“Our lodge is having its jubilee – will you come as my guest? Which jubilee is it – silver, golden or diamond?”
    Do you notice anything odd about that conversation? Probably not; but just over a hundred years ago it would have made very little sense, for in those days “jubilee” just meant 50 years. Full stop.
    Freemasonry recognises 100 years and regularly issues Centenary Warrants, but it has tended to overlook 50 years which is, after all, only half a century.
    Man has always tended to count in tens and hundreds – presumably because ten fingers and ten toes make an easily operated computer. No doubt if we had been given 12 digits instead of 10, we should all be counting in dozens and grosses.
    However, our ancient brethren, the Hebrews, reckoned in a slightly different manner: they certainly used hundreds and multiples of ten, especially the score (or 20), but they also had a special relationship with the number seven.
    The Genesis account of the Creation covered seven days, the last of which was a day of rest. So all time thereafter was to be divided into seven-day periods called weeks, and each seventh day would be a Sabbath or Day of Rest. No work could be done on the Sabbath and travel was limited to a distance of 200 cubits – about one kilometre.
    The significance of the number seven was not limited to the days of the week; there was a special place in the calendar for seven weeks. And so, at the send of the seventh week after Passover, the next day was kept as the Feast of Weeks, or Shavuot, and being in fact the 50th day, it became known as Pentecost, the Greek word for “fiftieth”.
    Seven years had an even more important significance. Just as men and women were required to do no work on the Sabbath Day, so the environment was to do no work in the seventh year. No crops were to be planted or harvested, the vineyards remained untended, animals and birds to be allowed to rest, and all took what we still call a “sabbatical year”.
    However, the really big celebrations were reserved for the completion of the seventh sabbatical year. Seven times seven being 49, the 50th year was therefore kept as particularly holy. Debts were cancelled, slaves were freed and property restored to its original owners.
    In other words, it was a time for making a fresh start and a time for celebration and rejoicing. So their jubilee was reckoned not as half a century, but as the culmination of the seven-times-seven syndrome.
    The 50th year was ushered in by the sounding of great trumpets, kept exclusively for this purpose, and not sounded at any other time. These trumpets were called, in Hebrew, “Jubel”, thus the feast became known as “The Jubilee”.
    This word soon became part of other languages, notably Latin, signifying joy and exultation, as in the Christmas Carol In Dulci Jubilo, while Psalm 100, O Be Joyful, is still known by its Latin title, “The Jubilate”.
    A 13th century Pope revived the name “Jubilee” to make AD 1300 a particularly holy year, but apart from that, there is little mention of jubilees until the 19th century, when Queen Victoria had reigned for 50 years.
    It was felt proper to mark the occasion with rejoicing, and so 1887 was described as The Queen’s Jubilee – not “Golden Jubilee” you notice – but plain “Jubilee”.
    Ten years later, Victoria still being on the throne, the country determined to celebrate her 60th year – but how? There was no precedent for this, because no British sovereign had ever reigned for 60 years before. George III came nearest with 59 and a quarter years, but that was all.
    Then it occurred to some bright spark that wedding anniversaries are described as silver for 25 years of marriage, golden for 50 and diamond for 60. So the solution was found and 1897 has ever since been known as Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.
    Moving on from there to 1935, when George V had reigned for 25 years, it was a simple matter to call this a Silver Jubilee, and that term was used again in 1977. No doubt in 2002 we shall be describing our celebrations as The Queen’s Golden Jubilee – and very appropriately, too.
    So if your lodge is indeed holding its jubilee – whether silver, golden or diamond, enjoy it to the full. I do not suggest that you should do no work, or let the weeds take over your garden.
    Nor do I recommend the waiving of all subscriptions or the return of the masonic hall to its original owners. But at least you can follow one ancient custom by blowing your own trumpet!

The Reverend Canon Richard Tydeman was awarded the Grand Master's Order of Service in Masonry in 1988 and promoted to Junior Grand Warden in 1989. In Royal Arch he was Grand Scribe Nehemiah in 1971 and Grand Superintendent in and over Suffolk 1980-1987. He holds high rank in many other Degrees and Orders.