The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

White
Chapter 4 - Signs & Symbols 203
White, symbolizing purity and innocence, is the color to invest the candidate
with in ancient mysteries, and such is also the case in Masonry. The Hebrew
word, laban, means both, "to make white," and "to purify." In this sense, white is
employed throughout the Bible, for example in Isaiah, who said "Though thy
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." 572 As Mackey puts it, this
symbolism of purity was probably derived by the Masons from ancient church
ceremonies, where people who were going to be baptized received a white
garment as a symbol for putting off the lusts of the flesh, and maintaining an
unspotted life. However, the archaic symbolism of white denoting regeneration
was not adopted by Freemasonry. 573
"White" in Freemasonry has also acquired a totally different sense, for it can
refer to non-Masons, or to women. For example, "Maçonnerie blanche," 574 or
"white Masonry," was a title given by French writers to the Masonry of
Adoption, that is to female Masonry. In a similar sense, "white meetings," in
French, "tenues blanches," are a French Masonic metaphor for Masonic meetings
open to profanes, be it as orators or as guests. They serve to propagate Masonic
conceptions and to hear valuable speeches of non-Masonic and also anti-
Masonic people, who are even allowed to see the emblems of the Masons
present. This custom would equate the German "Gästeabende," at which
profanes can communicate with Masonic men or women, and receive
information on the Craft. At such gatherings, no secrets are revealed to the noninitiates.
Yellow
Neben den eigentlichen Logenarbeiten kennen die französischen
Bauhütten auch Veranstaltungen, zu denen auch Nichtfreimaurer, sei es
als Redner, sei es als Gäste zugezogen werden. Diese sehr häufigen
Tenues blanches dienen namentlich dem Zweck, maurerische
Anschauungen in profanen Kreisen zu verbreiten, sie bieten aber auch
Gelegenheit, hervorragende Männer des öffentlichen Lebens (auch
Gegner) in den Logen zum Worte kommen zu lassen. Die Mitglieder
tragen bei diesen Anlässen ihr Logenabzeichen. 575
As Mackey puts it, "[o]f all the colors, yellow seems to be the least important
and the least general in Masonic symbolism." 576 It is always to be seen in
connection with the symbolism of gold, alluding to the sun. Yellow was the
572 Ibid, p. 847.
573 Ibid, p. 848.
574 Ibid. Cf. also TRMC, p. 767.
575 IFL, p. 1569.
576 EOF, p. 865.