Jamboree

In Scouting, a jamboree is a large gathering of Scouts who rally at a national or international level.

Closing ceremony of the 20th World Scout Jamboree, held in Thailand in 2002/2003

History

The 1st World Scout Jamboree was held in 1920, and was hosted by the United Kingdom. Since then, there have been twenty three other World Scout Jamborees, hosted in various countries, generally every four years. The 25th World Jamboree is to be held in Korea in 2023.

The average Scout Life of a boy is a comparatively short one, and it is good for each generation of Scouts to see at least one big rally, since it enables the boy to realize his membership of a really great brotherhood, and at the same time brings him into personal acquaintance with brother Scouts of other districts and other countries.

— Baden-Powell, (September 1932)

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. It is popularly believed within the Scout Movement that the word was coined by Baden-Powell, but there is no written documentation by either Powell or Scouting publications.

Dictionary etymologies

This is reflected in many dictionary entries. For example, according to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, 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.[1]

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. However, within a half century its use outside the Scouting program was lost.

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".[2][3] Poet Robert W. Service used the term in a poem published in 1912.[4] Lucy Maud Montgomery 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”.[5]

Robert Graves suggested in 1954 that Baden-Powell might have known the word through his regiment's Irish links, rather than from U.S. slang.[6]

Current best guess

The word "jamboree" today has several claimed possible origins, ranging from Hindi to Swahili to Native American dialects, which further confuses the meaning used by Baden-Powell.[7][8]

The most logical use is that the word "jamboree" is derived from the Swahili for hello, Jambo!. Baden-Powell spent a considerable amount of time in the South African region in the 1880s then again in the late 1890s.[9][10][11]

Current use in Scouting

The word "jamboree" is used primarily by the Scouting program following the first Boy Scout Jamboree in 1920. Baden-Powell deliberately chose the name "jamboree" where attendees were warmly welcomed attending this first Boy Scout rally or meeting with the word "Jambo!"

The word jamboree in current English is used as a borrowed foreign word, with the ending -ree. The word jamboree is both a noun and a transitive verb, with a direct action of the root word jambo.[12] 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, 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."[13]

Olave Baden-Powell coined the term jamborese 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.[14]

A similarly-used word "camporee" in the Scouting program is also reflective of the older British use. "Camporee" today reflects a local or regional gathering of Scouting units for a period of camping and common activities.[15] Similar to a camporee, a jamboree occurs less often and draws units from the entire nation or world.[16][17][18]

International jamborees
  • World Scout Jamboree, a gathering of Scouts from all over the world under the World Organization of the Scout Movement. Attendance is 30-40,000.
  • World Scout Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) - an amateur radio event linking Scouts across the world
  • World Scout Jamboree on the Internet (JOTI)
  • Jamboree on the Trail (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
  • 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
  • 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
  • Jamboree 2008 (Northumberland), a celebration of the 1908 Humshaugh camp
  • Homenetmen General Jamboree, a gathering of Scouts of the Homenetmen

National jamborees
  • National Scout jamboree, Boy Scouts of America
  • Canadian Scout Jamboree, a gathering of Scouts from Canada
  • Australian Scout Jamboree, a gathering of Scouts from Australia and the Asia-Pacific Region
  • Nippon Jamboree, a gathering of Scouts from Japan
  • Nawaka, a gathering of Sea Scouts in the Netherlands
  • Irish Scout Jamborees
  • New Zealand Scout Jamboree
  • Girl Scout Senior Roundup
  • "Gathering of Scouts and Guides in India". Archived from the original on 2011-12-11. Retrieved 2013-07-02.

See also
  • Agoonoree
  • Camporee
  • Indaba
  • World Camp (Guiding)

References
  1. "jamboree, n.". OED Online. Oxford University Press. September 2013. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  2. "Jamboree". The Concise Oxford University Dictionary (10th ed.). Oxford University Press. 1999.
  3. "Jamboree". Collins English Dictionary. Dictionary.com (10th Edition - Complete & Unabridged ed.). HarperCollins. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  4. Service, Robert W. (1912). "Athabaska Dick". Rhymes of a Rolling Stone.
  5. Montgomery, L.M. (1915). Anne of the Island. Retrieved 8 March 2006.
  6. Graves, Robert. The Crowning Privilege. The Clark Lectures, 1954–1955.
  7. Ashton, E. O. (1947). Swahili Grammar: Including intonation. Longman House. ISBN 0-582-62701-X.
  8. Nurse, Derek; Hinnebusch, Thomas J. (1993). Swahili and Sabaki: a linguistic history. University of California Publications in Linguistics. 121.
  9. Begbie, Harold (1900). The story of Baden-Powell: The Wolf that never Sleeps. London: Grant Richards.
  10. Prins, A.H.J. (1961). "Swahili the Swahili-speaking peoples of Zanzibar and the East African Coast (Arabs, Shirazi, and Swahili)". In Forde, Daryll (ed.). Ethnographic Survey of Africa. London, UK: International African Institute.
  11. Prins, A.H.J. (1970). A Swahili Nautical Dictionary. Preliminary Studies in Swahili Lexicon. 1. Dar es Salaam.
  12. Hopper, Paul J; Thompson, Sandra A (June 1980). "Transitivity in grammar and discourse" (PDF). Language. 56 (2): 251–299. doi:10.1353/lan.1980.0017. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  13. Wilson, John S. (1959). Scouting Round the World (First ed.). Blandford Press. p. 238.
  14. Wilson, John S. (1959). Scouting Round the World (First ed.). Blandford Press. p. 122.
  15. "Camporee". U.S. Scouting Service Project.
  16. "US Jamboree". U.S. Scouting Service Project. Archived from the original on 2017-09-25. Retrieved 2017-10-15.
  17. "The Summit, US Jamboree". BSA.
  18. "World Jamboree". Scouting.org. Archived from the original on 2012-04-19. Retrieved 2017-10-15.
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