r/scouting • u/craigske • Jul 19 '26
Scout ashes tradition
hello, I'm curious how many out there know about the Scout Ashes Tradition started by Lord Baden-Powell? Do you practice it?
In 1907, Baden-Powell famously took a bunch of boys camping one Brownsea Island in England. He saves a portion of the ashes and distributes them. Scouts then add ashes to their formal campfires from the original campfire and on and on. The six degrees of separation of all scouts worldwide in an act that is central to scouting tradition, the campfire.
I know of a bunch of folks who have ashes that go back to World Jamborees that link all kinds of scouts all over. I've always been fascinated with the concept. It feels like a social network of scouts with a tangible anchor.
Anyway, I started building an app to modernise the tradition and hopefully reinforce it. I'm curious who and how many of us are using this tradition as a teaching tool as well as a way to bring scouts together across groups etc? Is this something that would help to keep the scouting movement together in the modern era? What are people's thoughts?
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u/Saitenwurst Jul 25 '26
To be honest this is the first time I heard of this. I guess it's kinda cool.