St George and World Book Day

Wednesday was a day well worth celebrating: It is the Bard's birthday, his death day and also Cervantes, the guy who wrote the book about the mad, old man who read too many books and thought he was a knight and went out to fight windmills to save his damsel, died that day. Therefor UNESCO has made this the World Book Day. Another person who fought for a damsel, not windmills, but a dragon, was St. George, the boyscouts' patron saint.

St George's is celebrated by scouts all over the world. In Sweden, where girls and boys have been joined in scouting since 1963, all celebrate St George, even if it originally is a Boy Scout celebration. How you choose to celebrate varies between the groups, and "which kind" of scout you are. Some groups have a church service, some only a parade, but most do something publicly, to show the spirit of scouting. In Sweden there are five different nationwide associations, where of The Swedish Guide and Scout Association, of which Falkenberg is part, is the most profane.

So, this year we tried something completely different: We made a Wild Book Release, the first ever in Falkenberg, and held a St George show in the centre of town!

All the cubs brought one or more books, that were taged and put in a plastic zip bag and then hung up in a tree. We played tag and in the water display, and then we put on a dressing up show starring mostly cubs in the roles of St George, the dragon and the princess. It was very silly and very noisy, but after all the frivolities we managed to get some serious words in at the end, about doing one's best, not expecting rewards. At the end all joined hands and sang the Scout song, that echoed against the brick walls of the houses around the square.

Some of the Cubs brought home as many books as they came with, and when the scouts had left we saw that people who walked by stopped and had a good look. Some even picked a wild book to take home, and this morning all the books were gone!

The activity was deemed a great success, and we might do it again.