Please note that this is not our home lodge but is a lodge that one of our brethen has visited. Our lodge is located in the San Francisco Bay Area.

  While traveling to a conference in Oulu, I was lucky enough to assist to a First Degree completely in Finnish. How did that go? Well surprisingly, I was able to follow everything without translation. Why? It was like watching a movie with subtitles.

Here is an extract from the Grand Lodge of Finland:
“Freemasonry first arrived in Finland in the year 1758 when the St. Johannes Lodge St. Augustin, founded in Stockholm two years earlier, extended its activities to include the city of Turku on the Finnish west coast. Freemasonry in Finland continued until 1813 when, as a consequence of the Finnish War of 1808-1809, contacts with Sweden deteriorated. In 1822 Tsar Alexander I forbade the existence of all secret societies within his kingdom, a prohibition which was also extended to the Freemasons. It was not until the 1920's that Americans of Finnish origin became interested in the idea of reestablishing Freemasonry in their former homeland. The result of this initiative was the establishment of Suomi Lodge No 1, which sat for the first time on August 18th, 1922 in Helsinki. The following year lodges were founded in both Tampere and Turku. During the early stages of their existence the Finnish lodges functioned under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of New York. From the outset, however, the intention was for Finnish Freemasonry to achieve its own independence. Indeed, it took only until the year 1924 for Finland's own autonomic Grand Lodge to come into being.”
  So, since the ritual used today in Finland is based on the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons from the GL of New York, it was very close to the ritual used in California. So beside the language, the sequence, floor work and position of the members of the lodge were very familiar.
  On the specific lodge I visited. After establishing contact through the GL of California with the GL of Finland, I was directed to the lodge building in Oulu. While it is not “marked” clearly, I still knew to look up and saw the Square and Compass at the top of the building. Beside the fact the first floor was a night club, restaurant, it was quite difficult to find the door to access the building without any instructions. Since I knew where to go, I knocked on the right door.

  There I was received by the Brethren of Tierna Loosi #98
(Lodge Star #98) and their WM Pekka J. The meeting and first degree were conducted in a small lodge room but very impressive from an ornament point of view. A beautiful glass window covered the completed South side of the lodge.

  The music was specific Masonic music composed by Jean Sibelius (8 December 1865 – 20 September 1957) who was a Finnish composer of the later Romantic period whose music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity. He was also a Freemason. This was the first time I was visiting a lodge in a foreign language I didn’t understand but also the fist time I could follow everything from beginning to end. And the Brethren of Tierna Loosi received me warmly (which is good when close to the Arctic circle) and shared with passion the history of Finland, their lodge and of Jean Sibelius.

Submitted by Sebastein Taveau, P.M.