CLOSING CEREMONIES

Closing Ideas
Baltimore Area Council

• CUBMASTER:
  We’ve had a lot of fun today,
  With families together in fun and play,
  And now before we each go our way,
  Let’s have each family take part in
  ‘Our closing for the day’.

      Leader then instructs all families to stand in a family Brotherhood Circle with hands on each other’s shoulders as all in unison say, “As a family, we pledge to do our best!”
Leader then says Goodnight.

• The families could all stand in their own family brotherhood circle while a portable battery operated tape recorder plays some appropriate song such as taps, vespers, etc.  All join in if desired
• A good singer or a group could be recorded ahead of time singing one a Family Vesper song which could be played while families stand in brotherhood circles making a very impressive closing.  Or have a good singer practice the vesper ahead of time and sing it live.

Family Vesper Closing
Baltimore Area Council

The following closings can be sung to the tune of “Tannenbaum” (Oh, Christmas Tree) or read by Cub Scouts.

Quietly we join as one,
Thanking God for family fun,
May we now go on our way,
Thankful for another day.

May we always love and share,
Living in peace beyond compare,
As a family may we find,
Friendships true with all mankind.

Closing Ceremonies
Southern NJ Council

Use a song for the closing such as

“This Land is Your Land” or “America the Beautiful”.

This Land is your Land
To hear the tune go to:
http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/thisland.htm

This land is your land, This land is my land,
From California
To the New York island,
From the Redwood Forest,
To the Gulf stream waters,
This land was made for you and me.

As I was walking,
That ribbon of highway,
I saw above me
That endless skyway,
I saw below me
That golden valley.
This land was made for you and me.

I’ve roamed and rambled
And I’ve followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
And all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me

The sun comes shining
As I was strolling
The wheat fields waving
And the dust clouds rolling
The fog was lifting a voice come chanting
This land was made for you and me

Nobody living can ever stop me
As I go walking
That freedom highway
Nobody living can make me turn back
This land was made for you and me

America the Beautiful
To hear the tune go to:
http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/america.htm

The lyrics to this beautiful song were written by Katharine Lee Bates, an instructor at Wellesley College, Massachusetts, after an inspiring trip to the top of Pikes Peak, Colorado, in 1893. Her poem, America the Beautiful first appeared in print in The Congregationalist, a weekly journal, on July 4, 1895. Ms. Bates revised the lyrics in 1904 and in 1913. It is notable that the poem was not always sung to the tune we all know, "Materna," composed by Samuel A. Ward in 1882, nearly a decade before the poem was written.  In fact, for two years after it was written it was sung to just about any popular or folk tune that would fit with the lyrics, with "Auld Lang Syne" being the most notable of those. The words were not published together with "Materna" until 1910. 

Here is a note from Katharine Lee Bates:

"One day some of the other teachers and I decided to go on a trip to 14,000-foot Pikes Peak.  We hired a prairie wagon.  Near the top we had to leave the wagon and go the rest of the way on mules.  I was very tired.  But when I saw the view, I felt great joy.  All the wonder of America seemed displayed there, with the sea-like expanse."

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!

America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassion’d stress
A thorough fare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness.

America! America!
God mend thine ev’ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law.

O beautiful for heroes prov’d
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life.

America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev’ry gain divine.

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears.

America! America!
God shed his grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.

Outdoor Closing
San Gabriel Valley, Long Beach, & Verdugo Hills Councils

Let’s remember the food we’ve shared,
The games we’ve played, the songs we’ve sung,
Let’s remember all of these things.

Let’s remember the skits we’ve performed,
The hikes we’ve hiked, the problems we’ve shared,
Let’s remember all of these things.

Let’s remember the games we’ve played,
The friends we’ve made, the fires we’ve burned,
Let’s remember these things.

Yes, let’s remember all of these things,
I now declare this council fire closed,
Its memories stored forever in our hearts and minds.

Or you could divide this up into four parts and have four Cubs each read one part CD