20th World Scout Jamboree closing ceremony

Scouting Scouting or the Scout Movement is a youth social movement, movement which became popularly established in the first decade of the twentieth century. It follows the Scout method of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activi ...

, a jamboree is a large gathering of

Scouts Scouting or the Scout Movement is a youth social movement, movement which became popularly established in the first decade of the twentieth century. It follows the Scout method of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activi ...

and/or

Girl Guides Girl Guides (or Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) are organisations within the Scout Movement originally and largely still for girls and women only. The Girl Guides began in 1910 with the formation of Girlguiding, The ...

who rally at a national or international level.

History

The 1st World Scout Jamboree was held in 1920, and was hosted by the United Kingdom. Since then, there have been twenty-four other

World Scout Jamboree The World Scout Jamboree is a Scouting Jamboree (Scouting), jamboree of the World Organization of the Scout Movement, typically attended by several tens of thousands of Scouts from around the world, aged 14 to 17. At the jamboree, many scouts sw ...

s, hosted in various countries, generally every four years. The 26th World Jamboree is to be held in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

in 2027. There are also national and continental jamborees held around the world with varying frequency. Many of these events will invite and attract Scouts from overseas.

Other gatherings

With the birth of the Jamboree concept, other large gatherings are also organized by national Scout organizations, geared towards a particular group of Scouts. Examples of these large gatherings include: * Moot – a camp or a gathering of Rovers * Venture – a gathering of young people in the Venture (Senior Scout) section * Indaba – a camp or a gathering of Adult Scout leaders * Agoonoree – a camp of Scouts with special needs * COMDECA – acronym for Community Development Camp, a large gathering of young people, implementing community development projects

Etymology

The origin of the word jamboree is not well understood. This is reflected in many dictionary entries. For example, according to the ''

Canadian Oxford Dictionary The ''Canadian Oxford Dictionary'' is a dictionary of Canadian English. First published by Oxford University Press Canada in 1998, it became a well-known reference for Canadian English. The second edition, published in 2004, contains about 300,0 ...

'', the etymology is "19th century, origin unknown". The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) identifies it as coming from American slang, identifying a use in the New York Herald in 1868 and in Irish writing later in the 19th century. It is popularly believed within the Scouting Movement that the word was coined by Baden-Powell, but there is no written documentation by either Powell or Scouting publications, and the word was in use decades earlier.

Use prior to Scouting

Baden-Powell was once asked why he chose "jamboree". He replied, "What else would you call it?" Other than a light-hearted retort, one way his response could have made sense is if the word had already had a specific meaning. Other writers used "jamboree" in the early 20th century, prior to its use in Scouting, to refer to "a lavish or boisterous celebration or party". Poet

Robert W. Service Robert William Service (16 January 1874 – 11 September 1958) was an English-born Canadian poet and writer, often called “The Poet of the Yukon" and "The Canadian Kipling". Born in Lancashire of Scottish descent, he was a bank clerk by trade ...

used the term in a poem, ''Athabaska Dick,'' published in 1912: "They are all a-glee for the jamboree, and they make the Landing ring".

Lucy Maud Montgomery Lucy Maud Montgomery (November 30, 1874 – April 24, 1942), published as L. M. Montgomery, was a Canadian author best known for a collection of novels, essays, short stories, and poetry beginning in 1908 with '' Anne of Green Gables''. Sh ...

used the term three times in 1915 in '' Anne of the Island'', a book set in the 1880s. For example, "There was quite a bewildering succession of drives, dances, picnics and boating parties, all expressively lumped together by Phil under the head of “jamborees”.

Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was an English poet, soldier, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were b ...

suggested in 1954 that Baden-Powell might have known the word through his regiment's Irish links, rather than from U.S. slang.

Other theories

The word "jamboree" has several claimed possible origins, ranging from

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

to Swahili to

Native American languages The Indigenous languages of the Americas are the languages that were used by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas Pre-Columbian era, before the arrival of non-Indigenous peoples. Over a thousand of these languages are still used today, while m ...

, which further confuses the meaning used by Baden-Powell. A guess is that the word "jamboree" is derived from the Swahili for hello, '' Jambo!''. Baden-Powell spent a considerable amount of time in East Africa in the 1880s, then again in the late 1890s.

Use in Scouting

The word "jamboree" is used primarily by the Scouting program following the first Boy Scout jamboree in 1920. Baden-Powell is said to have deliberately chosen the name "jamboree" where attendees were warmly welcomed attending this first Boy Scout rally or meeting with the word "jambo", but see Etymology, above. The word jamboree in English is used as a borrowed foreign word, with the ending ''-ree''. The word jamboree is both a

noun In grammar, a noun is a word that represents a concrete or abstract thing, like living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, and ideas. A noun may serve as an Object (grammar), object or Subject (grammar), subject within a p ...

and a

transitive verb A transitive verb is a verb that entails one or more transitive objects, for example, 'enjoys' in ''Amadeus enjoys music''. This contrasts with intransitive verbs, which do not entail transitive objects, for example, 'arose' in ''Beatrice arose ...

