It was Wednesday in summer camp. Always Wednesday. Troop initiation day. Everyone took part. From the Scoutmaster on down. All the Scouts in the Troop that were at camp for the first time had to go through it. The SPL led the effort. I think, looking back, that it was done this way to prevent it from being done randomly, and it was done to all of us at the same time so no one was singled out or picked on individually. It was only this day, and not tolerated at other times.
It started with your uniform. You had to put it on backward and wear it all day. This meant having help. We helped each other, but still, an effort to even get dressed.
You were given a raw egg. You had to carry it, keep it unbroken, and get ten people to sign it. Invariably, someone would dot the "i" and you would have to request a new egg and start over. You still had to do all your classes, participate in camp, and the fun had just begun.
Because after the evening activities, when you returned to camp, the rest of the initiation began. We were blindfolded with our own neckerchiefs. Seated around a large campfire. The rest of the Troop seated around us. We were called out by our Patrol Leaders, and every mistake we had made in camp was listed. Then a list of punishments was described. In the end, the Scoutmaster would interrupt, and declare that this was undoubtedly the worst group of new Scouts the Troop had ever seen, and all of us would have to undergo the complete process to have any hope of being allowed to stay in the Troop.
The complete process. There was probably more to it, this is what I remember.
Bowing to the fire as we underwent OWA TAGU SIAM. Say it over and over. Say it faster. It will be revealed to you.
When you realize what a goose you are, you may inform the Senior Patrol Leader and move on. As a group in the dark, blindfolded, holding onto the shoulder of the Scout before you, you move up and down the trail past the other Troop campsites singing "I'm a Little Teapot". As you return, you are brought to the latrine.
Upended, with two people holding you by the legs, you are, still blindfolded, lowered into the hole and told to "Grab a lump". That there is a bucket, filled with clean water, sticks, toilet paper and Baby Ruth bars suspended in the opening just does not occur to you until later.
Returning to the fire, you are put on a lashed together platform, suspended by ropes from the trees above. You can feel the fire, but the blindfold prevents you from appreciating what has been prepared for you. They raise and lower you for half a minute, leaving you feeling like you are 20 feet off the ground. Actually about 10 inches off the ground, the platform has been slowly turned so you are pointed away from the fire. Laying on the ground, the SPL tell you to jump, jump hard to clear the purifying fire. You hear his voice from below you. If you hesitate, they all holler, "Jump, jump now or be dropped when we let go of the ropes!".
You jump. They scream. You land in a kiddie pool full of cold water and ice. A moment of shock where you think you have landed in the fire. They remove the blindfold, and you see where you are. The SPL gives you the Scout handshake and says, "Welcome to the Troop."
The Scoutmaster and the other adults have cookies, cake and drinks, they invite into the leaders area where you join the ones who jumped before you and await the ones to come. Initiation is over and now you are truly part of the Troop. You promise your silence about the events you have participated in, so that next year the new Scouts can begin their Wednesday in camp by putting their uniforms on backwards.
Beyond a certain point, the whole universe becomes a continuous process of initiation.
--Robert Anton Wilson
1 comments:
This brought back the memory of my initiation into a Troop in Mississippi.
I'll steal this theme and make a note to tell that story soon.
Great post.
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