February MM Degree

We would like to congratulate Brothers Shane Brumett, George Clynes, Robert Currier, Jeremy Frankel, Devin Gardner, Brian Moore and Alex Russell who were raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason during a special communication at Temple Lodge 6 on Thursday, February 25th.

Congratulations Brothers!

February FC Degree

We would like to congratulate Brothers Robert Currier, Jeremy Frankel, Brian Moore and Jerald Snider who were passed to the degree of Fellow Craft during a special communication at Temple Lodge 6 on Thursday, February 18th.

Congratulations Brothers!

Presidents Day!

Did you know?

The 3rd Monday of February in not officially titled "Presidents Day". It is officially titled "Washingtons Birthday", in honor of George Washington which was originally implemented by an Act of Congress in 1880 for government offices in the District of Columbia (20 Stat. 277) and expanded in 1885 to include all federal offices (23 Stat. 516).

As the first federal holiday to honor an American citizen, the holiday was celebrated on Washington's actual birthday (February 22), and on January 1, 1971, the federal holiday was shifted to the third Monday in February by the Uniform Monday Holiday Act.

This date places it between February 15 and 21, which makes the name "Washington's Birthday" a misnomer, since it never lands on Washington's actual birthday.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidents%27_Day

Valentine's Day!

Did you know?

Historians have traced the origin of Valentine's Day to the ancient Roman Empire. It is said that in the Rome of ancient times people observed a holiday on February 14th to honor Juno - the Queen of Roman Gods and Goddesses. The Romans also regarded Juno as the Goddess of Women and Marriage. On the following day, February 15th began the fertility festival called 'Feast of Lupercalia'. The festival of Lupercalia was celebrated to honor the Gods Lupercus and Faunus - the Roman God of Agriculture besides the legendary founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus.

An interesting custom was followed in the Feast of Lupercalia to bring together young boys and girls who otherwise were strictly separated. On the eve of the festival names of young Roman girls were written on a slip of paper and placed into jars. Each young man drew out a girl's name from the jar and was paired with the girl for the duration of Lupercalia. Sometimes pairing lasted for a year until next year's celebration.

Quite often, the couple would fall in love with each other and later marry. The custom lasted for a long time until people felt that the custom was un-Christian and that mates should be chosen by sight, not luck.

Reference: www.stvalentinesday.org/

February EA Degree

We would like to congratulate our newest Brothers Damon Flores and Robert Currier who were regularly initiated as Entered Apprentices during a special communication at Temple Lodge 6 on Thursday, February 11th.

Congratulations Brothers!

Traveling Passport Program

WM Chris Larsen announced today that Temple 6 in conjunction with Hiram 13, Albuquerque 60, Mesa 68, Sandia Mountain 72, Sandoval 76, and Zia Daylight 77 have created the District 6 Traveling Passport Program.

This program was created as a way to encourage our brethren to take some time during the year outside of Temple 6 and go visit our fraternal brothers in surrounding Lodges within our district so that we may have more opportunities to come together as a fraternity and share in those things Masonic.

Each Lodge has a “Traveling Passport Card” that you can carry with your annual dues card and present to the W.M. of the lodge you intend to visit for signature. The goal is to visit every lodge within District 6 (and the Grand Lodge) before the end of the year.

Once you have visited each lodge (and the Grand Lodge), present your Traveling Passport Card to the W.M. Larsen for proper recognition in completing your journey!

Groundhog Day!

Did you know?

Since 1886, Punxsutawney Phil has seen his shadow 98 times, which according to legend is a predicton of six more weeks of winter weather. It has been documented that Phil has not seen his shadow only 15 times since Groundhog Day was first recognized in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania 124 years ago (most recently in 2007).

There has been a total of 10 years during this long standing tradition where no record was kept on whether Phil did, or did not see his shadow on February 2 of each year (1886, 1889, 1891 - 1897, 1899). But as the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club would say - every documented prediction of continued winter weather based off of Phil seeing his shadow has been 100% accurate.

No bias there I'm sure . . .

Reference: http://www.groundhog.org/

44th Ballut Abyad Shrine Circus

It’s that time again, the Shrine Circus is back in town and as always we encourage all of our Temple 6 Nobles, Brethren, families and friends to go out and enjoy the Circus!

The Shrine Circus and events will be hosted in Tingley Coliseum at the New Mexico State Fairgrounds in Albuquerque, NM, and you can expect there will be several fun activities.

Show Times:

Feb. 12th - Friday: 4:30pm & 7:30pm
Feb 13th - Saturday: 11:30, 3:30pm, 7:30pm
Feb 14th - Sunday: 11:30, 3:30pm, 7:30pm

As much fun as the Shrine Circus brings to families and their children, it is important to remember that proceeds from this event goes to support the Ballut Abyad Shrine Center, Shrine International and the children who desperately need our support at the Shrine Hospitals. It’s a win/win situation for those individuals who attend the Circus for good times and entertainment, and for the children who receive our specialized care across the country. Go to http://www.abqshrinecircus.com/ for more information about the Shrine Circus, or to purchase tickets online.

Adults: $13 each

Children: $7 each (Ages 3 - 18)

Temple 6 Clothing Drive Results

Over the last few months, brethren from Temple 6 have been collecting several articles of clothing during our Joy Junction Clothing Drive from generous donations made to our Lodge by family, friends and members of the Fraternity.

Joy Junction is the largest homeless shelter in New Mexico and serves as a place of refuge to those who have been forced into the streets. As many as 300 women, children and families count on Joy Junction each day for food, shelter, clothing, transportation, and an array of other services.

As a Fraternity that practices charity to our fellow man, we felt that this clothing drive was a very good way for us to give back to members of our community and provide them something of value and in this case – clothing that was desperately needed during the winter and early spring months.

We are pleased to announce that the Temple 6 Clothing Drive did collect several hundred articles of clothing for men, women and children; and they were delivered to Joy Junction by our targeted date of Monday, February 1st, 2010.

This delivery included over two dozen large bags of clothing and three boxes of shoes. Temple 6 would like to thank everyone who participated in this clothing drive and we hope you will continue to support our charitable efforts in the coming months of 2010.