circumambulation

• Let it, indeed, be remembered, that in all such cases the usage of masonic circumambulation is to be observed, and that, therefore, we must first pass the Junior's station before we can get to that of the Senior Warden These officers having thus satisfied themselves that the box is in a proper condition for the reception of the ballots, it is then placed upon the altar by the Senior Deacon, who retires to his seat. —  The Principles of Masonic Law A Treatise on the Constitutional Laws, Usages and Landmarks of Freemasonry
• All the forenoon the court is a receptacle for cabbage leaves, fish scales, leeks, &c.; &c.--and; as a French chambermaid usually prefers the direct road to circumambulation, the refuse of the kitchen is then washed away by plentiful inundations from the dressing-room--the passages are blockaded by foul plates, fragments, and bones; to which if you add the smell exhaling from hoarded apples and gruyere cheese, you may form some notion of the sufferings of those whose olfactory nerves are not robust. —  A Residence in France During the Years 1792, 1793, 1794 and 1795, Complete Described in a Series of Letters from an English Lady: with General and Incidental Remarks on the French Character and Manners
• Sometimes, while the people stood around the altar, the rite of circumambulation was performed by the priest alone, who, turning towards the right hand, went around it, and sprinkled it with meal and holy water. —  The Symbolism of Freemasonry
• In making this circumambulation, it was considered absolutely necessary that the right side should always be next to the altar, and consequently, that the procession should move from the east to the south, then to the west, next to the north, and afterwards to the east again. —  The Symbolism of Freemasonry
• Gronovius, in commenting on this passage of Plautus, says, "In worshipping and praying to the gods they were accustomed to turn to the right hand A hymn of Callimachus has been preserved, which is said to have been chanted by the priests of Apollo at Delos, while performing this ceremony of circumambulation, the substance of which is, "We imitate the example of the sun, and follow his benevolent course It will be observed that this circumambulation around the altar was accompanied by the singing or chanting of a sacred ode. —  The Symbolism of Freemasonry

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