Of Campfires
Since the discovery of fire, man has had a special attraction to It. Many of Scouting's most cherished memories are of those times around a fire. Perhaps B.-P.'s original idea of a campfire was simply a group of Scouts meeting together in camp at the end of a busy day discussing their achievements during that day and making plans for the following day. Campfires can still serve that very useful purpose and they can do much more. Music can express a mood, release emotion or bring a group closer together. Acting (often in the form of campfire skits) serves a very useful part in youth development through which they can learn attitudes and appreciations and through which social and emotional developments are stimulated. Value is not limited to participants. While an audience gains satisfaction by identification with the performers, an enthusiastic audience may so stimulate the players that their performance reaches a high standard.
Whether it be song, acting, or other activity, what is most important is not the quality, it is not the enjoyment of those who hear it or see it. Rather, the real virtue is the effort a boy or group of boys have made - the self consciousness which has been overcome and the sense of achievement when he (or they) sit down to a rousing yell from the rest of the participants.
A campfire is more than just a gathering of people around a fire. Rather than being just an isolated event, a campfire becomes an integral part of Scouting in helping boys and girls develop into the men and women we want them to become.
The presence of fire brings special feelings and significance to many occasions. Baden-Powell taught many lessons at his campfires on Brownsea Island. In 1933, a group of Scouts from Iowa, wishing to physically hold some memory of their camp-out, decided to take with them ashes from their campfire, and so started a tradition. These ashes now represent over 298 campfires. We carry our friendship with us in these ashes from that campfire and other campfires with other comrades in other lands. May the Joining of the ashes of the dead fires with the leaping flames symbolize once more the unbroken chain that binds Scouts and Guides around the world. May that comradeship be continued as you take your campfire ashes and sprinkle them in the leaping flames of many campfires to come. These ashes have been carried by American Scouts around the world and have come from campfires reportedly beginning at Brownsea Island, England in 1907…Baden-Powell’s first Scout camp. Many have contributed ashes which have been mixed, burned and carried to other areas. Though the direct link to Brownsea Island has been lost, the genealogy of your ashes dated to 1933 and has found it’s way though over a dozen countries before making it to Hutto, Texas in 2012.
Below you will find the history of Hutto's ashes, in several different formats for you to carry on the tradition...