Glowing Ceremony

By now your boys should be getting close to completing their Wolf Badge. Our Blue and Gold Banquet is usually held in March, so instead of having the boys wait until Blue and Gold, we are recognizing them with a special ceremony called "the glowing ceremony." We are doing this in the den meetings as each boy completes his badge. A funny thing about the glowing ceremony is that the boys who were far behind are catching up so that they can have their ceremony!

If you aren't already familiar with this, it's very fun and you can come up with all kinds of things to say.

Items needed:

• Large glowsticks (usually found in the camping section)
• Disposable clear containers

Ceremony prep:

• You will want to cut one end of the glow stick off being careful not to break the glass tube inside.


• Allow the liquid from the glow stick to collect into one of the containers.


• Wipe the glass tube carefully so that the chemicals will not cross contaminate when you empty the tube.


• Now you must be incredibly careful and remove the liquid from the glass tube and allow it to drain into another container.


• Test your chemicals before your ceremony! I usually dip the end of a paper towel into one solution and then pour a little of the other solution onto the towel so that they so not mix in the cups. Check in a dark room to insure that they glow!


• Cover both containers.

Now you have your prep done and it's time for your ceremony. We turned the lights off and had a little camp light in the corner to give us enough light to work with but was dark enough to see the glow.

It's time to work up your "story". Here was ours:

Boys, when you become a den leader there are several things that you get to do that no one else gets to see. One of those things you will get to see when you become den leaders to your children, is the Well of Akela. Now the Well is a special place where the Spirit of Akela lives. As a den leader, we are allowed to collect some of the well water to share with you. The Well water is very special. It will bond with the words that you say and will glow if you tell me the truth. Now, I need you to be very quiet. Only the Scout who is being asked the questions may talk. (At this point remove the cover from the "water" cup). Now Scout, I ask you to tell me the Cub Scout Promise. (Cub Scout Promise) Have you completed all of your requirements to the best of your ability? (Yes) And have you been a cheerful helper at home? (Yes) Very well, the water from the Well of Akela has bonded with your words. I will now mix the bonded water with the original water from the well, and if you are speaking the truth, your cup will glow. (mix the chemicals and they will glow.) Congratulations Scout on achieving the Rank of Wolf.

Note: one of the chemicals will be colored. I used a baby nose suction bulb to squirt the colored chemicals so that the boys didn't notice the color. Also do not reuse any of the containers. These are chemicals after all and not designed to be ingested. I did not allow any of my boys to touch the glowing substance as there may have been glass particals from the glass tube.

The boys love this ceremony. And it is lots of fun to see their faces light up.