March 3, 2025 • 34 mins
Agüeybana Lodge, UD is the very first Puerto Rican Lodge, Under Dispensation, in New York State. This week we are honored to be joined by charter members: WB Victor Negrón, WB Will Green and Bro. Rene Perez to share the rich history of Freemasonry in Puerto Rico.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Commons. Opinions and views shared during this program are
of those individual Freemasons and do not reflect the official
position of a Grand Lodge, concordant Body, a pendant Body,
Masonic authority, or Craftsman Online dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Hey, welcome back to the only Masonic podcast endorsed by
the Grand Lodge of New York. That's right, If you
guessed the craftsm Online podcast, you got the right one.
I'm just your humble host, right, Worshipful Brother Michael Arsay
in a special episode, I'm looking outside my window right
now and wishing I was in at Puerto Rico. Oh
my gosh, the weather, the food, the libations, the entertainment. Well,
(00:50):
we're bringing a little piece of that to you with
this special episode. I got a chance to catch up
with Worshipful Brother Victor Negron and Brother Rene Perez at
Unity hosted by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania in early
January of this year, to talk about Aguabana Lodge, which
is the very first Puerto Rican lodge under dispensation at
(01:11):
New York State. I'm very happy to invite these brothers
on the podcast. Worshipful Brother Victor Negron, Worshipful Brother Will Green,
and Brother Rene Perez. Welcome to the Craftsman Online Podcast.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Thank you so much for vershebl a pleasure in afternoon.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Myself, I'm pumped to talk about this as we kick
off a new year. And I was talking with Victor,
who's the master of this lodge under dispensation, because too
often in our craft we hear of lodges that are
losing their charter because of consolidation. They've lost members, they've
lost they struggle with finances, and they have to close
their doors. But in this case, we have Ahwei Bana Lodge,
(01:50):
which is the first Puerto Rican lodge under dispensation at
New York State. And I wanted to kind of get
the story behind the story on what the process is like.
So Victor, maybe you could help out with some of
the paperwork and everything that goes into getting the dispensation,
and then the other brothers can kind of help with
some of the partnerships you had to form to get
the members to be a part of the lodge.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
Sure, so the first thing is coming up with the
idea seeing what this new lodge is going to be
about the name, the spirit, what's the purpose?
Speaker 5 (02:21):
You know?
Speaker 4 (02:22):
When I met Brother Rene some years back and Worship
Will some years back. We always had an interest in
doing in masonry, but it's specific in doing masonry and
Puerto Rico. All three of us traveled to Puerto Rico.
We met some of the brothers out there. We thought
it was a good idea. Hey, maybe we hit started
Puerto Rican Lodge here. There was a lot of Puerto
(02:42):
Rican Masons, but they spread kind of all throughout the
state and other states, but we didn't really have a
place where we could all.
Speaker 5 (02:50):
Meet on the level.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
So that kind of was like the infetus for us
to start talking. I think the first person I call
was Brother Renee say, hey, man.
Speaker 5 (02:58):
Why don't we think about doing this?
Speaker 4 (03:00):
And that kind of snowballed into bringing in ray Worship
ten Worshipful Will. We are all from different from different lodges,
We met in different bodies, but we all were together
on this mission that we wanted to do MAS three
and represent Puerto Rico. You have to present Grand Lodge
with a petition for distance stations from seven mastermations who
(03:24):
are not holding elective office and any symbolic's lodge, which.
Speaker 5 (03:28):
Kind of threw us for a loop because a lot.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
Of us were serving as officers and other lodges, so
we kind of all had to cease that in order
to sign the petition and they submitted to Grand Lodge.
In addition to that, we had to create bio laws.
We held in formal meetings where we kind of selected
brothers who we thought would be a good fit.
Speaker 5 (03:49):
At the end, we had about thirty brothers on the
road from different backgrounds.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
We have Greek Bolivians, I mean the majority of them
of Puerto Rican. We have people from Santo Domingo, Olivia, Ecuador, so.
Speaker 5 (04:03):
We're kind of a mix.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Although this is a Puerto Rican lodge and spirit you know,
we accept brothers from all walks, from all faith ethnicities.
Speaker 5 (04:11):
So that kind of started us down the path.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
So we submitted all that paperwork to Gram Lodge, which
was the petition for dispensation the bilaws.
Speaker 5 (04:20):
And you also need at least the.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
Approval of half of the lodges in your district to
form this new lodge. So since I was in the
tenth Manhattan, I kind of went individually and spoke to
each master in my district and pitched them this idea.
And I don't know if you know a lot about
the tenth Manhattan, but we are called the Cosmopolitan Tent
(04:45):
because we have French speaking lodges, we have the Italian
speaking lodges, Spanish speaking lodgers, so it's kind of an
international community. And to my surprise, when I went to
them and I said, hey, I want to start this
Puerto Rican lodge, they were on board. So we got
the approval of the lodges in my district, the district deputy,
(05:10):
and we submitted the petition and then we got a
response back, I think in June. But I think the
interesting thing is I didn't really know the difference between
the dispensation.
Speaker 5 (05:22):
And the charter until we started kind of going through this.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
So a dispensation is just a temporary license like a
learner's permit, which Grandlaw says, okay, okay, guys, we see
that your brothers, and we're going to give you the
authority to act like a lodge. But it's temporary, so
we're going to give you to April. And this tastes
twenty twenty five because we received the dispensation of twenty
(05:45):
twenty four to do a series of things, one of
them being the three degrees of masonry and complete opening
and closing, plus a bunch of other administrative stuff that
we got to comply with. So a dispensation, interestingly, is
given at the discretion of the worst for master, excuse.
Speaker 5 (06:00):
Me, of the grand master.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
However, for charter, what happens is Grand Laude will take
your book at the end of the year. They'll get
a report from this dist Grand Lecturers that you did
the three degrees and opening is closing from memory and
now you're proficient. They'll check your books to make sure
that everything's okay. The Charterist Committee then at the annual
Communication will make a recommendation to the Body of Masonry
(06:25):
in New York and say, hey, we have these brothers.
Speaker 5 (06:28):
They submitted to us their book, they're proficient, and.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
They're seeking a charter, and the whole body of Masonry
all of the masters approach to stay both at the
antier communication, whether the grant iss largest charter, which I
think it's an interesting kind of check and balance there
between the Grand Master and the individual masters of lodgers
and how that how they're interplay.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
And that would make this may coming up a very
special Grand Lodge session when this all goes through. Because
I'm confident You're going to hit all the checkpoints, and
the masters and the wardens of the lodges, the voting
delegates will be able to vote in this session, will
be able to celebrate another new lodge in New York State.
Speaker 5 (07:06):
That's why we are anticipating.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Let's flip over to Brother Will, because there's an interesting
element here, as you mentioned, and this fascinated me because
normally you hear of brothers in one lodge that all
have an affinity for something and they're like, Hey, we
want to start another lodge that's just based on this,
Like we want to have a music lodge, or a
foreign speaking lodge, or a lodge that practices this style
(07:29):
of ritual. In this instance, you had a collection of
brothers from different lodges in New York, but also the
most worshipful Prince Hall Lodge, the Grand Lodge in New York.
