The distinctive Shrine center that is home to the sixth annual FEZtival of Trees is not the only element of the Shrine fraternity – the Ancient Arabic Order, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine – that appears mysterious to the uninitiated, but the opportunity to explore that wonderful building is also an opportunity to learn more about the Shrine and its antecedents with the ancient international brotherhood of Freemasonry. The Masons are the oldest, largest and most widely known fraternal organization in the world and date their origins back to the 12th century.

Three-quarters of a millennium after the establishment of the Masonic orders, a group of Masons meeting in New York decided to create a new fraternity within Masonry dedicated to the marriage of fun, fellowship and philanthropy, which became the Shrine.

“Fun” is represented by the FEZtival; by the clowns, the circus, the guys in little cars; the Krazy Kops; the annual Car Show & Fly-In. “Fellowship” is represented by the more than two dozen clubs and special units that are housed in the temple, each with its own members and meeting spaces, along with the larger ceremonial gatherings of all Nobles and Ladies held several times each year. “Philanthropy” is the dedication of the Shrine to the support of the 22 Shriners Hospitals for Children, unique medical facilities that comprise a network stretching from Massachusetts to Hawaii, Canada to Mexico. Known to appreciate a lively good time, the philosophy of the Shrine has been described as, “Pleasure without intemperance, hospitality without rudeness and jollity without coarseness.”

And, of course, the activities of the Shrine in Maine include the annual Lobster Bowl high school all-star football game, proceeds from which are entirely devoted to supporting the hospitals and to providing Maine kids with unrestricted access to this unique network of healthcare for children.

In order to be eligible for membership in the Shrine, men (and only men, although there are large and very active women’s auxiliary units, including The Order of the Eastern Star, the largest fraternal organization in the world that both men and women can join) must first have achieved the rank of Third Degree Mason, a process which can be accomplished in as few as six weeks. The Masons, traditionally, have not recruited members, but membership is available to those who seek sponsorship from current members. Despite the mystery and misunderstandings that have grown around the organization due to its inherent privacy, it is not a secret society or a religious organization. Masonry “has no creed, no priesthood, and no plan for salvation.”

Freemasonry began as an association of highly skilled craftsmen in order to both protect and pass along the “secrets” of mathematics and physics which enabled them to create some of the most magnificent and enduring structures in the world at a time when most of the population was entirely illiterate and uneducated. The operative form of Masonry lasted nearly 400 years while its members built cathedrals, castles and the hundreds of Gothic structures in western Europe.

The organization’s literature proclaims that, “During the Cathedral Age, Masons formed themselves in workmen’s Guilds; each Guild forming a Lodge with regular officers and with three degrees of membership. The first were apprentices or bearers of burdens, the second were craftsmen or skilled workmen on the temples and the third were Masters or superintendents. Each Guild member had to develop proficiencies in his work to advance to a higher status, and during this advancement each member was also taught certain attributes of moral conduct. It was these Guild Lodges which actually gave birth to the modern Masonic Lodges and present-day Freemasonry,” and much of the symbolism of modern Masonry is based on the processes followed by the ancient craftsmen. The legacy of protecting the trade secrets of masons is the source of many of the formal rituals of the Masonic movement.

The society remains committed to “kindness in the home; honesty in business; courtesy toward others; dependability in one’s work; compassion for the unfortunate; resistance to evil; help for the weak; concern for good government; support for public education; and above all, a life-practicing reverence for God and love of fellow man.” It encourages good citizenship and political expression, but is not a political organization. Prominent Masons have included 13 U.S. presidents, Davy Crockett, Lewis and Clark, Charles Lindbergh, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Rudyard Kipling. The public is invited to learn more about the Masons, and the Shrine, inside the temple during the FEZtival.

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