The world columns [colunas] is one of the pillars of the Masonic vocabulary. These are the structural element of the temple and they figure in every graphic representation of freemasonry. When one enters the temple we pass between two large columns at the porch, denominated accordingly an ancient tradition that dates back to the construction of Solomon Temple, in Israel, before the birth of Christ. These columns represent the places where the apprentices and fellow craft present their “works” to the approval of their superiors. A letter identifies each of these pillars [colunas do pórtico]: one whose meaning is unveil in the apprentice degree, the second of the fellow craft degree. The position of these columns is different in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish rite and in the Rectified Scottish rite. These columns are normally Corinthian style and are decorated with leaves of acacia glued to the upper chapter. The Masonic tradition represents them with three pomegranates put over the chapters, a fruit that has numerous seeds, representing symbolically the multitude of Brethren spread all over the land. The term columns represent also the bancs where the apprentice and the fellow craft are seated, the apprentices in the North, and the fellow craft in the South. In this perspective the columns became horizontal and no more vertical, giving another illustration to the temple that puts its orient in the zenith and elevates, naturally, the Worshipful Master that is located in this place. The term columns describe, also, the three little columns that stand at the centre of the room, over or around the mosaic pavement. Their positioning is codified; two are at the west and the third close to the east, more exactly at the southeast. These three columns have their proper names as those at the entrance of the temple; the first one is associated with the Worshipful Master and represents “wisdom”; the second with the Senior Warden [primeiro vigilante] represents "strength"; and the third with the Junior Warden [Segundo vigilante] represents "beauty". The term column is mentioned in the phrase “column of harmony”, that represents the place where the musicians that amuse the masonic works in the seventeen or eighteen were placed. This function is performed, nowadays, by a brother that is in charge of playing the tunes required; normally, using CDs or pre-recorded music and a hi-fi system or even an iPod. This “column of harmony” is characteristic of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish rite, it doesn’t exists in the rites performed by the Anglo-Saxon freemasons: the Emulation and the York rites.