Brother Will, can you kind of give some insight on
how you got involved with this, in how you're bringing
in that Prince Hall element.
Speaker 6 (07:47):
If I want to say thanks allowing me to speak
on your platform, but that beings said, I always say
that Freemasonry, and I've spoken to other brothers and I've
always said the Freemasonry to me is like the tree. Right,
you have the roots, that's freemasonry, and the tree grows.
As the tree grows, it forms different branches. Right, So
(08:09):
you have the Grand Lodge of New York, the Prince Hall,
Grand Lodge of New York, you have the Grand Lodger
of Fort Rego, the Grand Lodge of Haiti, the Grand
Lodge of England. They're still part of the freemasonry, which
is the route. So we're all connected at by one,
although as they get up higher, the politics and the
sovereignty separates us somewhat, but we're still connected by the landmarks,
(08:32):
by what freemasonry is. So I've always traveled from day one,
I've always been traveling by me and Renee go back
front through masonry, even to the neighborhood we grew up in. Right,
It connected us. As you know, we don't have dual membership.
Prince Grand Ladge of New York doesn't have dual membership.
(08:53):
You only have one. It only belong to one lodge.
Speaker 5 (08:57):
So when and I love that.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
The reason why is because you can only uh serve
one master if. From what I understand is it's.
Speaker 6 (09:05):
Good and it's bad that that's gonna take another turn.
Why why I say is good because it's it's good
because now you can only focus on your lodge. Right,
you focus on your lodge, you grow your lodge versus
being in another lodge. Being the two larges your your
cable to is getting of stressed to the max. You're
trying to do too much. It can become vertiso. Now
(09:28):
when Virtual Master Negro, he calls me, he tells me
the plant, I said, I'm with it, no questions asked.
I'm with it now he didn't know. I can't join though,
I can't join officially, but I'll help out as much
as I can anything I gotta do. I'm dead with
the from the step, from the first whatever we have
(09:48):
to do. Why Because it's not it's that paperwork, that's
that that somewhat divide. I don't want to say the
divide because that's a negative, negative coranotation. What I say
is it's separates were paperwork. We can't but regardless, we're
still brothers. We still meet on the level. And this
also represents part of my culture. And I definitely would
(10:10):
love and I know that the Temper Manhattan District. Everybody
has their flag though and I would love to see
that that beautiful flag that ors for Master Negatone has on.
And when Renee and he went and came up with
a design and came up with it, I was like, oh,
this is beautiful. I loved every aspect of it and
the history of it. I have family members.
Speaker 5 (10:31):
That were.
Speaker 6 (10:33):
In the revolution. It was a revolution against Spain back
in the eighteen hundreds, who were all Masons. They were
involved in it. My grandfather showed me that. I said, oh, wow,
they notice stuff. And I got the books on it now,
so there was a connection to it. So when she
said he invited me, I thanked him for allowing me
to be down with it. What the worst of who
(10:54):
did was his first order of business was to make
me an honorary member. So I and I honor honorary membership,
wait high regards. I appreciate it, I love it. I'm
one of the brothers in that lodge, and all the
brothers treat me as such.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Let's bring in brother Renee because I know he brings
a lot of the esoteric history. But also maybe you
can give us a little background on the name for
this lodge. I would my favorite to say away Banya
I love this.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
When Worship pul Victor asked me what name would be
for the lodge. My reply was, you know, a lot
of lodges when they do create a lodge is always
named after an ex mason or a mason that passed.
For example, like my lodge, my mother lodge is George
Washington Lodge right, who was a mason. And in pr
(11:42):
and the islands, they were most of the forefathers of
Puerto Rico. Like they had the Four Fathers here in
the United States, we have a lot of them in
Puerto Rico. So and some of them were distant relative
of minds. In fact, Will mentioned a relative of his
who we found out that we shared kind of the
same relative who was a mason from that time in
the island. So I told Victor, I said that you
(12:03):
know why not named it after an indigenous name who
was to represent our indigenous culture, because originally.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
Puerto Rico was originally called.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Boding Kin from the indigenous people that once lived there,
and in the indigenous route sometimes it's not really talked
about on the islands of the Caribbean, it's not really mentioned.
So I said, you know this named it after a
chief who is considered one of the most powerful chiefs
in the island. And his name was aw Weibyna. And
(12:35):
the reason I chose that name was because the suffix
way or way by nah means the sun. That's actually
what it means in the carrab Lang, which it comes
from the indigenous people that once lived there, and bana
means expansion or greatness. And I said, you know, this
kind of relates to what masonry is because the sun,
(12:57):
which represents the light and the greatness, expansion of knowledge
or light of in search of light. And that's the
reason why I came up with the name alway by Abot.
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your first order. This is what has surprised me as
(14:31):
a proud New York Mason. When I learned that this
was the first Puerto Rican lodge under dispensation. I was
blown away because I know in our metropolitan area that
we do have foreign speaking lodges. So I want to
talk a little bit about that, like the spirit as
to why you what brought you all together to because
I'm sure it was a series of conversations. But the
(14:52):
other cool thing is that if you can hear the
sound of my voice on this podcast and you are
a New York Freemason, you can support this lodge right
now by considering to affiliate with it, even if you
don't live in New York City. So I'm talking to
all of my Upstate and Western New York brothers. You
can be a member of this lodge and you don't
(15:12):
have to attend all of the meetings. You can go
to the ones that mean that you're able to make to,
but you can support what these guys are trying to do.
Because this is, as I keep saying, this is a
very special thing when a group of brothers come together
and say we're going to plant our flag here, We're
going to start a new lodge. So who started that
conversation between the three of you.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
Look to be Puerto Rican and I think wor's full
will when they can agree with this is to be
born in a culture of struggle, struggle for liberty, struggle
of self representation. You know, a whole identity came out
of this desire to want to be free. Right, So
(15:56):
I think Masonry kind of played an integral part. And
if you read a lot of.
Speaker 5 (16:03):
What the founding fathers of Puerto Rican, a lot of them.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
Who were Masons, you could see the Masonic overtones and
a lot of their literature and how they explained why
they wanted freedom from Spain. So and actually the Puerto
Rican flag which I have on my shirt was actually
adopted in New York City by Puerto Rican exiles who
were exiled by Spain, who were in New York, who
(16:25):
met Cuban brothers here who are also fighting for freedom
against Spain.
Speaker 5 (16:30):
And that's why the Puerto Rican and Cuban.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
Flag are similar, but the colors are inverted.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
It was the standard solidarity that Cuban and Puerto Rico
were both fighting for its liberty. So it was in
that context right that we said.
Speaker 4 (16:45):
Well, we as Puerto Ricans here who have also endured
our own struggles of integration, of discrimination, we wanted a
place in masonry where we could meet on the level,
where we could express our ideas freely and and do masonry.
I think that that is at the essence what we
(17:08):
were trying to accomplish. I mean, as you know, look,
masonry a little by little over the years has opened up,
but we felt that it was necessary to have our
own kind of King Solomon's temple where we could come
and and do masonry.
