Since early times, humans have had the need to accompany their relatives in the transition from life to death. Even the earliest testimonies of burial rituals predate Homo sapiens sapiens, with the oldest found in Shanidar Cave (Iraq) performed by the genus Homo neanderthalensis (Rodríguez et al., 2021, p. 128). Numerous rituals have their embodiment on earth through material remains, from simple cave burials to large megalithic complexes in Atlantic Europe, culminating with the pyramids of Egypt.
The funeral ritual that encompasses this transition not only involves constructions but also symbols that express human beliefs about the afterlife or the vital message they wish to convey perpetually. These symbols have varied throughout history and can be observed in different formats: hieroglyphic inscriptions inside the great pyramids of Ancient Egypt, carvings or paintings on the orthostats of megalithic complexes, or schematic symbols present on warrior stelae.
But if there is a social group that in contemporary funeral contexts leaves its mark through ritual symbols of the world of death it is that related to all those people affiliated with Freemasonry, who, by virtue of being an invisible society before other "profane" individuals (understood as anyone who has not been "initiated" into any Masonic lodge), have coded but easily recognizable codes (García, 2013, p. 59).
Modern Freemasonry was not a unified current as it has been fragmented by several obediences, although it does have a common origin in the year 1717 with the founding of the Grand Lodge of London (García, 2013, p. 60). The first lodge arrived in Spain in 1728 through the initiative of the Duke of Wharton (Galán Díez, 2010, p. 215), although with effective presence on national territory from 1807 when Masonic currents entered through the presence of the Napoleonic army in Spanish soil (Benimeli, 1987, p. 58).
A nineteenth century that was the great era of Freemasonry in Spain especially in its last third regarding the influence of its members in the socio-political sphere of the country, creating a very strong bond between Masonic groups and republicanism (Benimeli, 2001, p. 105).
The relationships generated by Masonic associations with more progressive political currents in the country were inevitable due to similar organizational goals, ideas easily transversal between both fields of action. Among these principles can be summarized that Freemasonry seeks as its main goals:
- Liberty.
- Justice.
- Brotherhood.
- Rationalism.
- Secularism.
- Progress.
These are universal purposes that every person aimed to achieve from the moment they became part of a lodge, and which would have their material reflection in the form of symbols. If anything characterizes Freemasonry it is being a secretive society that does not reveal itself. Entry is not free; it depends on a selection process similar to that of recruitment. This secrecy was reflected materially through symbolic codes due to an "iconic apparatus inserted, in this case, within a ritual framework and performance which constitutes its main identity marker towards non-initiates" (García, 2013, p. 59).
Considering that the ritual burden in the life of a Mason was constant, if this is transferred to the moment of death of the same individual, such rituals would not disappear. Normally, if they had been an active Mason, they were represented on their tomb with symbols that allowed evoking functions of their Masonic principles during life.
The majority of niches and mausoleums we can find in a current cemetery loaded with the most significant and common symbols are mainly within a period spanning from late 19th century to early 20th century, a time interval that corresponds with the peak of Masonic symbolic expression (García Arranz, 2013, p. 63).
How can we appreciate this symbolism to recognize it in a cemetery today? The following symbols are the most frequent that can be easily observed:
- Flying hourglass: Figuratively represents an airborne sand clock. Iconographically, it symbolizes the flow of time and the inevitability of death. "For Freemasonry, the clepsydra means that time and space are human categories and that what is concrete is eternity" (Sempé de Gómez Llanes and Rizzo, 2002, p. 912).
- Torch: Symbolizes the purification of knowledge for a Mason. Represents the initiation of a Mason, which serves as illumination that breaks through into a world of darkness (Adam, 2005, p. 38).
- Chain: Refers to the symbiosis between heaven and earth (Callava, 2020, p. 196).
- Skull with crossed bones: Recalled the first teachings of a neophyte (Masonic apprentice), being one of the most prominent objects found in a room known as the chamber of reflection. It categorically refers to the physical death of an individual, reminding them during life that all presumption of personal glory is fleeting (Álvarez Lázaro, 1990, p. 21).
- Obelisk: Reference to the vigor of masculine energy by its phallic shape (Callava, 2020, p. 196).
Bibliography
Adam, S. G. (2005). Funébria, dualidad de significación iconográfica en la ciudad de Azul. En L. Maronese (comp.), Primeras Jornadas Nacionales de Patrimonio Simbólico en Cementerios, 1, 29-42.
Álvarez Lázaro, P. F. (2010). Educational esotericism of the Spanish Freemasonry of the nineteenth century. History Of Education: Interuniversity Review, 9, 13-42.
Benimeli, J. A. F. (1987). Establishment of lodges and geographical-historical distribution of Spanish Freemasonry. In J.A.F. Benimeli (Coordinator), Masonry in Spain during the 19th Century (pp. 57-216). Symposium on Methodology Applied to the History of Spanish Masonry. Junta de Castilla y León, Education and Culture Department.
Benimeli, J. A. F. (2001). Masonry. Alliance Editorial.
Callava, J. C. (2020). Masonry in Priego de Córdoba. Bulletin of the Royal Academy of Cordoba of Sciences, Literature and Noble Arts, 99 (169), 179-204.
Galán Díez, I. (2010). Masonry and Enlightenment in Spain.
García Arranz, J. J. (2013). Masonic symbolism or the emblems of self-knowledge. Words, symbols, emblems. The graphic structures of representation, 59-94.
Rodríguez, R. J., Rodriguez Zoya, L. G., and Rodríguez Zoya, P. G. (2021). Anthropogenesis of intersubjectivity. Subjectivity And Cognitive Processes. Vol. 25(1), 123-148.
Sempé de Gómez Llanes, M. C., and Rizzo, A. (October, 2002). The neoclassicism as Masonic architecture [Presentation]. In XXII Regional Geohistory Encounter. Resistencia, Chaco, Argentina. https://doi.org/https://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/156573
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