Crashing the Freemasons

Thanks to my friend Adam's curiosity and my Googling skills, on Friday we ended up at the only Masonic event other than funerals that are open to the public, the annual Installation of Officers, at the Salt Lake City Masonic Temple. I don't really understand the whole Freemason thing, so I was pretty excited to get a peek at it and see the inside of the building I've always wondered about when I drive by. Here it is, as stolen from the Wasatch Lodge website. I was a bit nervous when we in our jeans walked into a half full auditorium of gowns, tuxes, and those Masonic loincloths. In fact, I think I whispered, "I'm scared" which they all probably heard with the acoustics of the vaulted fake night sky ceiling. I mean, the website said "open to the public" but clearly, everyone there was either a Mason, the wife/girlfriend of a Mason, or a good friend of a Mason who was told to wear a suit. For all I knew they would think we were Gormagons and would defend themselves with a sacrificial ritual. Turns out the only two people who talked to us the whole night were a guy I'd guess was the janitor who was real suspicious of us, and an awesome old mustachioed man who tried to recruit Beau--Adam's roommate who came for provide moral support. The ceremony itself was full of flowery language and rituals of the not so scandalous variety and now I understand Freemasonry slightly more than before. The inside of the temple was amazing, and I would have taken more photos if I hadn't been so scared, but this one of Beau and Adam was all I got.This sort of makes up for all those times growing up that Adam's dad promised but never did take us to visit to the Jehovas Witness' Kingdom Hall on a Sunday.