Speaker 5 (17:24):
So that kind of was like the drive. But you know,
of course, as.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
It kept going for the renee uh and and I just.
Speaker 5 (17:34):
Want to speak on something that works.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
For Will was saying, look, the Puerto Rican community and
African American community in New York City.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
We lived side by side to each other.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
We endure a lot of the same forms of discrimination.
We endured a lot of the civil rights struggles.
Speaker 5 (17:56):
And I have wanted to make it a point that
the Prince Whole brothers were brothers.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
That we were on the level, that we were going
to meet on the level, and that there was no
distinction among us.
Speaker 5 (18:06):
That we were brothers. And you know, whether we came
from Princeville or Grandma, out of the state, it didn't matter.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
Because we have to provide an example when we go
back to the community that they can see that the
young people can see, Wow, these guys are African American,
they're Puerto Rican, they're Dominican, and they're all talking to
each other.
Speaker 5 (18:25):
They're all getting it alone. They're all talking to each other.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
Brother I think that's important to fight a lot of
the divis business that is.
Speaker 5 (18:32):
Happening in our neighborhoods.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
So and I think masonry is a great way to
do that. But I'll turn it over to one of
my brothers so they can, you know, give you their
perspective of why we ended up starting this.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Sure, So Michael, So you remember a while back when
I did your first podcast about my travels to the island,
and I was writing for Craftman Online about my travels.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
I remember that.
Speaker 5 (19:00):
Yeah, at that time.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
I didn't know Victor at the time, so I was
traveling there. And this time when I went to Puerto Rico,
I wanted to go to visit family and also visit
a Masonic journey to see the to be around my
culture and my roots, but with brothers. And as I
went there, I connected with a lot of great brothers
(19:23):
out there and Mason and I didn't know I was
friends with the Grand Master of Puerto Rico. Now my
name is Gallito Boreto Well righte Worship of Gallito Boreto.
As I came back and I met Victor because me
and Victor is in the same valley of New York City,
and I met Timothy Reels right worship. With Timothy Reels,
I was trying to have them affiliate with the same
lodge in Puerto Rico with me, and we signed the
(19:43):
petitions and everything. It didn't go as planned. Now Will
was a different story because me and Will met in
the Bronx. It turns out that Makesrey is beautiful. It's
really is a small world. And with me and Will
was talking and we were saying hey. He asked me,
he know where are you from? I said, Oh, I'm
Puerto Rican. Good, No, where are you from? I'm from Brooklyn?
(20:05):
He says me too, from the same part of Brooklyn.
But his turns out his dad and my dad and
my whole family, they all were friends and they knew
each other.
Speaker 6 (20:13):
Yeah, uncle, go to my house. Know where my mother
the house was at? Like, oh wow, I didn't even
know that the body because he lived up the block.
For me, he lived a block away.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Yeah, right up the block form my grandparents had a house.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
I think your story is going to be so cool
because you're still all relatively young guys, right, and so
this lodge now has a family element to it, and
you're starting this and the next generation of Masons that
come in, your kids, their kids, they're all going to
get to be a part of something special and have
that family still be a part of it. Which talk
about a mystic tie.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Amazing the name my way By now holds a family
tie because that's where my father. My father's not here,
but my father's my father's family are from a town
in Puerto Rico called Wayania, and that was the town
where our way By now rule from those times, and
the name kind of is very is very significant for me.
Speaker 6 (21:04):
Yeah, my wife actually danced with his mother. My wife
knew when he was a kid. He was like the man.
I told her Vick the Negro. She's like, oh, I'm
remember when he was looking. But he didn't dance, he
wasn't involved in the drumming. But I'm talking about over
what had to be what twenty five years ago, thirty
years ago?
Speaker 5 (21:23):
Yeah, it was a long time.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Yeah, it's just full circle.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Oh man, there's like old polaroid pictures of I bet
the three of you guys.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
You know, I don't believe the coincidence. I believe in
uh and and secretism. That's what I believe.
Speaker 6 (21:39):
But that's the essylterical, that's the mysticism of masony How
did they bring it together? How, somehow we got brought
together in New York, we got what nine million legal
people here now and somehow with masonry brought us together.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Let's talk about the freemasonry aspect of this. So I'm
Mexican American. Uh, he got a chance to visit San Juan,
Puerto Rico last year with my wife. We made the
American mistake, would never have gone there before. And I'm like, oh,
guess is so much cheaper here. No it's not. But
I didn't get a chance to visit a lodge and
I wish I had. So maybe you can take us inside,
(22:16):
you know, for those listening who have never been there,
to see how freemasonry is practiced on the island.
Speaker 5 (22:21):
What is it like there?
Speaker 4 (22:22):
When we started talking about this, and I'll I'll address
your question shortly. But I went to Puerto Rico, and
you know, I sat down with the Grand Master, Aniva Thus,
and I picked him this idea.
Speaker 5 (22:36):
I said, Hey, you know, we're Puerto Rican. We're trying
to start this lot in New York.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
And I don't know if you know their history, but
you know, there's a lot of for whatever reason, there's
a lot of reasons. There's a lot of antagonism between
the Puerto Ricans on of the Puerto Rico as opposed
to the Puerto Rican and the di explorer here in
the United States. And to my surprise, they welcomed us.
It's so much so that last year when worshpool Well
(23:02):
and I were at their annual communication. The Grand Master
came down from the Grandnie and presented us with a
symbolic charter, which to us was wow.
Speaker 5 (23:14):
I always left speech to us because you.
Speaker 4 (23:17):
Know, it was such an outpouring of support and love
from from the brothers in Puerto Rico, and I really
want to thank them because they have been such supporters
and the integral part of this movement as well.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
It's just masonry. So but if I.
Speaker 4 (23:33):
Could address your your question as to masonry and Puerto Rico,
the Puerto Rico SYSM in the Caribbean has a lot
of influence from a lot of different places. I think,
right Worshipful Carlo Barto, who brother and they mentioned earlier,
said that the first Lodgers were print.
Speaker 5 (23:53):
Later on there was other Grand Lodgers that established establish
lodgers in Puerto Rico.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
The current Grand Lodge traces his heretive back to the
Grand Lodge of Cuba. In eighteen eighty five they started
a provincial Grand Lodge and then the Grand Lodge of
Puerto Rico.
Speaker 5 (24:10):
Separated and started their own sovereign Grand Lodge.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
I think one of the interesting aspects about masonry of
Puerto Rico is that in the United States, the Scottish
Right and Symbolic lodges and the Grand Lodge came to
an accord that Grand Lodge had a sclusive jurisdiction over
the three degrees of masurance and Scottish Right.
Speaker 5 (24:35):
Was going to do.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
Four to thirty second or thirty third if you were
selected to be a thirty third, you know, and Illustria's brother.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
But so.
Speaker 5 (24:47):
In my district is a little bit different because.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
You have some lodges that have a hybrid ritual that's
kind of Scottish Right elements.
Speaker 5 (24:55):
But at York, in Puerto Rico, they.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Do scott It's right symbolic ladders, so their regalia is
red and white decided. The recognitions are a little bit different.
How they have the lids room set up is different
than how we do it in New York under New
York Right.
