Discussion of the ritual of collecting ashes while camping.
Show Notes:
- Legend the Lord Baden-Bowell would take a small amount of ashes from a ceremonial campfire and spread to the next campfire – Read Story
- Training Corner Blog – Collecting Ashes.
Cover photo by Serkan Turk on Unsplash
Transcript:
Years ago, while taking some scout training one of the others in attendance related the practice of saving ashes from campfire as a keepsake of the trip.
For some reason this really stuck with me and I have been doing it for quite a number of years all the way back to my cub scout days.
While back then they really didn’t discuss the mechanics of how to do it, the way I collect the ashes is that I have a small Tupperware type tub at home and while on the camping trip I grab a baggie or some other small receptacle and grab a small handful of ashes and take them home.
At home I add the ashes to the container and I add the date and trip type to a label on the outside of the container. I’ve saved ashes from cub parent weekends in cub scouts, Camporees that I have run and I have one from the first time the fireplace was used at the newly constructed dining hall at my home camp.
I have heard of some folks that bring the ashes with them and put them in the fire prior or during the current campfire and then collect them afterwards.
But even though I’m a bit of a nut, I will sometimes forget to collect ashes, so taking my whole stash and risking it on the chance of me remembering, seemed to me as not such a good idea, I do it this way.
One of the other rituals is that if there is a flag retirement ceremony, that in the morning to dig around for the grommets, and save them with the rest of the ashes. I have a few grommets in my pile of ashes as well.
A lot of scouting is about these little rituals. This is one I’ve shared over the years with the boys, and as a result, without any specific prodding I’ve caught boys digging around in the ashes in the morning to find the grommets for their own collection.
This fills me with a sense of pride that the boys actually not only hear what I am saying, but comprehend the significance and want to continue on the traditions themselves. Maybe someday they will relate the story to their own kids or their own troop years into the future. But this is what works for us.
Take what you like and leave the rest, and as we say in Woodbadge, feedback is a gift, leave yours below in the comments, with the hope we can all learn together.
I’m Scoutmaster Dave, and this was all collecting ashes.
