New Brotherhood Ceremony

[SWScouter 34]

Boy' date=' that seems to be the overall feeling - I'm finding that very few people are 100% on board with it. I do like that the lines are more evenly distributed between the four Principals and I do appreciate and "get" the symbolism interwoven in the ceremony (but I'm pretty sure it will go right over the heads of about 90% of all Candidates). I think people were expecting and wanting a change, just not sure this was it. Would have been nice if the revision would have been more open to input - i.e. make it open to the general "OA public", if you will. Have a sort of 'contest' where people who are honestly serious about offering a revised ceremony would be able to submit a draft, from those drafts, maybe ten are chosen and those ten write and submit a final ceremony and one is chosen (or maybe pieces/parts of two or more are combined) for the official revised ceremony. I don't think that's the way it was done though. I suspect one designated writer and some tweaking of that version and it was a done deal, take it or leave it. Not to sound like an anarchist or stir up the pot, but I have to seriously wonder if some Lodges will simply opt not to do the new one (?).[/quote']

The changes to the Brotherhood ceremony have been in progress for a long time. Probably two or more years. The preview was made so that it could be shown at conclaves and feedback received and reviewed. I know some advisors for my chapter's ceremony team had an early draft and sent in comments on it. It is my understanding that a lot of comments and feedback was received from many lodges and taken into consideration when finalizing the ceremony. I was not involved in that so I do not know how the review process was managed, but it did occur and the update was open and not as you suspect.

[TheGong 18]

I suspect one designated writer and some tweaking of that version and it was a done deal' date=' take it or leave it. [/quote']

 

Wow you are right!

The author of the new script is also the author of the highly utilized ceremonies pamphlet "the Drum". If you are familiar with "The Drum" you will notice he used the same concepts in both. I do not like that he wrote it as I do not share the same views or concepts of the ceremonies as he does.

[MikeS 30]

Yeah, I kind of thought so as well - I realize the revision has been a work in progress for some time and it was passed to various lodges for additional input, but bottom line is that it was authored by one "pre-determined" individual. Though I do share his views on adding a great deal of symbolism to the ceremonies, I think the revised version should have been much more an "open concept" approach than what it was. Not necessarily saying you'd end up with a better ceremony, but considerably more options would have been brought to the table for consideration.

[TheGong 18]

I like the thought of the contest where people write their own ceremony and submitted them and take the best elements of each. We would get an amalgam of a ceremony that in the end would hopefully be a meaningful and not so contrived ceremony.

[Tokala 16]

I think some of the script was forced to match the symbolism and tradions. It just doesn't flow or make sense.

[MikeS 30]

Yeah, I tend to agree about the flow - telling the "Uncas" story seems to be somewhat similar to the Pre-Ordeal in that each Principal tells a part of the whole, as it were. In the case of the new B-hood ceremony, it just doesn't seem to work as well.