Speaker 5 (25:15):
I think that the Scottish Right is a little.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
Bit more esoteric kind of the way that they present
it and how they do degrees. Easter's Station kind of
has his own autonomy, has their own culture and traditions.
Speaker 5 (25:29):
Although we are still you know, a brotherhood and you know,
we follow.
Speaker 4 (25:35):
The same landmarks, but how masonry maintain from jurisdiction is
kind of an awesome thing to see.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Let me ask this question because this all came on
my radar back in September. When I saw the pictures
on Instagram, I think it was on Renee's account, I
was like, Oh my gosh, we're getting a new launch
in New York. And I was like, oh my gosh,
and there's Renee. I recognize him. And I noticed is
mentioned there's some old traditions from the island that'll probably
(26:03):
be in play here. One was from what I saw
with the officers that were getting installed in for the
lodge and or dispensation, they didn't have jackets on. They
just had the white dress shirts and different aprons and
what you would see in the Blue Lodge. Typically, what
kind of new traditions are you going to start here
with your Puerto Rican lodge in the Grand Lodge of
New York.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
So so Will Victor's idea was to wear I think
it was Victor's idea to where the traditional Puerto Rican
and the I call the wuya eras they used them,
I mean, they don't use them in the island, and
of course they.
Speaker 5 (26:38):
Wear a suit.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
But Victor got the idea because he went to Rhode Island.
Micro correct Victor, and he saw the first Spanish lodge
a Rhode Island. They had the wabedat with a bow tie,
and he was, you know, we should stick to that tradition.
And one of the traditions, if you ever seen the
pictures in the installation, we're not using the typical worshful
master hat. We use using these what they called the
(27:01):
solbreto hats that they use, which a lot of the
musicians in Puerto Rico clear planetos, they call them planetos.
They wear these hats and to stick to that specific tradition.
And the tyler wears my chet there instead of a sword.
Speaker 5 (27:17):
So it's considered formal attire. And it's really because of
the weather, because I mean, you can imagine stuff under
degrees most of the year, but the dress.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
You know, the and I read a book that works
for will the just that I read Observing the Craft
by Andrew Hammer, and he takes a big emphasis on
the lodge having a uniform and.
Speaker 5 (27:44):
How that that creates a camaraderie, that creates the sense
of a team.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
So you know, one we wanted to do it that way,
so everybody looks to uniform. And two, it was also
part of this idea that we wanted to hibit our
Puerto ricanness, if you will, within the town finds of masonry. Right,
So we look, we looked through the constitution and said, hey,
(28:10):
I think we could do it.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
You know, living here in the nation's capital in DC,
we have a lot of affinity lodges. We have a
French speaking lodge, a couple of Spanish speaking lodges, German
speaking lodges, now Italian lodge. We have military lodges. It
just we have a musician's lodge that has started. And
one of the neat things when you get to travel
and go to these affinity lodges, especially ones that are
(28:56):
based on different cultures, it's like going to Disney's Epcot,
but in freemasonry, where you get to go in and
get a little bit of a taste of that culture,
not just from the brothers that are in the lodge,
or maybe the accents or the way that they do business,
but also in the meals, the festive boards that happened afterwards,
the events that they do, the camaraderie that they have.
There's really it's really a community of brothers in these
(29:17):
special lodges. And that's one thing that I would also
urge anybody listening to this podcast that will be in
the New York City area the fourth Thursday of the month,
sit in and be a part of this.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
We'll be meeting in the City Island in the Bronx.
And another thing too, Michael, that with the Wayaweera, one
of the things was the most important part of it
that I wanted was the Bible to be from the island.
And we figure we have the Bible to be a
maide in you and customly and bring broth from.
Speaker 5 (29:49):
Island, so we can use that and delage.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
And the Deputy Grandmaster, right Worship I believe he's right Worship,
Gallito Barreto. Actually he surprised us. He came to New
York for installations and he custom made the Bible with
the symbol with the squaring compass and with the indigenous
symbol on it. As you can see what Victim Negron
(30:12):
is wearing. That is the symbol of the title symbol
from there and when and the one of the brothers
from there named Orlando, I have to say his name
Bright Worship Orlando Melendez. He is a craftman. He is
a true mason, a carpenter. He handmade all the gavels
by hand, and he's the one that they used to
(30:35):
make all the gavels and all the lodges in the
Massan and Puerto Rico, and he made for us for
our lodge, and that's the galvels we use.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
You've got a lot of special things that are going
on with this new lodge. I'm really looking forward to
this May at our grand Lodge session. I can't wait
to be there to celebrate because I know what's going
to happen, and we'll have a new lodge chartered in
the first being a Puerto Rican lodge. Here for our
grand launch in New York, we had our first kind
of checkpoint with the Grand Master that came and visited
(31:05):
your lodge in September. As the officers are getting installed
under dispensation, what plans do you have to celebrate that
moment when that charter is officially put into your hand
and you can read it to your brothers and your lodge.
Speaker 5 (31:17):
Well, look for the regions. You know we're notorious. We're
having parties and I'm sure it's going to be a
voisterous festivity.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
And look, we hope that everything has been kind of
like organically happening. You know, the support that we received
from the Grand Lounge in New York and the Grand
Master was phenomenal and his support staff, the Grand Secretary
right worshful Bateman, right worshful Martin, and they kind of
(31:47):
wolked us through this procedure. The support that we got
from the Grand Lodge of Puerto Rico, like I mentioned earlier,
and just the brothers here. On the day that we
the offices were installed, you know, we were.
Speaker 5 (32:02):
Anticipating maybe fifty or sixty people.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
You know, there was probably over one hundred people there,
easily one hundred and thirty, so much so that the
lodge rooms in the Grand Lodge building are pretty big.
Speaker 5 (32:17):
People were standing in the hallway.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
It was amazing to see the support that we were
getting not only from the Masona community, but from the
Puerto Rican community at large. And we hope to continue
making a mark in both masonry and again this is
a community endeavor.
Speaker 5 (32:38):
You know, a lot of us were for a well.
Speaker 4 (32:42):
Brother Renee myself, I'm from the Bronx Step from Brooklyn,
you know, we came from humble beginnings and we really
feel that masonry could be a great place for a
lot of young men, particularly in the neighborhoods that we
grew up in, that they can look up to men
who have this kind of mastnic idea that they're kind
(33:05):
of better themselves that way, upstanding men before God and
Mason's right, so that they can be inspired too, and
we can show them a different path than what they're
traditionally being exposed to.
Speaker 5 (33:20):
So, you know that that's kind of the hope that
we can.
Speaker 4 (33:24):
Have an impact in our communities and our families, that
they can see the work that we're doing and kind
of get inside themselves to do something.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
To learn more about Aguabana Lodge. Maybe set up a
visit for yourself. Let's under dispensation. Just open up the
notes for our episode and you'll find the link in
the show description right there. This is right worship for
Brother Michael Lars. If you've enjoyed this episode, please you
could do me a couple of quick favors. One is,
tell another brother or friend about it. Two, if you've
got five seconds, oh my gosh, it means so much
(33:54):
to us, open up that podcast player. Please give us
a star, give us a rating. Better yet, give us
some comments and feedback. We love that and it helps
this episode connect with more people who have an interest
in freemasonry. Until next time, What peace and harmony prevailed
The Commons. Opinions and views shared during this program are
of those individual Freemasons and do not reflect the official
position of a Grand Lodge, concordant Body, a pendant Body,
Masonic authority, or Craftsman Online dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Hey, welcome back to the only Masonic podcast endorsed by
the Grand Lodge of New York. That's right, If you
guessed the craftsm Online podcast, you got the right one.
