museum Designated Outstanding Collection
  • LIBRARY AND MUSEUM CHARITABLE TRUST OF THE UNITED GRAND LODGE OF ENGLAND REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER 1058497 / ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2025

  • Accessibility statement

  • Designed, developed, and maintained by King's Digital Lab

We use cookies to track usage and preferences.

Privacy & cookie policy