On the evening of Sunday, June 29th more than 50 Arrowmen from central Florida gathered at Camp La-No-Che for a Brotherhood Day. Five members were attaining Brotherhood but the manner in which they completed their induction was special and, at the time, unique. For the first time in the nation, a ceremony team, from Tipisa Lodge, conducted the new Brotherhood Ceremony.
The team was a special one. Two of the members had been on the section demonstration team for a year but the other two had only a few weeks to learn and perfect the ceremony. Johnny Cirillo, Michael Todd, Adam Marzec and Brent Weilhamer conducted the new ceremony. The team came together with few weeks’ notice, yet when the Brotherhood Day arrived, they were prepared.
Away from the dull roar of the hundreds of summer camp attendees, Arrowmen arrived from around the state. As they entered the ring, Nutiket gave them a small stick, asking them to add it to the fire in rededication to the principles of WWW. All in all, over 50 members attended the ceremony, from experienced advisers to budding ceremonialists, including Tipisa Lodge chief & multiple officers, other key lodge and council leadership, Section S-4 Chief Austin Kriznar and many others. Regardless of position, age or experience, the ceremony was well received by all.
Team adviser Ryan Showman addressed a major point of the new ceremony. "The retired Brotherhood Ceremony served us well…but didn't answer this question: Why is the second level of membership called Brotherhood? The new ceremony does [answer this]," Showman said.
"It gives deeper meaning to the bond of Brotherhood and what that really means,” explained Arrowman Michael Burton. "It shows that Brotherhood means more than just membership - it's a sense of contextual right and wrong, especially within the OA, Scouting and our communities at large."
Ceremonialist Johnny Cirillo agrees, "The ceremony is very special. It completes a member's induction and inspires them to go forth and succeed in all aspects of life, doing so as brothers rather than individuals."
Cirillo's humility is clear when asked about his involvement in the ceremony. "I was simply a vehicle for Kichkinet to happen. My journey...spanned three years,” he said. “It's the best thing I've ever helped accomplish."
Burton also helped demonstrate the ceremony over the past three years. "I enjoyed breaking down the mechanics and symbolism of the text to make sure it was as good as it can be,” he said.
For the Arrowmen involved in the development and release of the ceremony - both youth and adult - the inaugural Brotherhood Day was not as much an ending as a transition. The journey with the ceremony's development is nearly over, but with 2015 quickly approaching, mandatory use of the ceremony is coming. Everyone is excited and ready to help other ceremonialists learn the details of the new ceremony.
When learning the ceremony, Burton advised to start digging through the layers of symbolism, using the Guide to Understanding, which can be found at the end of the new Brotherhood Ceremony script, as a starting point and going from there.
"There's always new things to learn in this ceremony, so keep on your toes." He continues, "Make sure to display the joy we feel for [the candidates] in our expressions."
"Let the ceremony teach you,” offers Cirillo. "Record your voice speaking the text perfectly and then listen to it as one might their favorite record. Over time, the message and words become imprinted… proper preparedness lends itself to an easy conduction for eager and deserving candidates."
Showman gives advice specifically for advisers. "All the best practices for helping ceremonialists learn any ceremony apply here, like reading sentence by sentence, looking up unknown words and having a team discussion on the meaning of each & every line. [However] this ceremony is more difficult to conduct."
He said that the hardest part as a ceremonies adviser is "to ensure the ceremonialists are forging tight bonds with each other, for that deep sense of brotherhood is clear to candidates… that the ceremonialists are living the very values they are expressing. This is doubly important with the new Brotherhood Ceremony."
"The four ceremonialists need to be in tune with each other. Encourage conversation by asking questions… and then be quiet. Let them talk and grow as a team"
Since the late June premiere, lodges across the nation have begun to conduct the ceremony to much success. As we come closer to the 100th anniversary of the Order, it is becoming more and more important for teams to start working with the new ceremony. While the symbol-rich text and new perceived length may seem daunting at first, the ideas held within are things ceremonialists have been admonishing candidates with for nearly a hundred years; this ceremony gives us another avenue to spread the ideals of brotherhood, cheerfulness and service to new Brotherhood members, each other, fellow Scouts and our communities as a whole.
The new Brotherhood Ceremony and accompanying resources are available online here.