I'm just your humble host, right, Worshipful Brother Michael Arsay
in a special episode, I'm looking outside my window right
now and wishing I was in at Puerto Rico. Oh
my gosh, the weather, the food, the libations, the entertainment. Well,
(00:50):
we're bringing a little piece of that to you with
this special episode. I got a chance to catch up
with Worshipful Brother Victor Negron and Brother Rene Perez at
Unity hosted by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania in early
January of this year, to talk about Aguabana Lodge, which
is the very first Puerto Rican lodge under dispensation at
(01:11):
New York State. I'm very happy to invite these brothers
on the podcast. Worshipful Brother Victor Negron, Worshipful Brother Will Green,
and Brother Rene Perez. Welcome to the Craftsman Online Podcast.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Thank you so much for vershebl a pleasure in afternoon.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Myself, I'm pumped to talk about this as we kick
off a new year. And I was talking with Victor,
who's the master of this lodge under dispensation, because too
often in our craft we hear of lodges that are
losing their charter because of consolidation. They've lost members, they've
lost they struggle with finances, and they have to close
their doors. But in this case, we have Ahwei Bana Lodge,
(01:50):
which is the first Puerto Rican lodge under dispensation at
New York State. And I wanted to kind of get
the story behind the story on what the process is like.
So Victor, maybe you could help out with some of
the paperwork and everything that goes into getting the dispensation,
and then the other brothers can kind of help with
some of the partnerships you had to form to get
the members to be a part of the lodge.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
Sure, so the first thing is coming up with the
idea seeing what this new lodge is going to be
about the name, the spirit, what's the purpose?
Speaker 5 (02:21):
You know?
Speaker 4 (02:22):
When I met Brother Rene some years back and Worship
Will some years back. We always had an interest in
doing in masonry, but it's specific in doing masonry and
Puerto Rico. All three of us traveled to Puerto Rico.
We met some of the brothers out there. We thought
it was a good idea. Hey, maybe we hit started
Puerto Rican Lodge here. There was a lot of Puerto
(02:42):
Rican Masons, but they spread kind of all throughout the
state and other states, but we didn't really have a
place where we could all.
Speaker 5 (02:50):
Meet on the level.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
So that kind of was like the infetus for us
to start talking. I think the first person I call
was Brother Renee say, hey, man.
Speaker 5 (02:58):
Why don't we think about doing this?
Speaker 4 (03:00):
And that kind of snowballed into bringing in ray Worship
ten Worshipful Will. We are all from different from different lodges,
We met in different bodies, but we all were together
on this mission that we wanted to do MAS three
and represent Puerto Rico. You have to present Grand Lodge
with a petition for distance stations from seven mastermations who
(03:24):
are not holding elective office and any symbolic's lodge, which.
Speaker 5 (03:28):
Kind of threw us for a loop because a lot.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
Of us were serving as officers and other lodges, so
we kind of all had to cease that in order
to sign the petition and they submitted to Grand Lodge.
In addition to that, we had to create bio laws.
We held in formal meetings where we kind of selected
brothers who we thought would be a good fit.
Speaker 5 (03:49):
At the end, we had about thirty brothers on the
road from different backgrounds.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
We have Greek Bolivians, I mean the majority of them
of Puerto Rican. We have people from Santo Domingo, Olivia, Ecuador, so.
Speaker 5 (04:03):
We're kind of a mix.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Although this is a Puerto Rican lodge and spirit you know,
we accept brothers from all walks, from all faith ethnicities.
Speaker 5 (04:11):
So that kind of started us down the path.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
So we submitted all that paperwork to Gram Lodge, which
was the petition for dispensation the bilaws.
Speaker 5 (04:20):
And you also need at least the.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
Approval of half of the lodges in your district to
form this new lodge. So since I was in the
tenth Manhattan, I kind of went individually and spoke to
each master in my district and pitched them this idea.
And I don't know if you know a lot about
the tenth Manhattan, but we are called the Cosmopolitan Tent
(04:45):
because we have French speaking lodges, we have the Italian
speaking lodges, Spanish speaking lodgers, so it's kind of an
international community. And to my surprise, when I went to
them and I said, hey, I want to start this
Puerto Rican lodge, they were on board. So we got
the approval of the lodges in my district, the district deputy,
(05:10):
and we submitted the petition and then we got a
response back, I think in June. But I think the
interesting thing is I didn't really know the difference between
the dispensation.
Speaker 5 (05:22):
And the charter until we started kind of going through this.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
So a dispensation is just a temporary license like a
learner's permit, which Grandlaw says, okay, okay, guys, we see
that your brothers, and we're going to give you the
authority to act like a lodge. But it's temporary, so
we're going to give you to April. And this tastes
twenty twenty five because we received the dispensation of twenty
(05:45):
twenty four to do a series of things, one of
them being the three degrees of masonry and complete opening
and closing, plus a bunch of other administrative stuff that
we got to comply with. So a dispensation, interestingly, is
given at the discretion of the worst for master, excuse.
Speaker 5 (06:00):
Me, of the grand master.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
However, for charter, what happens is Grand Laude will take
your book at the end of the year. They'll get
a report from this dist Grand Lecturers that you did
the three degrees and opening is closing from memory and
now you're proficient. They'll check your books to make sure
that everything's okay. The Charterist Committee then at the annual
Communication will make a recommendation to the Body of Masonry
(06:25):
in New York and say, hey, we have these brothers.
Speaker 5 (06:28):
They submitted to us their book, they're proficient, and.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
They're seeking a charter, and the whole body of Masonry
all of the masters approach to stay both at the
antier communication, whether the grant iss largest charter, which I
think it's an interesting kind of check and balance there
between the Grand Master and the individual masters of lodgers
and how that how they're interplay.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
And that would make this may coming up a very
special Grand Lodge session when this all goes through. Because
I'm confident You're going to hit all the checkpoints, and
the masters and the wardens of the lodges, the voting
delegates will be able to vote in this session, will
be able to celebrate another new lodge in New York State.
Speaker 5 (07:06):
That's why we are anticipating.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Let's flip over to Brother Will, because there's an interesting
element here, as you mentioned, and this fascinated me because
normally you hear of brothers in one lodge that all
have an affinity for something and they're like, Hey, we
want to start another lodge that's just based on this,
Like we want to have a music lodge, or a
foreign speaking lodge, or a lodge that practices this style
(07:29):
of ritual. In this instance, you had a collection of
brothers from different lodges in New York, but also the
most worshipful Prince Hall Lodge, the Grand Lodge in New York.
Brother Will, can you kind of give some insight on
how you got involved with this, in how you're bringing
in that Prince Hall element.
