The Masonic Blue Slipper
The month of February is commonly associated with Valentines day or the month of love, whilst we celebrate our sweetheart’s during this month through our annual Sweethearts Night, it is also our long standing tradition to honor and celebrate our widows, hence our annual “ALTP614 Sweetheart’s & Widow’s Appreciation Night” which also coincides with the proclamation of the Grand Master of the venerable Grand Lodge of California - February is Widows Month.
To honor our widows is to honor and celebrate our deceased brother, “the fraternity owes a true obligation to assist our widows. It is the right thing to do for our spouses who have supported us through all our years in the fraternity.
” Truly, behind every dedicated Mason is a loving wife or partner, giving their unconditional support and understanding us especially when we diligently try to fulfill our Masonic duties, our charitable work, our events and the time we spent away from home, attend meetings elsewhere or even with our fellowship, hence their support in our masonic journey can never and shouldn’t be forgotten and must be affectionately remembered by the lodge when a brother has dropped down his working tools and has been called back to the celestial lodge above, honoring our widows is our show of appreciation and celebrating the life of a worthy brother.
Symbolically, the masonic blue slipper goes back from biblical times from the Book of Ruth in the Old Testament. The story of Naomi returning to her own land after the death of her husband, Elimelech, and her sons. One daughter in-law, Ruth, a Moabite, accompanied her mother-in-law back to Bethlehem Judah but, both were destitute. Ruth went to work in the fields to enable her to look after her mother-in-law. However, the law of the land stated that Elimelech’s next of kin was duty bound to redeem his possessions and look after his widow and off-spring. The next of kin refused to do so. Boaz offered to become the redeemer of Elimelech’s property - a proposition that the next of kin accepted. To seal the bargain, Boaz and the next of kin met at the city gates in the presence of the elders. The next of kin drew off his shoe and handed it to Boaz as a token of the bargain. Boaz held the shoe up for all to see - he asked them to be witnesses that he had become Naomi’s protector, Ruth’s husband and a redeemer of Elimelech’s property. Thus today we have the little blue slipper as an emblem of the protective influence of Masons for their wives, widows and daughters. “Ruth 4: 7-8