Scout/Guide Law and Principles
The Scout Law is the scout and the guide’s compass: on the day of their Promise, they pledge to follow it faithfully throughout their lives. The Law is one of the most important levers of the scouting method, which educates to freedom: only those who are truly free can use their will to follow a law. Also, commitment helps to continually seek the good and to serve in everyday life.
Law
- A scout’s/guide’s honour is to be trusted.
- A scout/guide is loyal to his country, his parents, his leaders and to those who depend on him.
- A scout/guide is made to serve and save his neighbour.
- A scout/guide is a friend to all and a brother to every other scout.
- A scout/guide is courteous and chivalrous.
- A scout/guide sees in nature the work of God: he likes plants and animals.
- A scout/guide obeys willingly and does not half do things.
- A scout/guide controls himself: he smiles and sings even under difficulties.
- A scout/guide is thrifty and takes care of his own possessions and those of others’.
- A scout/guide is pure in his thoughts, his words and his acts.
Principles
- A boy scout’s/girl guides duty starts at home.
- Faithful to his/her country, a boy scout/guide favours a united and fraternal Europe.
- As a son/daughter of Christendom, a scout/guide is proud of his/her faith: he/she labours to establish the reign of Christ in all his/her life and in the world around him.
The scouting movement includes three branches.
Each scouting branch is dedicated to a specific age group:
Yellow branch– Wolvets and Wolf Cubs: 8 to 12 years of age
Green branch– Guides and Scouts: 12 to 16/17 years of age
Red branch– Wayfarers and Rovers: from 16.5/17 years of age to 20 years of age.
Uniform
The purpose of the uniform is to form a single and united group, showing no difference in clothing styles that would indicate the origin or social level. A visual expression of the whole pedagogy, the wearing of the scout uniform is also a sign showing unity wherever there are groups of Guides and Scouts of Europe.
The uniform consists of navy-blue bermuda shorts or culotte, and beige, navy-blue or light-blue shirts, according to the age group, and eventually the activity field (e.g. mountain or sea scouts).
All wear a leather belt with the scout cross on the buckle, a symbol of scouting adventure, reminding them that “to put on a belt is to freely accept discipline, to be ready to leave“.
On the shirt are sewn badges which show the scouts’ various development stages such as classes, badges, proficiency badges etc,. They encourage the younger scouts to learn from their elders, and thus grow. Other insignia are there to show their Guides and Scouts of Europe membership, but also that they belong to their country, region, group and patrol (bands).
Scouts and Guides wear a beret with two straps or a flat-brimmed hat, depending on the association.
The neckerchief is the universal scouting trademark.
Emblem
The emblem of our movement is an eight-pointed cross overlaid with a golden fleur-de-lys. It was chosen by the founders of the movement in Cologne in 1956.
The red Maltese cross recalls the ideal of former knighthood, in particular that of the Order of St John of Jerusalem. The eight points also recall the religion of our movement’s members, and the red, the blood of martyrs. The eight points illustrated, for the former Knights of Malta, the eight virtues of the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount that they were to acquire.
The fleur-de-lys is the scouts’ universal emblem, recalling the fleur-de-lys pointing North on all the former maps – and thus the right direction-, and its points illustrate the three main virtues of scouts, i.e. frankness, devotedness and purity.
The emblem of the movement is worn on the beret, the chest, the belt buckle and on the flag of the movement, called Baussant.
The Baussant
The Baussant is the flag of the Guides and Scouts of Europe. The word “Baussant” comes from old French meaning “beau signe” or “beautiful sign”. This banner was created and adopted in 1966 during the movement’s pilgrimage to celebrate the millennium of St Michael’s Mount.
It is directly inspired by the Templar banner and has a two-tone background, black on the left and white on the right. As on the Templar gonfanon, where they are superimposed, these colours illustrate the fight of good against evil. The Guides and Scouts of Europe commit solemnly on this Baussant when they make their Promise.
The Baussant pictures our will as Guides and Scouts of Europe to help establish the reign of Christ in our lives and in the world around us.