Speaker 6 (07:47):
If I want to say thanks allowing me to speak
on your platform, but that beings said, I always say
that Freemasonry, and I've spoken to other brothers and I've
always said the Freemasonry to me is like the tree. Right,
you have the roots, that's freemasonry, and the tree grows.
As the tree grows, it forms different branches. Right, So
(08:09):
you have the Grand Lodge of New York, the Prince Hall,
Grand Lodge of New York, you have the Grand Lodger
of Fort Rego, the Grand Lodge of Haiti, the Grand
Lodge of England. They're still part of the freemasonry, which
is the route. So we're all connected at by one,
although as they get up higher, the politics and the
sovereignty separates us somewhat, but we're still connected by the landmarks,
(08:32):
by what freemasonry is. So I've always traveled from day one,
I've always been traveling by me and Renee go back
front through masonry, even to the neighborhood we grew up in. Right,
It connected us. As you know, we don't have dual membership.
Prince Grand Ladge of New York doesn't have dual membership.
(08:53):
You only have one. It only belong to one lodge.
Speaker 5 (08:57):
So when and I love that.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
The reason why is because you can only uh serve
one master if. From what I understand is it's.
Speaker 6 (09:05):
Good and it's bad that that's gonna take another turn.
Why why I say is good because it's it's good
because now you can only focus on your lodge. Right,
you focus on your lodge, you grow your lodge versus
being in another lodge. Being the two larges your your
cable to is getting of stressed to the max. You're
trying to do too much. It can become vertiso. Now
(09:28):
when Virtual Master Negro, he calls me, he tells me
the plant, I said, I'm with it, no questions asked.
I'm with it now he didn't know. I can't join though,
I can't join officially, but I'll help out as much
as I can anything I gotta do. I'm dead with
the from the step, from the first whatever we have
(09:48):
to do. Why Because it's not it's that paperwork, that's
that that somewhat divide. I don't want to say the
divide because that's a negative, negative coranotation. What I say
is it's separates were paperwork. We can't but regardless, we're
still brothers. We still meet on the level. And this
also represents part of my culture. And I definitely would
(10:10):
love and I know that the Temper Manhattan District. Everybody
has their flag though and I would love to see
that that beautiful flag that ors for Master Negatone has on.
And when Renee and he went and came up with
a design and came up with it, I was like, oh,
this is beautiful. I loved every aspect of it and
the history of it. I have family members.
Speaker 5 (10:31):
That were.
Speaker 6 (10:33):
In the revolution. It was a revolution against Spain back
in the eighteen hundreds, who were all Masons. They were
involved in it. My grandfather showed me that. I said, oh, wow,
they notice stuff. And I got the books on it now,
so there was a connection to it. So when she
said he invited me, I thanked him for allowing me
to be down with it. What the worst of who
(10:54):
did was his first order of business was to make
me an honorary member. So I and I honor honorary membership,
wait high regards. I appreciate it, I love it. I'm
one of the brothers in that lodge, and all the
brothers treat me as such.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Let's bring in brother Renee because I know he brings
a lot of the esoteric history. But also maybe you
can give us a little background on the name for
this lodge. I would my favorite to say away Banya
I love this.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
When Worship pul Victor asked me what name would be
for the lodge. My reply was, you know, a lot
of lodges when they do create a lodge is always
named after an ex mason or a mason that passed.
For example, like my lodge, my mother lodge is George
Washington Lodge right, who was a mason. And in pr
(11:42):
and the islands, they were most of the forefathers of
Puerto Rico. Like they had the Four Fathers here in
the United States, we have a lot of them in
Puerto Rico. So and some of them were distant relative
of minds. In fact, Will mentioned a relative of his
who we found out that we shared kind of the
same relative who was a mason from that time in
the island. So I told Victor, I said that you
(12:03):
know why not named it after an indigenous name who
was to represent our indigenous culture, because originally.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
Puerto Rico was originally called.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Boding Kin from the indigenous people that once lived there,
and in the indigenous route sometimes it's not really talked
about on the islands of the Caribbean, it's not really mentioned.
So I said, you know this named it after a
chief who is considered one of the most powerful chiefs
in the island. And his name was aw Weibyna. And
(12:35):
the reason I chose that name was because the suffix
way or way by nah means the sun. That's actually
what it means in the carrab Lang, which it comes
from the indigenous people that once lived there, and bana
means expansion or greatness. And I said, you know, this
kind of relates to what masonry is because the sun,
(12:57):
which represents the light and the greatness, expansion of knowledge
or light of in search of light. And that's the
reason why I came up with the name alway by Abot.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
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your first order. This is what has surprised me as
(14:31):
a proud New York Mason. When I learned that this
was the first Puerto Rican lodge under dispensation. I was
blown away because I know in our metropolitan area that
we do have foreign speaking lodges. So I want to
talk a little bit about that, like the spirit as
to why you what brought you all together to because
I'm sure it was a series of conversations. But the
(14:52):
other cool thing is that if you can hear the
sound of my voice on this podcast and you are
a New York Freemason, you can support this lodge right
now by considering to affiliate with it, even if you
don't live in New York City. So I'm talking to
all of my Upstate and Western New York brothers. You
can be a member of this lodge and you don't
(15:12):
have to attend all of the meetings. You can go
to the ones that mean that you're able to make to,
but you can support what these guys are trying to do.
Because this is, as I keep saying, this is a
very special thing when a group of brothers come together
and say we're going to plant our flag here, We're
going to start a new lodge. So who started that
conversation between the three of you.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
Look to be Puerto Rican and I think wor's full
will when they can agree with this is to be
born in a culture of struggle, struggle for liberty, struggle
of self representation. You know, a whole identity came out
of this desire to want to be free. Right, So
(15:56):
I think Masonry kind of played an integral part. And
if you read a lot of.
Speaker 5 (16:03):
What the founding fathers of Puerto Rican, a lot of them.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
Who were Masons, you could see the Masonic overtones and
a lot of their literature and how they explained why
they wanted freedom from Spain. So and actually the Puerto
Rican flag which I have on my shirt was actually
adopted in New York City by Puerto Rican exiles who
were exiled by Spain, who were in New York, who
(16:25):
met Cuban brothers here who are also fighting for freedom
against Spain.
Speaker 5 (16:30):
And that's why the Puerto Rican and Cuban.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
Flag are similar, but the colors are inverted.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
It was the standard solidarity that Cuban and Puerto Rico
were both fighting for its liberty. So it was in
that context right that we said.
Speaker 4 (16:45):
Well, we as Puerto Ricans here who have also endured
our own struggles of integration, of discrimination, we wanted a
place in masonry where we could meet on the level,
where we could express our ideas freely and and do masonry.
I think that that is at the essence what we
(17:08):
were trying to accomplish. I mean, as you know, look,
masonry a little by little over the years has opened up,
but we felt that it was necessary to have our
own kind of King Solomon's temple where we could come
and and do masonry.
Speaker 5 (17:24):
So that kind of was like the drive. But you know,
of course, as.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
It kept going for the renee uh and and I just.
