Provincial Grand Lodge of East Lancashire><br /> <h1 class=Information for Lodge Officers
May 2003
A Guide for Directors of Ceremonies

2. THE CEREMONIES

•  The Role of the DC

•  The Ceremonial we use in our Lodges comes largely from that used at court in Ancient Times. If we look at great State occasions such as the Opening of Parliament, the Coronation, or the reception for a visiting Head of State, we can see very clearly that such important events call for much planning, organisation, rehearsal and sculpting to the requirements of the occasion.

•  The DC's planning starts at the beginning of the Masonic year, in co-operation with the WM and the other main officers. Consideration needs to be given to the year's programme of events, which ceremonies are to be carried out, what the sequence should be, who will perform the work and how best to make use of the broad range of talent within the lodge and in particular, the Junior Brethren.

•  It is important to produce and use a detailed checklist for each meeting. For example, if a Grand Lodge certificate needs to be presented, who has it and will you as DC have to collect it from the Secretary's table? Are there matches for relighting the candles in the third degree? Does the Tyler have a copy of the summons? If any point of protocol or etiquette is unclear, check with the Provincial Grand Secretary's Office (telephone: 0161 832 6256, email: secretariat@eastlancsmasons.org.uk).

•  The DC should arrive as early as possible for each meeting, at least half an hour before opening, to go through the checklist with the Tyler. It is the DC's responsibility to see that the Lodge furniture and accessories are in place (see Appendix 2). The DC is responsible for supervising the work of the Tyler. At this time, the DC will have much on his mind, but nevertheless he should still be courteous and affable.

•  The Lodge operates as a team and it is important that the DC tries always to engender the right team spirit within the Lodge. The division of duty between the DC and ADC should be clearly defined, for example, who picks up late arriving Brethren, and will it depend on rank? Later I have outlined some duties for the ADC.

•  In my opinion, the ideal Director of Ceremonies is one who controls without perhaps more than a glance or a slight movement of the head. We should not emulate those Directors of Ceremonies (and we all know at least one) who are far too obvious. Their apparent desire to let everyone see that they, and not the Master, are in charge is to be deprecated.

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