, with a direct action of the root word jambo. For example, an attendee of a jambo is a jamboree. Many, at this first "jamboree" or Scout gathering, did not fully capture the spirit of this then-new concept or greeting. At the first World Jamboree at

Olympia, London Olympia Events, formerly known as Olympia London and sometimes referred to as the Olympia Exhibition Centre, is an exhibition centre, event space and conference centre in West Kensington, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, L ...

, in 1920, Baden-Powell said:

"People give different meanings for this word, but from this year on, ''jamboree'' will take a specific meaning. It will be associated to the largest gathering of youth that ever took place."

Olave Baden-Powell coined the term to refer to the ''lingua franca'' used between Scouts of different languages and cultural habits, that develops when diverse Scouts meet, that fosters friendship and understanding between Scouts of the world. Sometimes the word "jamborette" is used to denote smaller, either local or international, gatherings. A similarly-used word, " camporee," in the Scouting program is also reflective of the older British use. "Camporee" reflects a local or regional gathering of

units for a period of camping and common activities. Similar to a camporee, a jamboree occurs less often and draws units from the entire nation or world.

International jamborees

, a gathering of Scouts from all over the world under the

World Organization of the Scout Movement The World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM ) is the largest and, after the Order of World Scouts (formed in 1911), is the second-oldest international organization in the Scout Movement, having been established in 1922. It has 176 members. ...

. Attendance is 30–40,000. * World Scout

Jamboree on the Air Jamboree on the Air, known by its acronym JOTA, is an international Scouting and Guiding activity held annually; it is on the third full weekend in October. First held in conjunction with the fiftieth anniversary of Scouting in 1957, it was devis ...

(JOTA) – an amateur radio event linking Scouts across the world * World Scout

Jamboree on the Internet Jamboree on the Internet, known by its acronym JOTI, is an international Scouting activity held annually. Participants, through the use of designated Chats from all over the world, can contact their fellow Scouts by means of the Internet. Common c ...

(JOTI) *

Jamboree on the Trail Jamboree on the Trail, known by its acronym JOTT, was a co-ordinated international Scouting activity held annually, following on the idea of the ''Join-in'' events from the World Jamboree Year. Scouts from all over the world simultaneously partic ...

(JOTT) is an international day of hiking * Africa Scout Jamboree * Arab Scout Jamboree * Asia-Pacific Scout Jamboree * Caribbean Scout Jamboree, a gathering of Scouts from the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

* Central European Jamboree, a gathering of Scouts from Central Europe * European Scout Jamboree, a gathering of Scouts from all over Europe * Interamerican Scout Jamboree, a gathering of Scouts from the Interamerican Scout Region * Baltic Jamboree, a gathering of Scouts and Guides from

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

and

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

together with international guests from other countries * Essex International Jamboree, a gathering of 7,000–9,000 Scouts and Guides from all over the world, held since 1927 * World Federation of Independent Scouts World Jamboree, a gathering of Scouts of the

World Federation of Independent Scouts The World Federation of Independent Scouts (WFIS) is a non-governmental international Scouting organization with over 7 million members in 151 affiliated Scout organizations in 65 countries. WFIS was formed in Laubach, Germany Germany, ...

* Jamboree 2008 (Northumberland), a celebration of the 1908 Humshaugh camp * Homenetmen General Jamboree, a gathering of Scouts of the Homenetmen * International Cultural Jamboree

National jamborees

* National Scout jamboree,

Boy Scouts of America Scouting America is the largest scouting organization and one of the largest List of youth organizations, youth organizations in the United States, with over 1 million youth, including nearly 200,000 female participants. Founded as the Boy Sco ...

* Canadian Scout Jamboree, a gathering of Scouts from Canada * Lithuanian National Jamboree, a gathering of Scouts from

, held every five years *

Australian Scout Jamboree The Australian Scout Jamboree is a national jamboree (Scouting), jamboree overseen by Scouts Australia. They have been held regularly since 1934, except for 1942 and 1945 due to World War II, and in 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia ...

, a gathering of Scouts from Australia and the Asia-Pacific Region * Australian Girl Guide Jamboree, a gathering of Girl Guides from around Australia and the world. * Nippon Jamboree, a gathering of Scouts from Japan * Nawaka, a gathering of Sea Scouts in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

* Irish Scout Jamborees * New Zealand Scout Jamboree * Girl Scout Senior Roundup *

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{Authority control Scouting events