World Scout Jamboree

World Scout Jamboree

Scouts at the 22nd World Scout Jamboree
Owner World Organization of the Scout Movement
Date 1920

The World Scout Jamboree is a 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.

The first World Scout Jamboree was organized by The Boy Scout Association in London. With exceptions for the war years, it has been organized approximately every four years, in the more recent years by the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM), in different locations over the world. The 21st World Scout Jamboree in 2007 was held in Hylands Park, Essex, United Kingdom, and celebrated the Centenary of Scouting. The 22nd World Scout Jamboree was at Rinkaby in Sweden. It opened on 27 July 2011 and ended 8 August 2011.[1]

Terminology

In lexicography, "Jamboree" is considered an Americanism that traces back to 1860–65 and refers to a joyful, noisy gathering.[2] The term is believed to originate from the words jabber (rapid, indistinct talk) and shivaree (noisy celebration), with "m" from jam (crowd).[3]

History

While World Scout Jamboree is the expression used by the World Organization of the Scout Movement,[4] other organizations held events called "jamborees" for their members.

The Scouting program became an international success following its founding by Robert Baden-Powell in 1907. With its continuing growth, the founder of the movement saw a need for a gathering of representatives of Scouting from all around the world. The general aim was to foster a worldwide brotherhood, and to help the young Scouts in the movement learn about other peoples and nations by direct interaction with them.

The idea of organizing such periodical international gatherings was originally conveyed to Baden-Powell by the General Chief of the Scouts of Greece, Konstantinos ("Kokos") Melas, during the 1918 international Scout meeting, in England.[5][6] Captain Melas proposed the gatherings should repeat every four years, in the same way Olympic Games were held in Ancient Greece. The suggestion was accepted with enthusiasm by Baden-Powell, who named the gatherings "Jamborees".

However, the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 delayed any plans for such an event. It was not until 1920 that the first World Scout Jamboree could be realized. It was held in the Olympia halls in Kensington, London. Symbolically, the Jamboree site bore the name of the birthplace of the Olympic Games, Olympia. 8,000 Scouts from 34 countries attended the event.

Cartoon in Punch, published in 1929 for the 3rd World Scout Jamboree

Thereafter, a Jamboree has been held every four years. There are two exceptions to this: no Jamboree was held between 1937 and 1947 because of the Second World War, and the 1979 Jamboree, which was to be held in Iran, was cancelled due to the political upheaval in the region at that time. The Jamboree has been held in different countries around the world. The first seven Jamborees were held in Europe. The eighth World Jamboree was held in North America where the tradition of moving the Jamboree among the continents began. As yet, Africa has not hosted a jamboree.

To replace the cancelled event of 1979, the World Scout Committee determined that an alternative celebration, the World Jamboree Year should take place. Several regional camps took place, such as the 12th Australian/4th Asia-Pacific Jamboree, held in Perth, Western Australia, along with countless Join-in-Jamboree activities — designed to allow Scouts from around the world to participate in an activity that thousands of other Scouts around the world were also participating in at the same time. This Join-in programme is being reproduced again as part of the Scouting 2007 Centenary celebrations.

So far, the greatest attendance of all Jamborees was in 1929, where over 50,000 members from around the world descended upon Birkenhead in the north-west of England. This number represented the permanent contingent who remained for the entire event. They were joined by hundreds of thousands of visiting Scouts who participated on a day basis.

The first Jamboree was more akin to an exhibition of Scouting, allowing visitors to see how things were done in other parts of the world. The Second Jamboree was conducted on a camp basis and each successive Jamboree has developed on this format where the programme is typically more activity oriented, with plenty of time for Scouts from different nations to interact and learn about each other in less formal ways than an exhibition would allow.

The 2007 Jamboree coincided with the Scouting Centenary celebrations. Because of this, the honour of hosting the event was again bestowed upon the United Kingdom, as the birthplace of Scouting. Over 40,000 young people camped in August at Hylands Park in Chelmsford, Essex. Hundreds of thousands of day visitors attended events in the south-east of England as part of the Jamboree.

The following Jamboree was held at Rinkaby in Sweden, opening on 27 July 2011. The Jamboree in 2015 will be in Japan and the Jamboree in 2019 will be at The Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve in West Virginia.

JOTA, JOTI and JOTT

JOTA/JOTI 2006 Logo

Jamboree on the Air

Jamboree on the Air, known by its acronym JOTA, is an international Scouting and Guiding activity held annually on the third full weekend in October. The event was first held in conjunction with the fiftieth anniversary of Scouting in 1957, and was devised by a radio amateur with the callsign G3BHK. It is now considered the largest event scheduled by the WOSM annually.[7]

Scouts talking on the radio during Jamboree On The Air

Amateur radio operators from all over the world participate with over 500,000 Scouts and Guides[8] to teach them about radio and to assist them to contact their fellow Scouts and Guides by means of amateur radio and since 2004, by the VOIP-based Echolink.[7] Scouts and Guides are also encouraged to send paper or electronic confirmations known as "QSL cards" (Or "eQSL's[9]" when they are sent electronically.) This provides the Scouts and Guides with a means of learning about fellow Scouts and Guides from around the world. It is an adjunct to the World Scout Jamboree.

