Chapter of Rose Croix Feast – Celebration of Remembrance & Renewal
Easter Ceremony & Breakfast

Rose Croix Chapters traditionally observed Maundy Thursday on the middle day of Holy Week.  It has been called, variously, “Holy Thursday”, “The Day of the Supper of the Lord” and “The Day of Mysteries”.  Also, traditionally, the Christian world fixes it using the date of Easter Sunday, which is the first Sunday after the full moon which happens on or after March 1, the vernal equinox.  Freemasonry has remembered this special day and Brethren of the Scottish Rite have gathered throughout the world to reaffirm their faith in the universal fraternity of mankind.  The first written record of such observance is a ritual of the Eighteenth Degree, which Charles de Ladebat prepared and published in 1856 in New Orleans.  The Code of Statutes adopted in 1866 lists Maundy Thursday as a feast day, and as of 1878 the Statutes indicated its observance as obligatory.

In deference to the Maundy Thursday rites of churches however, in 1994 it was deemed appropriate that a Scottish Rite nonobligatory “Celebration of Remembrance & Renewal” should replace the traditional Maundy Thursday observance and be held near the vernal equinox, March 21.

In the Minneapolis Valley, the ceremony is held on a Saturday evening and is preceded by a dinner at which guests are invited to attend.

In addition, the Minneapolis Valley traditionally holds a brief ceremony on Easter morning followed by a breakfast.  This ceremony and breakfast is for Scottish Rite members only.