Three Cranes Grove, ADF, held our Imboc rite yesterday, and it coincided with Scout Sunday. Our Grove charters an inclusive Cub Scout pack, and combining the traditions of our Grove and Scouting has been an interesting process. I’m indebted to our Grove leadership for figuring a lot of this out.
So far as we know, we are the only Pagan chartering organization associated with Scouting America. There’s plenty of complicated aspects to that, but generally, our local council and district have been very supportive.
We always work to be as inclusive as possible, and it was no different this time, where we took this as an opportunity to bring all the kids into our rite, whether they were a part of Scouting America, the Girl Scouts of America, or just a kid coming to our rite.
We had our youngest Cub Scout bring our Bridóg around, and had older Scouts help guide him around. Our Scouts (and kids) also handed out programs, hymnals, and cups for the Waters. In all, it was a great experience, and I love that we were able to include more than just the Scouts from our chartered pack.
It’s likely that, at least as long as we maintain this connection to the Cub Scout pack, these traditions will grow at our Imbolc rite in the years to come.