The event is recognized as one of international participation by the various Scout and Guide organisations, and supports several awards which are a part of Scouting and Guiding programmes.

Jamboree on the Internet

Scouts at their computer during 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 communication methods include ScoutLink (IRC), e-mail, and VOIP. This provides the Scouts with a means of learning about fellow Scouts from around the world. JOTI operates alongside JOTA (Jamboree On The Air) and is an official event of the World Organization of the Scout Movement.

JOTI was pioneered in 1995 by Queanbeyan Rovers whilst one Rover, Norvan Vogt was on a student exchange in the Netherlands, with the home crew in Australia co-ordinated by Brett Sheffield. They connected Putten, Netherlands and Queanbeyan, Australia with dedicated IRC servers.[10] In November 1996 the World Scout Committee, noting that Scouting already had a considerable presence on the Internet, and that there was already an informal and rapidly growing Jamboree on the Internet, decided that JOTI should become an official international Scouting event, and that it should be held on the same weekend as the Jamboree on the Air (JOTA).

2011 saw the first ever 'JOTI Radio' station, a broadcast internet radio station based in the UK to provide entertainment for the JOTI weekend, which had live interviews from Scouts all over the world, organised by a local UK team from Avon Scout Radio (avonscoutradio.org.uk) with the support of Scout Radio (scoutradio.org.uk) an Essex based Scout radio team in the UK. JOTI Radio is now part of the annual JOTA / JOTI weekend.

Further information on JOTI is available at www.world-jotajoti.info

Jamboree on the Trail

JOTT 2006 logo

Following on the idea of the Join-in events from the World Jamboree Year, Jamboree on the Trail (or JOTT),[11] is a co-ordinated event where Scouts around the world simultaneously participate in local hikes. It takes place on an annual basis on the 2nd Saturday in May.

This type of event allows Scouts to take part in activities at the same time as other Scouts, promoting the idea of the Scouting brotherhood. Participants are awarded a JOTT badge as a recognition of having participated in this worldwide event.

Smaller events

There are up to ten smaller Jamboree (or Jamborette) events held each year around the world. This includes Regional Jamborees, which are held every three years in their areas of the world. Scouts from outside these regions are invited, but attendance is generally lower (for example, the EuroJam 2005 event hosted 10,000 Scouts, mostly from Europe).

National associations, and sub-national groups, also organise a number of events, such as the WINGS event and KIJ, which is organised by a County level body.

List of events

Year[12]Event Location, Country Theme/Name Dates Attendance Countries Attended
1920 1st World Scout Jamboree The Olympia, London, England, United Kingdom United KingdomDevelop World Peace[13] July 30, 1920–
August 8, 1920[14][15]		8,00034
1924 2nd World Scout Jamboree Ermelunden, Denmark Denmark World Citizenship[13]August 10, 1924–
August 17, 1924?[16][17]		4,54940
1929 3rd World Scout Jamboree Arrowe Park, Birkenhead, England, United Kingdom United Kingdom Coming of Age July 31, 1929–
August 13, 1929[18][19]		50,000[20]40
1933 4th World Scout Jamboree Gödöllő, Hungary Kingdom of Hungary (1920–46) Face New Adventures[13]August 2, 1933–
August 15, 1933[21][22]		25,79246
1937 5th World Scout Jamboree Bloemendaal,[23] Netherlands Netherlands Lead Happy Lives[13] July 31, 1937–
August 9, 1937[24][25][26][27]		28,75054
1947 6th World Scout Jamboree Moisson, France France Jamboree of Peace August 9, 1947–
August 20, 1947[28][29]		24,15238
1951 7th World Scout Jamboree Bad Ischl & Salzkammergut, Austria Austria Jamboree of Simplicity August 3, 1951–
August 13, 1951[30]		12,88441
1955 8th World Scout Jamboree Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada Canada New Horizons August 18, 1955–
August 28, 1955[31]		11,13971
1957 9th World Scout Jamboree Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom United Kingdom 50th Anniversary of Scouting August 1, 1957–
August 12, 1957[32]		 30,00082
1959 10th World Scout Jamboree Makiling, Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines Philippines Building Tomorrow Today July 17, 1959–
July 26, 1959[33]		12,20344
1963 11th World Scout Jamboree Marathon, Greece Greece Higher and Wider August 1, 1963–
August 11, 1963[34]		14,00088
1967 12th World Scout Jamboree Farragut State Park, Idaho, United States United StatesFor FriendshipAugust 1, 1967–
August 9, 1967[35]		12,011105
1971 13th World Scout Jamboree Asagiri, Fujinomiya, Shizuoka, Japan JapanFor UnderstandingAugust 2, 1971–
August 10, 1971[36]		23,75887
1975 14th World Scout Jamboree Lillehammer, Norway Norway; Co-hosted with Denmark Denmark, Finland Finland,Iceland Iceland, and Sweden Sweden Five Fingers, One HandJuly 29, 1975–
August 5, 1975[37][38][39]		17,25991
1979 (15th World Scout Jamboree) Nishapur, Iran Iran July 15, 1979–
July 23, 1979[40]		cancelled
1983 15th World Scout Jamboree Kananaskis County, Alberta, Canada Canada The Spirit Lives On July 5, 1983–
July 15, 1983[13]		14,752102
1987–1988 16th World Scout Jamboree Cataract Scout Park, Appin, New South Wales, Australia AustraliaBringing the World Together December 31, 1987–
January 7, 1988[38]		14,43498
1991 17th World Scout Jamboree Sŏraksan, Kangwon, South Korea South KoreaMany Lands, One World August 8, 1991–
August 16, 1991[13]		20,000100
1995 18th World Scout Jamboree Biddinghuizen (municipality of Dronten), Oostelijk Flevoland, Netherlands NetherlandsFuture is Now August 1, 1995–
August 11, 1995[13]		28,960122
1998–1999 19th World Scout Jamboree Hacienda Picarquín, Mostazal, Chile ChileBuilding Peace Together December 27, 1998–
January 6, 1999[38]		31,000137
2002–2003 20th World Scout Jamboree Sattahip, Chon Buri, Thailand ThailandShare our World, Share our Cultures December 28, 2002–
January 8, 2003[38] 		24,000143
2007 21st World Scout Jamboree Hylands Park, Chelmsford, Essex, England, United Kingdom United KingdomOne World, One Promise
Scouting Centenary		July 28, 2007–
August 8, 2007[38]		38,074158
2011 22nd World Scout Jamboree Rinkaby, Sweden Sweden Simply Scouting July 27, 2011–
August 7, 2011		40,061169
2015 23rd World Scout Jamboree Kirarahama, Japan Japan A Spirit of UnityJuly 28, 2015–
August 8, 2015[41]		expected 50,000
2019[42]24th World Scout Jamboree The Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve, New River Gorge,
West Virginia, United States United States; to be co-hosted with Canada Canada and Mexico Mexico		 Unlock a New World[43]
2023 25th World Scout Jamboree Bids: Brazil Brazil, Poland Poland, South Korea South Korea

