BROWNIES
(Bambilië)
The story
A storyteller is desperately searching
for new stories as one evening he gets lost in a very thick cloud of fog. Once the
fog clears he sees a signpost with all strange names on it. He follows the
directions to Driemstein and on the road he sees all sorts of strange houses.
In a tavern he asks the way as the area is not familiar to him. The landlord
tells him that he has come to Bambilië, a country where all brownies of
Scouting Nederland play . Every week they have all kind of adventures. The
storyteller becomes enthousiastic and wants to explore the country in order to
collect new stories. He travels trough the country and has enough stories for a
long time.
The origin
As the NPG and the NG each had their own story for
brownies, a new story had to come after the merger in 1973. Until 2010 the
Dutch brownies played in the fantasy country of Bambilië. The Bamboek, containing
the story mentioned above was first published in multo-format together with
other information about the brownies. Later it was published as a book
with a new story about Bambilië, a sequence to the original story.
The second story
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A pair of twins find a suitcase on the attic at Aunt
Rosy’s house with a scarf and a map of Bambilië in it. It appears these items
belong to the storyteller, the grandfather of the twins. Aunt Rosy, an
explorer herself, hadn’t been able to find Bambilië herself. When they go
biking they take the scarf and map with them. Suddenly they come in Snorrega,
one of the border towns of Bambilië. The border guard recognizes the scarf
and then they are allowed to enter the country. In a next story they meet
with Dorinka, a nice old and wise women, who knows a lot about Bambilië. She
tells them to look for the old trail leading to the “Griezelige Grotten” ( |
Characteristics of Bambilië
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Bambilië has several towns with their own specific
features. For instance you do sports in Holdorp, bake bread in Haverhoek and
make music in Keverkapelle. The borders between Bambilië and other
countries (for example to visit the beavers, dolphins or estas) are called
Kristar and Snorrega. Often the program for initiation starts in one of them
and ends the program of crossing over to the next age group. For those who love the water, there are two towns, the
nostalgic Wamshaven and the busy Jiggelen. Besides that the rivers Jiggel,
Drintel and Woeps also have a lot to offer. Whoever has started the day with
a bad mood, will go to Moppereiland to get a good mood again. Beauty of nature can also be experienced in
Bambilië. There are the Warbossen (Wiggly Woods), the Wilde Woud (the |
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Peculiarities
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Bambilië also has its own radio and television
station, Baratev, and its own airline, Bambavia. The transmission |
Opening en closing song
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Ga
je mee, ga je allemaal eens mee Naar
het land aan de zee, Waar
kabouters groot en klein Praten,
zingen, bezig zijn Spelen
in ’t bos of bij de rivier Werken
per volkje, hebben plezier Waar
is dat land, hoe heet dat land Dat
land dat heet Bam,
bam, bilië, Bam, bam, bilië, Bam,
bam, bilië, Bambilië. |
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Ga
je mee, ga je allemaal weer mee Naar
ons huis, onze straat Waar
we allen groot en klein Praten,
zingen, bezig zijn Leren
op school en dromen in bed Helpen
een handje, maken veel pret. Een
week gaat vlug, dan zijn we terug In
’t land dat heet Bam,
bam, bilië, Bam, bam, bilië, Bam,
bam, bilië, Bambilië. |
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(English
translation) |
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Come with us, come along with us To the land near the sea, Where brownies big and small Talk, sing, doing all Play in the woods or near a stream Work in a tribe, have a lot of fun Where is that land, what’s the name of
it It is called Bam, bam, bilië, Bam, bam, bilië, Bam,
bam, bilië, Bambilië. |
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Come with us, come along with us To our house, to our street Where all together, big and small Talk, sing, doing all Learn at school and dream in bed Help a hand, make lots of fun. A week passes by, and we’ll return To the land that’s called Bam, bam, bilië, Bam, bam, bilië, Bam,
bam, bilië, Bambilië. |
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The Brownie law:
A brownie plays together with others in Bambilië. She is honest,
friendly, maintains and takes care of nature.
De Brownie
promise:
I’ll promise to do my best (with the help of God) to be a good brownie,
to help everyone wherever I can and to follow the Brownie law. You can count on
me.
Brownie language
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Brownies have their own language to pass information
quickly. A row of children behind each other is a tail, a row
next to each other is a wall. Two rows opposite each other is a street. A
large circle with holding hands is a dancing circle and a small circle with
the heads together is a talking circle. (Click
on the picture to see the explanation) |
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Uniform
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Brownies wore a green blouse and a green bonnet with
brown stripes in the cover. On the cover the brownie sign was sown: a green
badge, with a red ribbon and a red signpost in it. |
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The age groups sign was a white badge with a brown
ribbon and in it a brown signpost with green bushes around it. On the bottom
was the word Scouting. |
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Subgroup signs show in which town the subgroup
(tribe) lives. This was a square green badge with a green ribbon and a sign
that has something to do with that town. In the sign of Haverhoek, there is a
white chef’s cap and in the sign of Bromberg there is a orange/brown cat. |
Other information
The whole group of brownies was called a “kring”
(circle) and the subgroups were called “volkjes” (tribes).
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After the merge merit badges were white, round with
a colored, stylized picture, but later, when also the Estas existed, the
badges got a dark green triangle shape with a red border and a picture in it,
referring to the merit in three colors: blue, red and yellow. |
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Names of leaders were often diverted from names of
places. For instance there was Krissa (from Kristar), Jiggel (from Jiggelen),
Driemke (from Driemstein), but also Warretje or Wampie (from the Warbossen) en
Wilwou (from the Wilde Woud).
In the time the Bamboek was published in multo format,
there were not only booklets for leaders in multo format, but also for the
brownies there were special booklet in multo format in different themes like,
traffic, lend a hand, in and around the house, nature etc. When
the Bambook was published as a book, those booklets weren no longer available
in the Scoutshop.
At First there was a picture postcard for every
special occasion (for instance a birthday, initiation of crossing over) with on
it a drawn brownie. Later this changed into a picture postcard of Scouty, the
mascot of Scouting Nederland. After the release of the Bamboek as a booklet,
special certificates came for initiation and crossing over, both with a
different picture and the text belonging to the initiation or crossing over.
About Dorinka a different booklet with stories was
also published.
This age group was cancelled when in 2010 the age
groups were reconsidered for the centenary of Scouting in the Netherlands.
The
museum is always interested in "old" Dutch scouting stuff.
Are you considering removing your old stuff, please contact us.