Speaker 5 (17:34):
Want to speak on something that works.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
For Will was saying, look, the Puerto Rican community and
African American community in New York City.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
We lived side by side to each other.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
We endure a lot of the same forms of discrimination.
We endured a lot of the civil rights struggles.
Speaker 5 (17:56):
And I have wanted to make it a point that
the Prince Whole brothers were brothers.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
That we were on the level, that we were going
to meet on the level, and that there was no
distinction among us.
Speaker 5 (18:06):
That we were brothers. And you know, whether we came
from Princeville or Grandma, out of the state, it didn't matter.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
Because we have to provide an example when we go
back to the community that they can see that the
young people can see, Wow, these guys are African American,
they're Puerto Rican, they're Dominican, and they're all talking to
each other.
Speaker 5 (18:25):
They're all getting it alone. They're all talking to each other.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
Brother I think that's important to fight a lot of
the divis business that is.
Speaker 5 (18:32):
Happening in our neighborhoods.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
So and I think masonry is a great way to
do that. But I'll turn it over to one of
my brothers so they can, you know, give you their
perspective of why we ended up starting this.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Sure, So Michael, So you remember a while back when
I did your first podcast about my travels to the island,
and I was writing for Craftman Online about my travels.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
I remember that.
Speaker 5 (19:00):
Yeah, at that time.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
I didn't know Victor at the time, so I was
traveling there. And this time when I went to Puerto Rico,
I wanted to go to visit family and also visit
a Masonic journey to see the to be around my
culture and my roots, but with brothers. And as I
went there, I connected with a lot of great brothers
(19:23):
out there and Mason and I didn't know I was
friends with the Grand Master of Puerto Rico. Now my
name is Gallito Boreto Well righte Worship of Gallito Boreto.
As I came back and I met Victor because me
and Victor is in the same valley of New York City,
and I met Timothy Reels right worship. With Timothy Reels,
I was trying to have them affiliate with the same
lodge in Puerto Rico with me, and we signed the
(19:43):
petitions and everything. It didn't go as planned. Now Will
was a different story because me and Will met in
the Bronx. It turns out that Makesrey is beautiful. It's
really is a small world. And with me and Will
was talking and we were saying hey. He asked me,
he know where are you from? I said, Oh, I'm
Puerto Rican. Good, No, where are you from? I'm from Brooklyn?
(20:05):
He says me too, from the same part of Brooklyn.
But his turns out his dad and my dad and
my whole family, they all were friends and they knew
each other.
Speaker 6 (20:13):
Yeah, uncle, go to my house. Know where my mother
the house was at? Like, oh wow, I didn't even
know that the body because he lived up the block.
For me, he lived a block away.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Yeah, right up the block form my grandparents had a house.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
I think your story is going to be so cool
because you're still all relatively young guys, right, and so
this lodge now has a family element to it, and
you're starting this and the next generation of Masons that
come in, your kids, their kids, they're all going to
get to be a part of something special and have
that family still be a part of it. Which talk
about a mystic tie.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Amazing the name my way By now holds a family
tie because that's where my father. My father's not here,
but my father's my father's family are from a town
in Puerto Rico called Wayania, and that was the town
where our way By now rule from those times, and
the name kind of is very is very significant for me.
Speaker 6 (21:04):
Yeah, my wife actually danced with his mother. My wife
knew when he was a kid. He was like the man.
I told her Vick the Negro. She's like, oh, I'm
remember when he was looking. But he didn't dance, he
wasn't involved in the drumming. But I'm talking about over
what had to be what twenty five years ago, thirty
years ago?
Speaker 5 (21:23):
Yeah, it was a long time.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Yeah, it's just full circle.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Oh man, there's like old polaroid pictures of I bet
the three of you guys.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
You know, I don't believe the coincidence. I believe in
uh and and secretism. That's what I believe.
Speaker 6 (21:39):
But that's the essylterical, that's the mysticism of masony How
did they bring it together? How, somehow we got brought
together in New York, we got what nine million legal
people here now and somehow with masonry brought us together.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Let's talk about the freemasonry aspect of this. So I'm
Mexican American. Uh, he got a chance to visit San Juan,
Puerto Rico last year with my wife. We made the
American mistake, would never have gone there before. And I'm like, oh,
guess is so much cheaper here. No it's not. But
I didn't get a chance to visit a lodge and
I wish I had. So maybe you can take us inside,
(22:16):
you know, for those listening who have never been there,
to see how freemasonry is practiced on the island.
Speaker 5 (22:21):
What is it like there?
Speaker 4 (22:22):
When we started talking about this, and I'll I'll address
your question shortly. But I went to Puerto Rico, and
you know, I sat down with the Grand Master, Aniva Thus,
and I picked him this idea.
Speaker 5 (22:36):
I said, Hey, you know, we're Puerto Rican. We're trying
to start this lot in New York.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
And I don't know if you know their history, but
you know, there's a lot of for whatever reason, there's
a lot of reasons. There's a lot of antagonism between
the Puerto Ricans on of the Puerto Rico as opposed
to the Puerto Rican and the di explorer here in
the United States. And to my surprise, they welcomed us.
It's so much so that last year when worshpool Well
(23:02):
and I were at their annual communication. The Grand Master
came down from the Grandnie and presented us with a
symbolic charter, which to us was wow.
Speaker 5 (23:14):
I always left speech to us because you.
Speaker 4 (23:17):
Know, it was such an outpouring of support and love
from from the brothers in Puerto Rico, and I really
want to thank them because they have been such supporters
and the integral part of this movement as well.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
It's just masonry. So but if I.
Speaker 4 (23:33):
Could address your your question as to masonry and Puerto Rico,
the Puerto Rico SYSM in the Caribbean has a lot
of influence from a lot of different places. I think,
right Worshipful Carlo Barto, who brother and they mentioned earlier,
said that the first Lodgers were print.
Speaker 5 (23:53):
Later on there was other Grand Lodgers that established establish
lodgers in Puerto Rico.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
The current Grand Lodge traces his heretive back to the
Grand Lodge of Cuba. In eighteen eighty five they started
a provincial Grand Lodge and then the Grand Lodge of
Puerto Rico.
Speaker 5 (24:10):
Separated and started their own sovereign Grand Lodge.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
I think one of the interesting aspects about masonry of
Puerto Rico is that in the United States, the Scottish
Right and Symbolic lodges and the Grand Lodge came to
an accord that Grand Lodge had a sclusive jurisdiction over
the three degrees of masurance and Scottish Right.
Speaker 5 (24:35):
Was going to do.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
Four to thirty second or thirty third if you were
selected to be a thirty third, you know, and Illustria's brother.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
But so.
Speaker 5 (24:47):
In my district is a little bit different because.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
You have some lodges that have a hybrid ritual that's
kind of Scottish Right elements.
Speaker 5 (24:55):
But at York, in Puerto Rico, they.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Do scott It's right symbolic ladders, so their regalia is
red and white decided. The recognitions are a little bit different.
How they have the lids room set up is different
than how we do it in New York under New
York Right.
Speaker 5 (25:15):
I think that the Scottish Right is a little.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
Bit more esoteric kind of the way that they present
it and how they do degrees. Easter's Station kind of
has his own autonomy, has their own culture and traditions.
