Adult Ceremonies

An Adult Recruiting Ceremony

• One 18" log cut in half with five evenly spaced holes drilled about an inch deep
• Two blue candles (battery Xmas candles painted can be substituted)
• Two yellow/gold candles
• One Red candle (any other different color than blue and gold will do as well)
• Candles are placed in holes in the log blue-yellow-red-yellow-blue

Give the Scout Sign until the group is silent. Have 5 denners off-stage walk silently forward with a lit taper and light the five candles starting with blue, yellow and then red. They extinguish their candles and stand on either side of you behind the now glowing log - all in silence.

Say the following:

These five candles burning brightly represent the light that adult leaders - Akelas - give to our Cub Scouts to help them grow in citizenship, character, and fitness. This is fitting because without these leaders these Scouts would be left to fend for themselves in darkness.

Without Council and District leaders (use wetted fingers to extinguish a blue candle) there would be less light, but still enough.

Without the Pack Committee (extinguish other blue candle) there would be even less light, but still enough.

Without the Cubmaster and other Pack leaders (extinguish a yellow) there would be much less light.

Without the Den Leaders and Den Chiefs (extinguish other yellow) there would be much, much less light.

Finally, we see only a small light left and the most important light of all. This is the light of parents who help these Scouts. And without the help of parents (extinguish red candle) who will cast a guiding light for these Scouts to lead them from darkness?

Have a staged parent in the back of the room come forward lighting a candle or using a battery lantern. Parent asks each person in turn to put hand on shoulder of person in front of them and follow him/her out of the meeting room.

Now if this doesn't get the attention of parents, I'm not sure they can be moved. Must be stones.

-- Thanks to Michael F. Bowman, Dep. Dist.Commissioner-Training, G.W.Dist., NCAC, BSA (Virginia)