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to World Scout Jamboree.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.worldscoutjamboree.se/
  2. ↑ Merriam-Webster online
  3. ↑ dictionary.com
  4. ↑ "World Scout Jamborees History". WOSM. 2006. Retrieved 5 December 2006.
  5. ↑ 11th WSJ Marathon, Greece
  6. ↑ Uniforms at Boy Scout Jamborees
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 All about JOTA / JOTA / Events / Information & Events / Home - World Organization of the Scout Movement
  8. ↑ JOTA
  9. ↑ http://www.scout.org/en/information_events/events/jota/all_about_jota/e_qsl
  10. ↑ Walker, B: Calling Home, page 4. Queanbeyan Age, 23/10/1995.
  11. ↑ Jamboree on the Trail
  12. ↑ Jamboree History
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 Overseas Scout Jamborees (From a South African perspective)
  14. ↑ 1920 Jamboree
  15. ↑ 1st Worldjamboree 1920
  16. ↑ Boys' Life Jun 1924
  17. ↑ 2nd Worldjamboree 1924
  18. ↑ The Canadian annual review of public affairs 1930
  19. ↑ 3rd Worldjamboree 1929
  20. ↑ Jamboree history
  21. ↑ The 1933 Scout Jamboree Book by James E. West & William Hillcourt
  22. ↑ 4th Worldjamboree 1933
  23. ↑ Main camp at Vogelenzang and Sea Scout camp at Bennebroek, now both part of the municipality Bloemendaal
  24. ↑ Wereldjamboree 1937 in Vogelenzang-Bloemendaal (Opening) (July 31, 1937)
  25. ↑ The Argus 12 January 1937
  26. ↑ 5th Worldjamboree 1937
  27. ↑ Algemeen Handelsblad 18-07-1937
  28. ↑ 1947 Jamboree
  29. ↑ 6th Worldjamboree 1947
  30. ↑ 7th Worldjamboree 1951
  31. ↑ 8th Worldjamboree 1955
  32. ↑ 9th Worldjamboree 1957
  33. ↑ 10th Worldjamboree 1959
  34. ↑ 11th Worldjamboree 1963
  35. ↑ 12th Worldjamboree 1967
  36. ↑ 13th Worldjamboree 1971
  37. ↑ Scouting Mar-Apr 1974
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 38.2 38.3 38.4 Jamborees of the past
  39. ↑ 14th Worldjamboree 1975
  40. ↑ Boys' Life October 1978
  41. ↑ 23rd World Scout Jamboree in Japan
  42. ↑ The Summit will host the 2019 World Scout Jamboree
  43. ↑ Kurzbericht über den Verlauf der 39. World Scout Conference (WSC) in Curitiba (Brasilien) (German)

External links

World Scout Jamboree Jamboree on the Air Jamboree on the Internet Jamboree on the Trail