Mexican Scouting part 2: My time with Grupo 88 Naucalpan

First, a correction: In Mexican Scouting, the term Manadas (Which you will notice I spelt wrong in my last post) refers to the cub pack as a whole. The kids themselves are referring to either as Lobatos or  Lobeznas for girls. Thanks to Alfonso Padilla, Manadas leader freshly paired with 28th Croydon Cub pack, for the update!

 This week, I was privileged to go along to Grupo 88’s Scout meeting. Grupo 88 operate in one of the suburbs of Mexico City, and while with them I learnt a lot more about Scouting in Mexico!

Firstly – I discovered that Beavers do exist in Mexico! The Castorres, literally beavers, are adorable little things that can actually start at age 5, one year earlier than our Beavers in the UK. They are not an official part of Scouting in Mexico, and they don’t exist everywhere, but that doesn’t stop them! Their uniform is pretty cool as well; white shirt with a brown waistcoat, and (best of all!) Little beaver hats! It might have been just because I had been hanging round with an all-girl rover crew for the day but I felt an urge to take one home with me.

He didn't seem as keen, but OH MY GOD LOOK AT THAT HAT

Speaking of – that’s right, a girls-only rover crew. In Grupo 88 all the official sections were split by gender. Officially this is no longer Scouts Mexico’s policy, and it was the first time I had seen groups split this way in Mexico, but Grupo 88 is huge, and so they decided to keep the historical split in place to keep the numbers manageable. It seems that, just as in the UK, larger groups with more history tend to stick by that history as they go forwards - and one of the girls I met from the head office was very surprised to hear that we have the same thing in the UK! For Grupo 88 it seems to work fine, as the two packs/troops/units/crews meet up fairly regularly, so they don’t work in isolation. I hung around with the girls rover crew for the day, as my host Mariana was a member, so it would have been a bit rude to head off and spend time with the boys! It was interesting to note that the gender split was not kept up with the Scouters; there were female scouters in charge of the boys’ Menadas, and vice versa.

Meanwhile, a Lobezna had stopped by to watch my negotiations on taking a Castorre home with me

Another difference between Grupo 88 and other groups I had seen was that 88 had their Tropa and their Caminantes together. I can’t remember if an official reason was given for this mix, but speaking to some of the scouters it seemed the thinking that the Caminantes were in a good position to act as Patrol Leaders or a Senior Patrol, lending some much needed maturity to the younger Tropa. Keeping them together also seemed to help bolster the numbers of Caminantes present, as there was less chance of them not coming to an activity because they thought it might be boring, which I know from personal experience can be a problem sometimes with our Explorer units in the UK!

I was very lucky to witness three different ceremonies while I was with Grupo 88. First up I saw one of the Caminantes joining the Clan de Rovers, which took place in a beautiful park setting. Then, back at the group’s Cabana, I got to see the equivalent of a “swimming up” ceremony where a Castorre joins the Menada; then I got to see some Lobatos joining the Tropa. The ceremonies were all relatively similar in that they consisted of three parts: saying goodbye, changing uniforms, and being welcomed into the new section.

For the Castorres, the uniform change took place in a brown velvet tube; they entered in their Castorre uniform, a leader helped them to change into their new Menada uniform, and they emerged a new scout! I couldn’t help but compare this with the UK, where if a leader was to climb into a tube with a Beaver scout there might be complaints made! As it was, there were rovers holding both ends of the tube open so you could see in to see what was going on. Once the Lobato/Lobenza had emerged, they were presented to the rest of the pack, and allocated a six (or Seisiesta as they are known over here).

The Menada ceremony involved the Lobato/Lobenza arriving at two wooden poles horizontally resting on some tyres; one lower, one higher. The Scouter for the Tropa stood past the taller pole. The Lobato stepped over the first pole, and at this point removed their yellow shirt for the green of the Tropa (in this case the shirt was hidden in one of the tyres). They then jumped over the second, higher pole, and they were into the group! All through this part the Scouter was talking to the Scout, explaining what was expected of them now that they were going to join the Tropa, and so forth. Once they had made it into the Tropa, they were allocated a patrol. Unlike the Menadas, who voted from a distance, in the Tropa the patrol leaders ran up to the scout in question (fairly towering over them in this case – must have been a bit scary!) and then decided. In Grupo 88’s case, this was then followed up by passing the new scout (or scouts – 3 graduated on Saturday) down a line made by the Tropa forming two parallel lines an linking hands; the new scout was passed down this line, with a little bit of throwing them up in the air for good measure!

The Clan de Rovers’ ceremony had the Caminante blindfolded, and walked from the rest of the unit to where the Clan were waiting (just like in Cancun). In this case, that involved going up a slope and across a suspension bridge to where the Clan waited. There were candles arrange on the floor, and various bits of paraphernalia to symbolise various aspects of their scouting lives (for example, a guitar to symbolise camping and campfire songs). The new rover was again talked through the change in section, and what it meant to them, and then they handed over their old uniform (note that at this point they were still blindfolded!) They were then handed their new uniform, and presented to one of the Rovers who would be their ‘teacher’ while they were new in the Clan. It works similar to a buddy system that we might use in Cubs or Scouts, in which the Aspirante (the new person) was shown what to do and had a person they could come to with problems and questions and the like. The buddy started by taking them aside and explaining to them about some of the symbolism in the Clan (and believe me, there is a LOT in this Clan!), and the ceremony was finished, bar the usual chanting and shouting that opens and closes most scout meetings in Mexico.

The Clan all gathered to meet their latest member. I am

actually a little surprised that sunglasses aren't an official

 part of the uniform

 

It was interesting to note that at all the ceremonies, the words spoken to the scout who was joining were spoken pretty quietly and to them alone. It seemed to make the ceremony that much more personal to each scout, which I’m sure made it a lot more personal for them. And, as before, the amount of symbolism, pageantry and meaning in the Mexican scouting traditions is far greater than I’ve seen in the UK. Everybody’s neckerchieves have meanings, from the colours down to the size of a line of colour. The Clan de Rovers in Grupo 88 even have secret bits sewn into the tabs they wear at their socks to symbolise the lifeblood of the group, and they wear different colour tabs depending on if they are an Aspirante or a regular rover. You can't move for meanings! And honoured as I was to be a part of their meeting on the Saturday, I was a little apprehensive when they asked me to run a meeting for them on the Tuesday evening.

 

"What kind of meeting do you want?" I asked.

"Oh, whatever you want to!" They said with big smiles.

 

"So guys, I'm here to talk to you about helping me out with a little project... can anyone dance?"

Thankfully, I had thought about this before I left the UK, and so yesterday evening we made tea, learnt some games, and I spoke a bit about Scouting in the UK and how it was different to Mexico. We also translate the rovers' prayer, which the clan use to open and close meetings. The first part is spoken by one person, and the part after the "/"

"Lord give me a valiant heart / that no vain thought turns me away from you

A noble heart / that no unworthy affection reduces

A righteous heart / that tolerates no evil

A kind heart / that no passion enslaves

And a generous heart / to serve"

At the end of the meeting I was surprised again when I was handed a red rose, and all the girls got a white rose. They each took it in turns to personally thank me for my meeting, and for visiting them, and to wish me well on my trip. Finally it was my turn to do the same (well I didn't wish myself well on my trip - well I DO wish myself well on the trip, but - oh never mind) and with that the meeting was finished. It was a beautiful little ceremony; I have a feeling it was just the girl rovers of Grupo 88, but it didn't really matter - I'm sure that as I go forwards and meet more scouts in Mexico I will find similar ways of showing appreciation for brother and sister scouts all over the world, which is basically what this whole trip is about!