BROWNIES
(The
forest of adventure)
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The story
Herma
lives together with her family on a hill, near a beautiful forest, far from the
inhabited world. Father is a forester and knows everything that grows and flourishes
in the wood and makes sure that the forest keeps clean. The children often come
along with him. Herma loves the forest and all its inhabitants. The lonely
lake, where the animals come to drink, is in the middle of the forest. Close by
is the state of the deer. Rea and Radi are the principal deer of the wood. They
sort of run the forest and all the inhabitants respect them. When Rea calls the
deer, you hear: Toewiet, toewiet, toewiet.
Every morning all the animals gather by
the lonely lake. When Rea says: “Shoe”,
every animal finds their own place and search a place to sit and listen. Pung
and Pinta, the squirls, Sikowa, the raven, Nigra the crow en Depko the magpie,
the rabbits and much more animals. They all have their own password. Then the
law is said out loud and Rea tells: You can live in this large beautiful
forest. You can play in it as much as you like, but you also have to learn, as
it could be handy in the future. We always have to help each other to achieve
this. Therefore all the animals have to do tests. For instance deer have to
bring a surprise for all the animals for their third test.
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Herma
is sitting in the middle of the forest trying to find ten different flower
for school. Young deer see her and want to take her with them as a surprise
for the bush animals. Herma goes with them ti the lonely lake and then she
meets Rea, who asks her if she knows the laws of the woods and if she wants
to obey them. Herma doesn’t know the laws but is eager to learn them. Rea
explains them to her and then introduces her as a new inhabitant to all the
animals and asks them to learn Herma the passwords of each group, together
with the laws and secrets of the forest. Sikowa
the raven teaches Herma, that the leaders are chosen from the deer people and
that the inhabitants of the forest divide themselves into tribes and that
each tribe has its own password and that young animals are novices who have
to do three tests before they really matter. |
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Then Rea tells them to find the bird Sikowa,
along a path near the stream. For some the road is long and for some it is
difficult. Dubon and Filoen were against the acceptance of Herma in the woods
and they try to make it hard and difficult for Herma and to make her stop, but
they don’t succeed. When they arrive at Liroek all animals welcome her in the
forest as a member of the bush people. Together with the other animals she
learns everything necessary in the forest.
Origin
After the Second World War, when the
Dutch Guides Association arose, they wanted to have their own story, which is
the
The first part of the book is an
acquaintance with the family of a forest keeper.
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The rest of the book is
a teamwork of Herma with the deer, Rea and Radi, and the other animals in the
forest and nature. Rea, mother deer, learns the other animals many skills and
protects them to dangers. An important part of the book is the lonely lake. All the animals gather
here and are welcomed by Rea. They all wait anxiously until the sun is high
and then all the joy starts. Then every animal joins its tribe when Rea gives
the signal. |
Leaders
The leaders were named after
the deer Rea and Rhadi, the leaders of the bush people.
The brownies
A group of 24 brownies
was called a circle and was divided into tribes. Each tribe had a head brownie and
a helper. As a totem the brownies had the rising sun, she was the symbol of
joy. The motto of the brownies was: Pak maar aan (Let’s do it).
The uniform
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The brownies wore the
same uniform als the brownies from the NPG, a brown dress and a yellow tie,
but they wore a brown yarmulke in stead of a brown bonnet. They also wore a
special badge, the |
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The tribes
In total there were six
tribes who had names of animals from the story: blackbirds, squirrels, rabbits,
frogs, moorhens and grasshoppers. The subgroup signs were worn on the right
sleeve of the dress.
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Blackbird |
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Squirrel |
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Rabbit |
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Frog |
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Moorhen |
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Grasshopper |
Each tribe had it’s own
motto:
Blackbirds: We
are joyful
Squirrels: In
us the fire lives
Rabbits: Jump
all day
Frogs: Quick
and good
Moorhen: Straight
forward
Grasshopper: Ready
Go
Even the deer, as
leaders, had their own motto: We’re
from one people
Law and promise
The law:
A brownie is honest
A brownie listens to
Rea the leader
A brownie is always
happy
A brownie is good and friendly
for other forest inhabitants.
The promise:
With Gods help I will
do my best to be a real brownie, to help everywhere I can, especially at home!
Brownie greeting
A brownie who wasn’t
initiated yet, didn’t salute. When initiated a brownie saluted with two fingers
of the right hand to the head. The salute was two fingers, as the promise
consists of two parts. A brownie who was initiated was allowed to give the left
hand to other members of the movement as a token of friendship.
Tests
In the story the
animals had to do tests, so this also applied to the brownies. There were three
different cards of tests: the novice card, the finger card and the hand card.
On all three cards were three tests. When these tests were finished a brownie
could start earning merit badges.
Avonturenbloemen
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Lukwa |
= |
the food plant |
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Variatia |
= |
the changing plant |
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Buette |
= |
the healing herbs |
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Livea |
= |
the forget plant |
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Kwemba |
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the time flower |
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With al these flowers
we could enlarge the Adventure. The brownies loved to meet Lukwa, because
there was always something nice to eat. Buette was the first aid kit in the
brownie room. Variatia with its surprises could take a special place in the
room, the leaves of Variatia always had surprises. Livea with its pollen,
made you forget time. At the end of the meeting or with crossing over we used
Kwemba to awaken from our fantasy and return to normal time. |
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Livea |
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Ceremonies
There were 2 ceremonies which never changed:
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- The
circle greeting
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- The forest ring
The cickle
greeting
Everyone was ducked,
with both hands in salute on the ground between the knees. The totem and those
who were saluted to, stood in the circle. All said softly raising and ducking
slowly: “toewiet, toewiet, toehoe”, all looking to the ground. For the second time the
same was shouted louder, making the same movement, only raising a bit higher
and looking higher. For the third time it was shouted loud, the brownies jumped
up clapping their hand above their heads. All then stood still, saluted and
facing the person to who the circle greeting was meant for.
