Danish Boy Scouts


Figure 1.--Danish Scouts at the 1929 World Jambore.

Danish Scouting begn soon after the movement was found in Britain. As far as we know it has since that time been the only uniformed youth movemrnt of zny importance.

History

The major Scout association in Denmark (DDS) was founded in Hellerup near Copenhagen (1909). The girls and guides of Denmark formed the DDP (Danish: Det Danske Pigespejderkorps) (1910). The DDS was for boys and DDP for girls. Our information on Danish Scotuing during World war II is limited at this time. Unlike rge situation in mny occupied countries, Danish Scouting was not disbanded although the Danish NAZIs founded a rival youth group. King Christian reportedly helped organize an underground group of students and Boy Scouts which helped get Danish Jews to fishing boats, waiting to take them to Sweden and safety just before thecNAZIs launched a massive roundup. The Danish Scouting groups merged (1973). This means that most local units now are coeducational, though a unit may prefer the single gender option. Every 5 years, DDS gathers in one big camp (Danish: Blå Sommer). The peak number of people in the camp was close to 23,000 in 1994. The main object of work in DDS is to help children and young people develope into self-reliant persons, who can assume responsibility in their own environment and in the world around them.

Organization

I have been able to find only limited information on Danish scouting. There are several Danish Scout internet sites, but unfortunately they do not have English versions.

Associations

There are several different Scout Associations in Denmark, despite it being a small country. Some of the different associations are religious groups or associations in the Faroes Island and Greenland, overseas territories that remain linguistically and culturally associated with Denmark.

In general all boy scout organizations are organized in the Boy Scouts of Denmark [umbrella organization], and all girl scout organizations in the Girl Scouts of Denmark. The larger individual associations are:
Det Danske Spejderkorps (DDS) (The Danish Guide and Scout Association): The Danish Scouts totaled about 55,000 in 1998. The DDS is the largest of Danish Scout associations. They are commonly known as the Blue Scouts, as since the fusion of boys' and girls' scout organizations, they have worn blue uniforms. (Formerly they were called yellow Scouts because of their khaki uniforms. br>
Kristeligt Forening for Unge Mænd = KFUM-spejderne i Danmark) (YMCA Scouts): The YMCA Scouts were founded September 28th, 1910. Later it was included in DDS until 1916, where it became an organization on its own. It was recognized internationally in 1922 (founding member of WOSM). Originally, the YMCA-Scouts were linked to YMCA but this is no more the case. The YMCA-Scouts [and YWCA-Scouts for girls] were formed as a scout movement linked to the Danish State Church. A referendum was held in 1982, the result being that YMCA should be open equally for boys and girls, while YWCA should continue as an organization exclusively for girls. Now, some 40 percent of the members in YMCA are girls. It is decided on a local level whether boys and girls are scouting in mixed or single sex patrols and troops. The association is confessional based on the Danish National Church, which is Lutheran Evangelical.
Kristeligt Forening for Unge Kvinder = KFUK-spejderne i Danmark--de grønne pigespejdere (YWCA Girl Guides in Denmark --the Green Girl Guides):

The minor organizations are:
Danske Baptisters Spejderkorps (DBS) (Danish Baptist Scout and Guide Association): The Baptist Scouts were founded in 1930. They reported a membership of 2,000 organized into 43 units in 1998.
Groenlands Spejderkorps (GS) (Greenland Guide and Scout Association): The Guide and Scout Association of Greenland were founded in 1973 and is the only Guide and Scout Association in Greenland. Already in 1943, however, the Danish Scout and Guide Associations introduced Guiding and Scouting in Greenland. Guiding and Scouting in Greenland is closely related to the Church which is Lutheran Evangelical. The Association cooperates closely with the Danish associations and has international contacts to WAGGGS and WOSM. Among the many different activities the following are characteristic: beadwork, the preparation of fur, cleaning of fish. Particular emphasis is put on wildlife in a sometimes quite rough environment. Here the Guides and Scouts learn how to survive on natural resources. Hence most activities take place out doors. Due to enormous distances from village to village, Guides and Scouts only meet other scouts than their own local unit once a year, namely in district camps. Leader training is arranged every year alternately in North and South Greenland.
Meginfelag Foeroysku Dreingjaskota (The Faroese Scout Council):
Mission Covenant Church Scouts (Danish: Missionsforbundets Spejdere--MS): The Mission Covenant Church Scouts was founded in 1922. The association was independent until 1993, where it became associated to the YMCA-scouts. The uniforms, leader training system and age-divisions are the same as for the YMCA-scouts. Some leader training is unique to the MS scouts, though. MS is a Christian scout association with all local groups closely connected to a local Covenant Church. Often scout leaders are members the local church, but it's not a necessity. The Covenant Church is a Evagelical Free Church. Since 1922 the number of members have gone up and down, but never been more than 600 scouts, and the number of local groups have always been less than 15. Every second year a national camp is held for the scouts aged 12+, for the younger scouts a national camp is held every year. The MS has a tradition for a high quality scouting combined with Christian training.
Dansk Spejderkorps Sydslesvig (DSS): The Danish minority in (north) Germany has it's own scouting association.

