Thanks. Curious about what actually happened among guild members, apart from business talk and of course practicing a skill. Were there secret meetings? Rituals or festivities when members became journeymen or masters?
Wikipedia (forgive me!) says that their precursors, the Roman craft organizations, were "originally formed as religious confraternities."
Answers or resources for further reading—or medievalists working in this area—would be most welcome!
[I'm a Freemason, with a casual interest in history]
The oldest authoritative source we have which describes Masonry is the Regius Poem, dating from the early 1400s. At that time the guild system was still very much active.
http://theoldcharges.com/chapter-6.html
It details the duties and obligations of masons and stonecutters. While it does not describe the ceremonies by which a Apprentice became a Fellow or a Fellow a Master, it does include symbolic elements which remain in Masonic ceremonies to this day, such as the emphasis on education in the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences.
So while the details of the early ceremonies are lost to time, we know that many parts of the content continued to be taught over 600 years to the present day, which leads a reasonable speculation that the early known ceremonies may be similarly related to those practiced by the medieval Mason's guild.