Speaker 5 (25:29):
Although we are still you know, a brotherhood and you know,
we follow.
Speaker 4 (25:35):
The same landmarks, but how masonry maintain from jurisdiction is
kind of an awesome thing to see.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Let me ask this question because this all came on
my radar back in September. When I saw the pictures
on Instagram, I think it was on Renee's account, I
was like, Oh my gosh, we're getting a new launch
in New York. And I was like, oh my gosh,
and there's Renee. I recognize him. And I noticed is
mentioned there's some old traditions from the island that'll probably
(26:03):
be in play here. One was from what I saw
with the officers that were getting installed in for the
lodge and or dispensation, they didn't have jackets on. They
just had the white dress shirts and different aprons and
what you would see in the Blue Lodge. Typically, what
kind of new traditions are you going to start here
with your Puerto Rican lodge in the Grand Lodge of
New York.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
So so Will Victor's idea was to wear I think
it was Victor's idea to where the traditional Puerto Rican
and the I call the wuya eras they used them,
I mean, they don't use them in the island, and
of course they.
Speaker 5 (26:38):
Wear a suit.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
But Victor got the idea because he went to Rhode Island.
Micro correct Victor, and he saw the first Spanish lodge
a Rhode Island. They had the wabedat with a bow tie,
and he was, you know, we should stick to that tradition.
And one of the traditions, if you ever seen the
pictures in the installation, we're not using the typical worshful
master hat. We use using these what they called the
(27:01):
solbreto hats that they use, which a lot of the
musicians in Puerto Rico clear planetos, they call them planetos.
They wear these hats and to stick to that specific tradition.
And the tyler wears my chet there instead of a sword.
Speaker 5 (27:17):
So it's considered formal attire. And it's really because of
the weather, because I mean, you can imagine stuff under
degrees most of the year, but the dress.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
You know, the and I read a book that works
for will the just that I read Observing the Craft
by Andrew Hammer, and he takes a big emphasis on
the lodge having a uniform and.
Speaker 5 (27:44):
How that that creates a camaraderie, that creates the sense
of a team.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
So you know, one we wanted to do it that way,
so everybody looks to uniform. And two, it was also
part of this idea that we wanted to hibit our
Puerto ricanness, if you will, within the town finds of masonry. Right,
So we look, we looked through the constitution and said, hey,
(28:10):
I think we could do it.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
You know, living here in the nation's capital in DC,
we have a lot of affinity lodges. We have a
French speaking lodge, a couple of Spanish speaking lodges, German
speaking lodges, now Italian lodge. We have military lodges. It
just we have a musician's lodge that has started. And
one of the neat things when you get to travel
and go to these affinity lodges, especially ones that are
(28:56):
based on different cultures, it's like going to Disney's Epcot,
but in freemasonry, where you get to go in and
get a little bit of a taste of that culture,
not just from the brothers that are in the lodge,
or maybe the accents or the way that they do business,
but also in the meals, the festive boards that happened afterwards,
the events that they do, the camaraderie that they have.
There's really it's really a community of brothers in these
(29:17):
special lodges. And that's one thing that I would also
urge anybody listening to this podcast that will be in
the New York City area the fourth Thursday of the month,
sit in and be a part of this.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
We'll be meeting in the City Island in the Bronx.
And another thing too, Michael, that with the Wayaweera, one
of the things was the most important part of it
that I wanted was the Bible to be from the island.
And we figure we have the Bible to be a
maide in you and customly and bring broth from.
Speaker 5 (29:49):
Island, so we can use that and delage.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
And the Deputy Grandmaster, right Worship I believe he's right Worship,
Gallito Barreto. Actually he surprised us. He came to New
York for installations and he custom made the Bible with
the symbol with the squaring compass and with the indigenous
symbol on it. As you can see what Victim Negron
(30:12):
is wearing. That is the symbol of the title symbol
from there and when and the one of the brothers
from there named Orlando, I have to say his name
Bright Worship Orlando Melendez. He is a craftman. He is
a true mason, a carpenter. He handmade all the gavels
by hand, and he's the one that they used to
(30:35):
make all the gavels and all the lodges in the
Massan and Puerto Rico, and he made for us for
our lodge, and that's the galvels we use.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
You've got a lot of special things that are going
on with this new lodge. I'm really looking forward to
this May at our grand Lodge session. I can't wait
to be there to celebrate because I know what's going
to happen, and we'll have a new lodge chartered in
the first being a Puerto Rican lodge. Here for our
grand launch in New York, we had our first kind
of checkpoint with the Grand Master that came and visited
(31:05):
your lodge in September. As the officers are getting installed
under dispensation, what plans do you have to celebrate that
moment when that charter is officially put into your hand
and you can read it to your brothers and your lodge.
Speaker 5 (31:17):
Well, look for the regions. You know we're notorious. We're
having parties and I'm sure it's going to be a
voisterous festivity.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
And look, we hope that everything has been kind of
like organically happening. You know, the support that we received
from the Grand Lounge in New York and the Grand
Master was phenomenal and his support staff, the Grand Secretary
right worshful Bateman, right worshful Martin, and they kind of
(31:47):
wolked us through this procedure. The support that we got
from the Grand Lodge of Puerto Rico, like I mentioned earlier,
and just the brothers here. On the day that we
the offices were installed, you know, we were.
Speaker 5 (32:02):
Anticipating maybe fifty or sixty people.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
You know, there was probably over one hundred people there,
easily one hundred and thirty, so much so that the
lodge rooms in the Grand Lodge building are pretty big.
Speaker 5 (32:17):
People were standing in the hallway.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
It was amazing to see the support that we were
getting not only from the Masona community, but from the
Puerto Rican community at large. And we hope to continue
making a mark in both masonry and again this is
a community endeavor.
Speaker 5 (32:38):
You know, a lot of us were for a well.
Speaker 4 (32:42):
Brother Renee myself, I'm from the Bronx Step from Brooklyn,
you know, we came from humble beginnings and we really
feel that masonry could be a great place for a
lot of young men, particularly in the neighborhoods that we
grew up in, that they can look up to men
who have this kind of mastnic idea that they're kind
(33:05):
of better themselves that way, upstanding men before God and
Mason's right, so that they can be inspired too, and
we can show them a different path than what they're
traditionally being exposed to.
Speaker 5 (33:20):
So, you know that that's kind of the hope that
we can.
Speaker 4 (33:24):
Have an impact in our communities and our families, that
they can see the work that we're doing and kind
of get inside themselves to do something.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
To learn more about Aguabana Lodge. Maybe set up a
visit for yourself. Let's under dispensation. Just open up the
notes for our episode and you'll find the link in
the show description right there. This is right worship for
Brother Michael Lars. If you've enjoyed this episode, please you
could do me a couple of quick favors. One is,
tell another brother or friend about it. Two, if you've
got five seconds, oh my gosh, it means so much
(33:54):
to us, open up that podcast player. Please give us
a star, give us a rating. Better yet, give us
some comments and feedback. We love that and it helps
this episode connect with more people who have an interest
in freemasonry. Until next time, What peace and harmony prevailed
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