View source for Builders' rites

{{Short description|Ceremonies associated with construction}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2024}}
[[File:Washington_laying_cornerstone.jpg|thumb|[[George Washington]] at the [[United States Capitol cornerstone laying]]  depicted by [[Allyn Cox]]]]
'''Builders' rites''' are [[ceremony|ceremonies]] attendant on the laying of [[foundation stone]]s, including [[wikt:ecclesiastical|ecclesiastical]], [[masonic]] or other traditions connected with [[foundation (architecture)|foundation]]s or other aspects of construction.

One such custom is that of placing a few coins, newspapers, etc. within a cavity beneath the stone. Should the stone later be removed, the relics may be found. Though this tradition is still practiced, such memorials are likely deposited in the hope that they will never be disturbed. Another such rite is [[topping out]], when the last beam (or its equivalent) is placed atop a structure during its construction.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Builders' Rites |volume=4 |page=762|first=William James |last=Hughan}} According to the above, the best succinct account of these rites was to be obtained in [[George Speth|G. W. Speth]]'s ''Builders' Rites and Ceremonies'' (1893).</ref>

==History==
Historians and folklorists in the 19th and early 20th centuries were fascinated by possible "foundation sacrifices". [[Jacob Grimm]] remarked, "It was often thought necessary to entomb live animals and even men in the foundation, on which the structure was to be raised, to secure immovable stability."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Grimm |first=Jacob |author-link=Jacob Grimm |title=Teutonic Mythology |publisher=Dover |year=1966 |volume=X |location=New York |translator-last=Stalleybrass |translator-first=James |orig-date=1883}}</ref> [[Sabine Baring-Gould]] likewise claimed, "The old pagan laid the foundation of his house and fortress in blood."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Baring-Gould |first=Sabine |author-link=Sabine Baring-Gould |title=On Foundations |date=March 1887 |series=Murray's Magazine |volume=I |issue=3}}</ref> The 19th-century ''Folk-Lore Journal'' claimed that "under the walls of two round towers in [[Ireland]] (the only ones examined) human skeletons [were] discovered."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Coote |first=H.C. |date=Jan 1883 |title=A Building Superstition |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/1252495 |journal=Folk-Lore Journal |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=23–24|doi=10.1080/17442524.1883.10602633 |jstor=1252495 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> In the 15th century, the wall of [[St Peter's and St Paul's Church, Holsworthy|Holsworthy church]] was built over a living human being, and when this became unlawful, images of living beings were substituted.<ref name=EB1911/>

References to this practice can be found in Greek folk culture in a poem about "[[Bridge of Arta|Arta's bridge]]". According to the poem, the wife of the chief builder was sacrificed to establish a good foundation for a bridge that was of grave importance to the secluded city of [[Arta, Greece|Arta]]. The actual bridge was constructed in 1602. A similar legend appears in the Romanian folk poem ''[[Meșterul Manole]]'', about the building of the church in the earliest Wallachian capital city.{{cn|date=January 2011}}

==See also==

{{div col}}
* [[Bay Bridge Troll]]
* [[Builder's signature]]
* [[Ceremonial ship launching]]
* [[Cornerstone]]
* [[Dried cat]]
* [[Foundation deposit]]
* [[Groundbreaking]]
* [[Hitobashira]]
* [[Horse skulls]]
* [[Masonic manuscripts]]
* [[Time capsule]]
* [[Topping out]]
* [[Votive offering]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book |last=Dundes |first=Alan |url=https://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/0145.htm |title=The Walled-up Wife |publisher=The University of Wisconsin Press |year=1996}}
* {{Cite book |last=Robinson |first=John V. |url= |title=The 'topping out' traditions of the high-steel ironworkers |date=Fall 2001 |series=Western Folklore|volume=60 |issue=4 |pages=243–262 |publisher=Western States Folklore Society |doi=10.2307/1500407 |jstor=1500407 }}

{{Construction overview}}

[[Category:Building]]
[[Category:Ceremonies]]
[[Category:Building engineering]]
[[Category:History of construction]]
[[Category:Rituals attending construction]]