Introduction to the Ceremonial Evolution

Before there was a National Chief, before there was a National Conference, National Committee, an Order of the Arrow, a red Arrow on a white sash, the Wimachtendienk, there was a ceremony.  In fact, as you will see there were several ceremonies and Urner Goodman and Carroll Edson refined the texts over time and each new one was an improvement on the previous ones.  The Founders were developing the induction process for this Camping Honorary in the early years.

The ceremonies are the very heart of the Order of the Arrow.  They contain ideas, ideals and concepts that the Founders wanted each new candidate to accept and remember as life goals.  Every lodge must examine the current ceremonies carefully to make sure that they are following in their lodge operation and policies the ideas set forth in the ceremonies and are not in conflict with anything presented during the ceremonies.  They are a guide for all of us.

We owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Terry Grove who has spent several years and traveled countless miles to unearth the ceremonial beginnings of the Order.  I have had the pleasure of going over his drafts and gleanings as he has assembled this chronology of our Order.  I must confess that this is work that I should have done as I had Urner Goodman as my mentor during the last ten years of his life while I was serving as the National Chairman of Ceremonies for the Order.  During this time I was pre-occupied with the future of the Order and in ceremonial improvement.  There were many projects introduced, retained, and adopted with the approval of Urner during this time.  We were always looking forward with little time devoted to uncovering the past.  Thanks to Terry Grove, this phase of the ceremonial development has now been documented and published.

A caveat…  these ceremonial texts were all created during the first 33 years of the Order and before the Boy Scouts of America fully recognized and adopted the Order of the Arrow as its Honor Society.  These ceremonies, therefore, have never been under religious or conceptual review by any of the review boards of the Boy Scouts of America and must not be used for any induction purpose at the present time.  The review process came during and after 1948 and is an on going process today.  These texts are for your historical review and information.  They are not to be used in any ceremonies today.

Thanks again to Terry Grove who has done a great and dedicated service to the historical study of our Order’s early ceremonies.  If you consider yourself a “ceremonialist”, you will discover the following pages fascinating and will provide a great insight and understanding for what we have today.  Good reading.  It will be fun.

Del Loder

Founder’s Council

National Order of the Arrow Committee