Figure 1.--The British Cubs in the 1970s wear the traditional Cub uniform that was adopted by many other countries. I'm not sure when this photograph was taken, but believe it may have been the 1930s.

We have begun to collect information on Cubbing in different countries. Many countries followed the British example and adopted a separate Cubbing section for younger boys. Many of these early Cub groups at first adopted the uniforms of the British Wolf Cubs. Gradually countries began adopting more destinctive national Cub uniforms. Elements of the British uniform endured for years especially the Cub cap. Americans adopted the British Cub cap, but changed it to blue and yellow. Many countries retained the British green and yellow. a few countries still use it, even though it is no longer part of the British Cub uniform. We have several national Cub Scout pages such as America, England, and others, but we have only begun to like them here.

Africa

South Africa

America, Latin

Chile

The Cub uniform in Chile has been quite destincive to that of the Scouts. I'm not sure about early Cub uniforms, but by the 1960s they were wearing a uniform similar to that of the English Cubs. It is likely that this was the uniform from the beginning of Cubbing in Chile. I'm not sure about the colors, but the boys wore peaked caps, sweaters or jersies, short pants and kneesocks. The peaked caps were styled somewhat differently from the British peaked caps, but they did hae a peak and piping. I'm not sure about the color of the sweater, the English Cub sweater was green, but it does appear to be sweater or jersey rather than a shirt. The shorts may have been tan like Chiean Scouts rather than grey like English Cubs. The kneesocks appear very similar to those worn by Chiean Scouts. Chilean Cubs appered to have switched to blue uniforms, with baseball-type caps and shirts rather than jersies. The current Cubs appear to also wear blue knee socks.

Peru

The Asociación de Scouts del Perú (ASP) is the national Scouting organization. Scoutibng in Peru was founded in 1911 and was among the charter members of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (1922). It is a very small Scouting movement. We have been able to find very little information on Cubbing in Peru. We believe that both the Cubs and Scouts continue to be an all boy movement with aseparte Guidevassociation for girls. Our information may be dated as we see Scouts and Guides wearing very similar uniforms. The Cub and Scout uniform also seems similar. Cureently it is a bright blue shirt. Caps are not currently worn.

America, North

America

The Boy Scouts of America in 1930 created a new opportunity called Cub Scouting for boys younger than Boy Scout age. A Wolf Cub program had long been a part of English Scouting. A year-round, home-centered program used by chartered organizations, Cub Scouting emphasizes involvement between boys and their parents, adult leaders, and friends. In the multidimensional plan of the Boy Scouts of America, Cub Scouting is where it all begins."

Canada

Canadian Cub Scout uniforms like Boy Scout uniforms have changed over time. We do not yet have, however, comprehensive information on Canadian Cub uniforms over time. We have very little chronological information on Canadian Cub uniforms. We do know that Wolf Cubs were formally introduced in Canada during 1916, the same time that the British Wolf Cub program began. This was more than a decade before the program was founded in the United States.

Asia

Hong Kong

The most import level of Scouting is Cubbing. More Hong Kong boys are involved in Cubs than any other Scouting level. We know relatively little about Hong Kong Cubs at this time, other than the uniforms that they wear. The Cubs are boys and girls 8-11 years old. Hopefully our Hong Kong readers will oprovide us some information about the Cubbing program. Hong Kong Cubs continue to wear the traditional green and yellow peaked caps that they are associated with in England, but no longer worn there. Other than the cap, the Cub and Scout uniform is very similar.

Japan

We are not sure when the Cub program was introduced in Japan. We believe it may have been done after World war II. The prgram is for boys and since 1995, girls as well, from 8-11 years of age. The Japanese Scouts report, "Theme and the goal of this section are to have Cub Scouts recognize and accept cultural tradition and social model. It is educationally aimed that Cub Scouts integrate in the groups and learn discipline. They gain a lot through plays and games." We have some information on Cub uniforms.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka used to be called Ceylon when it was a part of the British Empire. Like India, Sri lanka was granted its independence after World War II. We have very limited information on the Cub program in Sri Lanka. We do not one image of a Cub group in the country. The photograh looks to be all British boys, suggesting that the Scouting movement was not integrated. We are noit sure about the date, but it looks to be like a 1950s photograph. The uniform is very different than the British Cub uniform.

Europe

Belgium

England

The English Wolf Cub uniform remained essentially unchanged for many years. It was very similar to scout uniform, the main differences being a cub cap rather than a scout hat and a jersey rather than the scout shirt. At this time shorts were commonly worn by boys of all ages, including scouts and indeed their scoutmasters, and these were much favoured by Baden-Powell. Much of the influence on scout uniform came from smarter schools, but scouting also influenced school uniform where, for boys up to 11 in particular, shorts were the norm until relatively recently.

France

Louveteau/Louvettes refers to Cub Scouts. The originl name in England was Wolf cubs, explaining the useof the French term for wolf. Louveteau refers to the boys and Louvettes to the girls. The singular is Louveteau and the plural is Louveteaux. Cubbing was founded in England (1916). So many younger boys expressed an interest in Scouting that Baden Powell created Cubbing for them. Cubbing was formed in America much later because the BSA was concerned that involving the younger boys would make the program less attractive to the older boys. We believe that French Cubbing began around the same time as the British program. Of course with several different associations, there presumably was no single date. Many French Cub groups are today mixed gender programs, but there are some traditional single gender orograms. The children here are about 8-11 years old. We have been unable to find much information on French Cubbing. In Britain and America Cubbing is a more home based program than the Scouting program for the older boys. The programs are largely run by Akelas or Den Mothers with home meetings. I'm not sure if Akelaas also used in France and there may be differences among the different associations. Games are esopecially popular with the younger children. There are fuiekd triops as well as outdoor adventures and short-term camping adventures to prepare them for Scouting. The original French Cub uniforms, like the original Scout uniforms, were very similar to the early British uniforms. Here we see a bnew styled uniform adopted after World War II by the Catholic Scouts de France association (figure 1).

Germany

Italy

I have seen a variety of Italian Cub uniforms. One 1949 drawing shows boys wearin a Britisj looking green peaked cap, green jumper, and grey cord short pamys. Some cubs in 1989 were wearing a uniform that looks similar to the British cub uniform with green caps and yellow trim. Other cubs wear red caps with blue shorts. Some Cubs wear yellow shirts. These different uniforms represent uniform changes over time as well as different Scout associations. HBC does not yet have details on the different association uniforms and changes over time.

Netherlands

Cub Scouts or Welpen are 7-10 years old. Single: `Welp', plural: `Welpen'). I'm not sure when Dutch Cubbing was founded, but suspect it was soon after the Cubs were founded in England (1916). The Welpen or Cub program is, like British scouting based on the Jungle Book-stories from Rudyard Kipling. Because all of you have read these stories at least once, I have nothing to add here. Although the majority of Cub-Packs consists of boys only, we have mixed Packs too. The uniform of the Welpen is a green blouse. A Pack ('Horde' in Dutch) consists of a maximum of 24 Welpen.

Scotland

Oceania

Australia

New Zealand