Startling Cannon Fire

Customs - Cannon Fire

Cannon Fire - The custom of Firing is not exclusively Masonic; it derived from an old tradition at military or civic events of firing cannons or muskets to mark a toast. There have been Masonic instances of such real firing; in 1741 the Vernon Lodge in Dublin held an open-air celebration where each toast was marked by musket fire. In 1751 Lodge No.27 in Cork would fire a cannon after their toasts, it could be heard right across city, and at a Masonic annual feast held near Sunderland in 1775 it was reported that the toasts were ‘drunk with the discharge of a cannon’; hopefully these were not full sized cannons! 

The use of cannons and muskets was exceptional, but it did become the custom for diners to mark a toast by banging their glasses (‘firing glasses’) down in imitation of cannon or musket fire. Although the Fitzroy Lodge No.569 (Honourable Artillery Company) chose to give Regimental Fire instead; in this the actions are said to represent the swinging of a fusee or taper to keep it glowing, before a grenade is symbolically lit and thrown.

At the January Festive Board of the Beauchamp Lodge, a celebratory event commemorating the defence of Rorke’s Drift, the Lodge Members and its guests gave ‘Masonic Fire, by ranks, i.e. ‘Rear Rank, Fire!’, ‘Middle Rank - Fire!’, ‘Front Rank - Fire!’

This Cannon Fire post has been provided by the West Kent Military Lodge. If you would like to know more about the Lodge contact us here