Chapter 5 - Managing Spirit and Traditions

Patrol Leader Development

This section describes the phase and patrol traditions and symbols which have typically been used within Patrol Leader Development from one year to the next.

Phase Traditions

• Ceremony Baden Powell's Letter to a Patrol Leader .
• Phase Yell The WICOIN yell originates from Lord Robert Baden-Powell's Letter to a Patrol Leader. In short, it says,
• "First, win your boys by making yourself their friend and helper.
• "Secondly, influence them by your example in conduct and in doing things.
• "Thirdly, control them with your good sense and by keeping them to the teaching of the Scout Law. "
• The boldfaced letters form the (out of order) acronym, WICOIN.
• Phase song See White Stag Feeling.
• Quiet Hour An hour set aside each day to work on notebooks, and so forth.
• Turks Head The neckerchief slide. See The Turk's Head Neckerchief Slide (Woggle).
• A name plate Made of native materials.
• Phase color Pinned to the shoulder colors: dark green

Phase Symbols

Program patrol Tote bag, performs flag ceremony night and following morning.

Service patrol SM shovel, rakes and waters morning ceremony area, after ceremony and before ceremony on following day.

Rating poles Located at head of patrol in ceremony area, used to indicate rating from each day's inspections: green (low), red (medium), and white (high) stag on pole. Each stag can be in one of three positions: low, medium and high.

The Campsite Inspection Rating Plan

Troop Totem Large pole carved by staff to represent that year; PA's ought to be seen carving all week to show candidates that youth run the program. Past totems are displayed in cere-mony area.

Staves

Each patrol member receives a color-coded stave for their patrol using the following schema.

Patrol Traditions

Each patrol is to develop:

• Patrol call
• Patrol yell
• Patrol song
• Patrol flag
• Patrol totem
• Individual nameplates
• Use of staves
• Phase song and yell

Instill first day:

• Not a free-time camp, but a leadership development camp
• Spare Time Activities (STAs)
• Duty Roster
• Inspections: personal, patrol, camp competition
• Evaluations: self, patrol, program and staff.
• Good Turns: daily, that no one knows about.

Patrol Names

These names are drawn from the White Stag legend; their descriptions are from the book, The White Stag, by Kate Seredy.

Cush

Cush, the Great Leader, father of Nimrod, who was given the power to understand the voice of God a long, long time after the people had been scattered from Babylon. It is he who first knew of the great land to the west, "rich in game and green pastures between two great rivers plentiful in fish, surrounded by mountains, warmed by the sun, sheltered from the cold..."

Nimrod

Nimrod, Mighty Hunter before the Lord, is the father of Hunor and Magyar. He is the patriarch of his people, and his people are the first to sight the miraculous stag, the first to follow it "to a land like an immense green bowl surrounded by mountains, warmed by the sun, sheltered from the cold." It is he first who prophesied the "Scourge of Hadur," Attila.

Magyar and Hunor

The Twin Eagles of Hadur, the two brothers who rule over the people of Nimrod after their father's death. It is these two whose disagreements cause the split in the family and tribe, that leads to the formation of the Hun and the Magyar tribes. They lead their people across many lands, against many hostile peoples, in pursuit of the miraculous stag, the White Stag.

Damon

Damon is the young boy who has a vision and prophesies the marriage of Hunor and Magyar to the Moonmaidens, and Damos who blessed Hunor's son, Bendeguz, the White Eagle.

Bendeguz

He is the first leader of the Huns, the first to stain the White Eagle's wings with red blood. He leads his people in war, "not because we want to, but because nothing must stand in our way, we must and we will reach our land of destiny." He allies his tribe with those of Aleeta, of the Cimmerians, and the alliance produces a "man-child," Attila.

Attila

Born in the year 408, Attila is the leader who finally pursues the White Stag through the Car-pathian Mountains. It is his people whose backs are to the mountain walls as their enemies rejoice in the Huns' imminent defeat. Attila is the "Red Eagle," prophesied by Nimrod and Damos, the "Scourge of God." He overcomes his defeat to lead his people west over the Carpathian Mountains to find a new land for his people.