De Bosring
Rea and Radi stood at
the totem with the novices. Rea shouted: “Shoe, brownies”. The brownies went to their tribe
corners. When Rea shouted: “Toewiet, toewiet, toehoe” all the brownies gathered again, perhaps
shouting their own tribe motto. They formed a dancing circle, dancing first to
the left with a closing step, singing:
“Loh, loh, loh, loh, loh, loh,
loh,
Loh, loh, loh, loh, loh, loh, loh”
Then the same to the right, singing:
“we are brownies, hear our song,
We are always happy and work along!”
Then again to the left, singing:
“Loh, loh, loh, loh, loh, loh, loh,
Loh, loh, loh, loh, loh, loh, loh,”
When everyone stood
still, Rea knodded to a brownie, who stepped forward, saluted and said: “Work
along!” and then stepped back.
The circle saluted and answered: “We work along!”
More or less fixed
ceremonies were the initiation ceremony and the crossing over ceremony. They were
both mainly a fantasy game. The crossing over ceremony was the only ceremony at
which both guides and brownies were present.
Feasts
There are a few festive
occasions, which get a special program:
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- Initiation ceremony
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- Crossing over ceremony
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- The year feast
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- Thinking day
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- Birthday of a leader
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- Parents program
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Installatie . Before a brownie
could be initiated she had to make a initiation journey. During this journey the novices had to do
some tests. They showed all the guests and other brownies what they already
knew about the brownies and that they really wanted to be initiated. |
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Thinking day February 22 the
brownies celebrated Thinking day. It is the birthday of Lord and Lady Baden Powell. Therefore this day
was chosen as thinking day for all the members of the global movement. It was
a festivity with an international twist and the brownies wore a Ivy leaf and
a snowdrop as a sign of bravery and loyalty. Every member gave a thinking day
dime or quarter, to help other countries or countries in need. |
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One of the large
parties in a brownie circle was the Forest Party. The difference between the weekly programs and a
forest party was, that at a forest party the children made the atmosphere for
the largest part themselves. It was a party full of surprises and the
children took also part in it by acting, singing etc. Of course it was
managed by the leaders, but they didn’t organize and execute the whole
program and all the parts. Every tribe had its own part in the party. It was
most fun if a forest party could really be held in a real forest. |
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Secret code and brownie language
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The brownies had their own secret code and their
brownie language. The secret word was LOH, short for the brownie
secret, Laat Ons Helpen. (Let us help) |
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Secret code The
secret code is concluded in a song at the melody of: “Geel staat het koren” |
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Brownie language This language had to
be kept a secret for outsiders of course. |
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Opening and closing
There wasn’t a strict
opening of closing ritual, it depended on the theme of the gathering. There were two songs though which often
were used for opening and closing:
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Opening 1 |
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Closing 1 |
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Ik dans hier
toch zo vrolijk, op het zachte mos Kom kabouter,
ga met mij, naar ’t grote bos We huppelen
blij en vrolijk, samen hand in hand Door de grote poort naar het kabouterland. Translation: Here I dance so gay, on the soft moss (2x) Come brownie, come with me to the great forest We skip gay and happy, hand in hand
Through the great gate to brownieland. |
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Ik dans hier
toch zo vrolijk, op het zachte mos Kom kabouter,
ga met mij uit ’t grote bos We huppelen
blij en vrolijk, samen hand in hand Door de grote
poort weer naar het mensenland. Translation: Here I dance so gay, on the soft moss (2x) Come brownie, come with me from the great forest We skip gay and happy, hand in hand Through the great gate back to human land |
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Opening 2 |
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Sluiting 2 |
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De zon is al
op bij het eenzame meer vergaderen de
bosdieren, elke week weer. Wij gaan er
spelen, in ’t grote bos We maken er
een danskring en draaien er op los. Dag Rea, dag
Radi, we vinden het zo fijn, Vanmiddag in
ons bos hier weer samen te zijn. De zon
schijnt al hoog en kleurt het bos goud We groeten
jullie allen, vrije dieren van het woud. Translation: The sun is already up
at the lonely lake Gather the animals
every week again We’ll play there in the
great forest We make a dancing
circle and twist and twist Hi Rea, hi Radi, we
really love it Today in our forest
together again The sun is high and
paints the forest gold We salute you all free animals of the wood. |
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De zon gaat
al onder bij het eenzame meer Vergaderen de
bosdieren, elke week weer. Wij gaan er
spelen, in ’t grote bos We maken er
een danskring en draaien er op los Dag Rea, dag
Radi, we vinden het zo fijn, Vanmiddag in
ons bos hier weer samen te zijn. De zon
schijnt al hoog en kleurt het bos goud We groeten jullie allen, vrije dieren van het woud. Translation: The sun is setting at the lonely lake Gather the animals every week again We’ll play there in the
great forest We make a dancing
circle and twist and twist Hi Rea, hi Radi, we
really love it Today in our forest together again The sun is high and
paints the forest gold We salute you all free animals of the wood. |
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Other information
As there were two stories for brownies after
the merge in 1973 the decision was made to let the brownies play in a new
country, Bambilië and the program of The
The
museum is always interested in "old" Dutch scouting stuff.
Are you considering removing your old stuff, please contact us.