Seán O'Néill, 32°
5018 Woodland Way
Annandale, Virginia 22003–4161
xyz345@aol.com

Novem means nine in Latin, although today November is the eleventh month of our calendar, reflecting the shuffling of names that occurred when the Romans changed the early chronology from a 10- to a 12-month year.

In the United States, we mark this month by our family celebration of Thanksgiving, a pause in our usual activities intended to promote gratitude, sharing, and reflection. Most people's lives are complicated and busy, and it frequently is easier to focus on the demands of the day than to consider its gifts. But there is much to ponder. As citizens of the United States, we enjoy a standard of living unrivaled in any historical era, even by kings. In the earliest times, though, Thanksgiving celebrated survival. We inherited this custom from our Pilgrim ancestors, the first generation of immigrant Americans to survive on these shores and to celebrate by sharing their table, tradition tells us, with Native American Indians.

Masonry, also, has an autumn Feast of Thanksgiving, where men of different faiths can come together to acknowledge the One Source of all gifts and mercy. The Feast of Tishri, commemorated in the Lodge of Perfection of the Scottish Rite, was originally celebrated by the early Hebrews as an expression of gratitude to God for their first harvest in the land of Canaan, and it is referred to as Sukkoth (also spelled Succoth) or the Feast of Tabernacles. When King Solomon completed his Temple, he selected this feast to mark its dedication. Tishri is the name of the Hebrew month in which the observance usually occurs.

The Fourteenth Degree of the Scottish Rite provides a parallel between the completion of the Temple and the ongoing effort of Masons to perfect themselves for God's use. Freemasons have long ceased to labor in stone and wood. The rough materials used today are the traits and personalities of people. We are thus taught the significance of this feast as a remembrance of what has been provided to us and our responsibility to labor at constructing a better world, not solely through the erection of exquisite buildings but rather by continual improvement in the characters of men.

Seán O'Néill is a psychotherapist in private practice in Annandale, Virginia. He is a member of the Education Committee of the Scottish Rite Valley of Alexandria, Virginia, the District Educational Officer for Virginia Masonic District 1-A, Lodge Education Officer of Ft. Hunt Daytime Lodge No. 353, and Senior Warden of Skidmore Daylight Lodge No. 237. He is also a member of Knights Templar, Shrine, and Allied Masonic Degrees, a patron of the Eastern Star, and an adviser to the International Order of DeMolay.