Printing, reading, and freemasons in Costa Rica, 1899-1948

Abstract

Reading made Freemasons tolerant and free people, empowering them to make informed choices. It led them to reflect on their personal and collective historical existence and to question how this could be a burden or a catalyst in building a better society. The acceptance, fraternity, and solidarity among Freemasons, along with their thirst for knowledge, turned the lodges into a reading sociability. Despite their affiliation with three types of rites, they shared the same wealth of esoteric literary consumption. Masonic readers during the study period had access to books by Masons—mostly—on their identity and historical development as an association, and on liturgy and rituals (by foreign authors), especially from the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. This led the national Freemasons to follow the pattern of this rite and not formulate their own.