There is one additional uniformed educational youth organization called FDF. They are not scouts (neither in WOSM nor in WAGGGS) even though their activities resembles those of the scouts. They insist more on involving the whole family.


Figure 2.--Danish Scouts in the 1960s mostly wore short pants. Some of the boys wore lederhosen.

Membership

The YMCA Scouts and MS are mixed groups. The DDS, DBS and GS are merged. YWCA Guides is for girls only.

Scouting idea is very popular in Denmark. The total number of inhabitants is only 5 million people, yet there were about 0.1 million Danes involved in Scouting during 1995, the last year I have been able to find data, but they probably are still a good approrimation. The Scouts, Guides, and adult leaders include: DDS (35,000), YMCA(33,000), YWCA (10,000), DBS (2,000), GS (1,500) and MS (300).

Religion

DDS is the only Danish scout organization that does not require religion to be a part of scouting, although it recognizes the moral standards of the Danish society as well as Christianity. The only requirement about religion for the DDS is that the scouts "Find their own faith and respect others'" (part of the Scout Law). All the other associations are required to inform the scouts about Christianity as a part of their scouting work. Each MS groups are associated to a covenant church


Figure 3.--The Danish Baptist Scouts (DBS) also wear a blue uniform, but a lighter color than the DDS Scouts.

Age groups

DDS uses the following age-division guidelines. The age-divisions are only suggestions. Approximately 8 percent of the groups in DDS, for example, do not distinguish between mini and junior scouts and have both age groups in the same troop.
Mikroer (Micro Scouts): Age 6-8
Minier (Mini Scouts): Age 8-10
Juniorer (Junior Scouts): Age 10-12
Spejdere (Scouts): Age 12-16: Scouts
Seniorer (Senior Scouts): Age 16-23

The other Scouting associations have slightly different age divisions and generally use more inspiring names. In general the youngest scouts are around 6 and the oldest are up to 25. KFUK, for example has these age-divisions:
Spire (Micro Scouts): Age 5-7
Smutter (Mini Scouts): Age 7-10
Spejdere (Scouts): Age 10-14
Seniorer (Senior Scouts): Age 14-17
Rangers (Rangers): Age 17-up

Local organization system

All Scouting organizations in Denmark are based on groups. A group is usually a combination of a unit from each of the age groups. It is normal to stay in the same group in all of your scouting life. Leaders ocationally move from group to group, but scouts seldom do.

The groups cooperate in districts. The national leadership is very different from organization to organization. The MS scouts have no districts. In DDS, the groups are organized in 43 districts, each district must consist of at least 600 scouts. The districts are combined in 7 so-called areas.

Leaders and Ranks

Leaders are from almost all age groups. It is not unusual for a unit to have leaders of quite different ages. Leaders are both old scouts and parents. I believe there is a majority of non-parents. It is not a tradition that parents follow their kids through the different age groups; instead they tend to stay in the same unit a number of years.

There is no notion of ranks (like Star, Life, Eagle in the BSA) in any of the major scouting organizations in Denmark. A few groups implement something on their own, but the general emphasis is not on advancement. There are merit badges for mini scouts, junior scouts, and normal scouts, but in many places these are not often used. Most cub scouts (mini AND junior scouts) rarely have more than 5 merit badges, of which one is the "knife award". These badges are often used to help the leaders and the scouts remember that safe use of some tools require training.


Figure 4.--Modern Danish Scout uniforms. I believe the two uniforms are the summer and winter versions.

Uniform

I have little historical information on Danish Cub and Scout uniforms.

Cubs

We have almost no information on Danisg Cub uniforms, or the uniforms worn by the younger boys in the various groups before reaching Scout age. One source tells me that Danish Cubs used to wear the peaked caps like British boys. The green Cubs (YMCA Scouts) have always worn the same uniform as we do the Scouts and Rovers. The traditional peaked cap has been replaced with the same baseball-style cap that the now Scouts wear. The Cubs wear a blue jersey instead of shirt uniform worn by the older boys.

Scout uniforms

Available information suggests sea scouting was popular as many boys wear white sailor caps. Also some Scouts apparently wore lederhosen with their Scout shirts. For many years, although I don't have the specific years, Danish DDS Scouts wore a khaki uniform and for years were called the yellow Scouts. Since the fusion of the girls and boys in the DDS, the girls' blue uniform became the common uniform instead of the boys 'khaki uniform. Danish Scouts in the 1990s wear several different uniforms, depending on the association. The major Danish Scout association is the DDS. The DDS Scouts wear a dark blue supplemented by a scarf, coloured according to the group's choice. The dark shirt is worn with blue short and long trousers. Most of the boys seem to wear long trousers or jeans. The uniform of YMCA and MS scouts is green. The YMCA Scouts are known as the green scouts. The YMCA Scouts wear a red scarf and the MS a purple scarf. The YMCA Scout cap is a baseball-style cap. The uniform of YWCA scouts is a T-shirt (white or orange or blue), green shirt, green pants or bike-shorts or leggings (blue or green or orange) and finally a checkered scarf. The DBS Scouts wear a light blue uniform with a turquoise blue scarf. The GS Scout uniform is a dark blue anorak and checkered scarf.







HBU






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Created: November 15, 1998
Last updated: 9:33 PM 7/18/2012