The Freemason’s White Gloves: What Do They Symbolize? What do they protect against? When are they removed and why?
White gloves are an important part of the Freemason’s dress, regardless of obedience and rite.
The gloves are given to the neophytes for the first time at the end of the initiation ceremony, just after the instruction, in the following terms ( 1st degree ritual of the REAA ):
THE VENERABLE MASTER
My Brethren, following a very ancient tradition, which goes back at least to the operative Masons of the Middle Ages, I now give you a pair of white gloves, which you will use in our Solemn Dresses. They tell you that the hands of a Freemason must remain pure of all blameworthy acts, just as his conscience will be pure of all vile feelings.
In the past, the new Brother was also given a pair of white women’s gloves, which he intended for the one who had the most right to his respect and esteem. As a substitute, it is a tradition in this Lodge to offer a rose.
The symbolism of the white gloves, which must be linked to that of the hand , is particularly rich. It touches on work, protection, purity, transformation and regeneration.
Gloves are often associated with the apron (especially the white apron of the apprentice and journeyman), with which it shares the same symbolic meaning.
Gloves first evoke clean, purified hands, as after ritual ablutions (Judaism, Islam). This physical purification is actually mental: it is a matter of preparing one’s soul to open up to new realities.
For the mysteries are accessible only to souls who are serene , open, emptied of all superfluous elements, ready to hear what would otherwise be totally inaudible.
Let’s get into the white glove symbolism in Freemasonry.
Read also our article on the white apron of the apprentice freemason.
The White Gloves of the Freemason: Symbolic Interpretation.
The white color of the gloves evokes virginity, innocence, purity but also renewal and rebirth. This is reminiscent of the White Work of spiritual alchemy, the second stage of the transmutation of the individual after the abandonment of the physical body (cf. the separation of the Work from the Moon ).
A new being emerges, stripped of its matter, radiant with light , ready to live a new life. The Freemason dressed in his white gloves can symbolize this new man.
White Gloves and Their Symbolism: Masonic Plank (jepense.org)