A "Dressed" Coup Feather for Each Arrow of Light Recipient
(Note: These props can be purchased in kit form from Grey Eagle distributors or other Native American supplier. Look in the back of Boys' Life magazine for Native American suppliers.)
Ceremony Setup:
Locate the Coup Stick in its stand next to the podium or microphone. Keep the Coup Feathers at the podium.
Line up the Arrow of Light recipients so that they face the audience, with their parents standing behind them. Make sure that the Arrow of Light candidates can see you at the podium. Hand the Arrow of Light badge to the parents to hold until the end of the ceremony.
Signal the audience for silence by raising the Scout Sign.
Ceremony Dialogue:
(Note: PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS CEREMONY! {Or any other ceremony, for that matter} This ceremony is quite meaningful when it comes from the heart. Use the following dialogue as an outline for your presentation. It is important that you personalize the dialogue - the boys will truly appreciate it!)
When I was a boy, my favorite movies were Westerns. There were cowboys and Indians, ranchers, gold miners, and all kinds of exciting characters. We don't see too many Western movies these days, and that's too bad.
During many of these Western movies, the music in the sound track would start beating fast, indicating that some action was about to happen. This suspenseful music often meant that Indians were about to attack. There, on a rise above a plain, would be an Indian tribe, all decked out in battle gear. It was easy to spot the Chief - he had a huge headdress and carried a spear covered with feathers. Well, at least I thought it was a spear covered with feathers.
As I grew older, I learned a few things. The first thing that I learned was that it was inappropriate to call these people Indians. They are properly called Native Americans, because they are native to the continent of North America. The second thing that I learned was that Native Americans have a very interesting history. They have a sophisticated culture that I encourage all of you to study.
In studying Native American culture, I found that the Chief in those Western movies wasn't carrying a feather-covered spear at all. He was carrying what is called a Coup Stick. Let me tell you how a Native American earned the honor of carrying a Coup Stick.
In order for a boy to become a Brave, he had to be a good hunter. Remember, now, that early Native Americans had only simple weapons - spears and bows and arrows. These weapons are only effective at very close range. So, boys had to learn how to "sneak up" on their prey. When a boy reached the age of 10, he was given a Coup Feather. Coup Feathers are made by attaching a leather thong to one end of an eagle feather and a bit of hair from the mane of a horse to the other. The boy then practiced his stalking skills by sneaking up on a friend and tickling him on the ear with the horse hair at the end of his Coup Feather. When he could do this successfully, he would be considered to be a candidate to become a Brave.
Even when boys became Braves, they continued this practice of sneaking up on each other. This practice was known as "counting coup."
When a boy became a Brave, his coup feather became the first feather on his Coup Stick.
(Reach for Coup Stick and remove it from the stand.)
This is a Coup Stick. It is used by some Native American tribes to mark the achievements of a man as he grows up. It starts with the single Coup Feather that the boy earned when he became a Brave.
Every time the Brave had a significant event in his life, the Chief rewarded the Brave with a Coup Feather. A Brave might earn a Coup Feather for bravery in battle, saving a fellow Brave from danger, upon his marriage, or upon the birth of a child. When the Brave had earned enough Coup Feathers, he began to fasten them to a stick. He carried this stick with him always, as it was a symbol of his status in the tribe. People from other tribes could tell a Brave's importance to the tribe just by looking at his coup stick.
The stick that I hold in my hand is my coup stick. It has a feather on it for every significant event in my life. The first feather was given to me by my Cubmaster when I was 10 in a ceremony much like this one. There is a feather on this stick for every rank that I earned in Boy Scouts and in the Sea Explorers. There is a feather for my graduation from grade school, another for my graduation from high school, and yet another for my graduation from college. There is a feather for my confirmation and another one for my marriage. There is one feather on this stick in honor of the birth of each of my children. There is a feather for the first good job that I landed and a feather for each promotion that I've received in my career. As you can see, a Coup Stick becomes more impressive as a Brave moves through life, achieving greater and greater things in his life.
And so it is today that you begin the next part of your life. You start today to learn how to become a Brave. Now, you won't be learning how to stalk prey. Our society is a lot different today than it was in the early days of the Native Americans. You will, however, be learning new skills in Boy Scouting that will help you to become an honorable citizen in our society.
You have proven that you are ready to move on to this higher level by earning the Arrow of Light rank, the highest rank in Cub Scouting. I now ask your parents to present to you with the Arrow of Light badge.
(Applause)
To commemorate this day, we award each of you a Coup Feather. (Hand each Arrow of Light candidate a Coup Feather) Let this feather be a simple reminder to you that we have great expectations of you! Thirty years from now we expect that each of you will have achieved many great things and, had you been an early Native American, would carry with you an impressive Coup Stick.
Congratulations on achieving the Arrow of Light Rank! (Applause)
(Note: I wish I could recall the source of this ceremony. There is a {slight} chance that I came up with this one on my own, but it is more likely that I "borrowed" from someone else's work. If you are the original author, please drop me a line so that I can give you proper credit! Bill Dunn, Cubmaster, Pack 339, Benjamin Tallmadge District, Suffolk County Council, Long Island, NY.)
