Flag Day Ceremony
| Category: | Flag Ceremonies |
|---|---|
| Props: | U.S. flag |
| Props: | Flagpole or flag stand |
| Props: | Color guard of 2 to 4 Scouts |
| Props: | Five readers, each with one card |
| Notes: | For the meeting nearest June 14, or a community Flag Day event. Run it outdoors at a flagpole as a morning raising, or indoors with a posted flag. Five Scouts each read one card about a moment in the flag's history. Every date in the readings is checkable: the Flag Resolution of 1777, the Pledge of 1892, the National Flag Day law of 1949, the words "under God" added on Flag Day 1954, and the fifty-star flag of 1960. Pairs with the flag-day-a-flag-worth-respecting minute. For flag handling, see How to Fold the U.S. Flag and Raising and Lowering the U.S. Flag. |
Setup
Form up at the flagpole, or indoors facing the flag stand. The color guard holds the folded flag. The five readers stand in a line beside the flagpole with their cards.
Participants
- Leader - Senior Patrol Leader or adult leader
- Color Guard - two to four Scouts
- Readers 1-5
The Ceremony
Leader: 'Troop, attention. Today is Flag Day. On this date, we remember the day our country chose its flag. Color guard, raise the colors.'
(Color guard attaches and raises the flag briskly. Scouts in uniform salute; others place the right hand over the heart. See Raising and Lowering the U.S. Flag.)Leader: 'Two. Our flag has a story. Here are five pages of it.'
Reader 1: '1777. On June 14, in the middle of the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress decided the new nation's flag would have thirteen stripes, red and white, and thirteen white stars on a blue field. That is why Flag Day is June 14.'
Reader 2: '1892. A magazine published a short pledge for schoolchildren to say on the four-hundredth anniversary of Columbus's voyage. It was written by Francis Bellamy. We still say a version of it today: the Pledge of Allegiance.'
Reader 3: '1949. Flag Day had been celebrated for years, but this year Congress made it official: June 14 is National Flag Day.'
Reader 4: '1954. On Flag Day, June 14, the President signed a law adding two words to the Pledge: "under God."'
Reader 5: '1960. On July 4, the fiftieth star, for Hawaii, was added to the flag. It is the same flag we just raised - the longest-flown design in our history.'
Leader: 'Thirteen stars became fifty. The stripes never changed. They still remember the thirteen colonies that started it all. Please join us in the Pledge of Allegiance.'
(All face the flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.)Leader: 'Troop, dismissed.'
Tip: The flag code says the flag should be flown on Flag Day, and it is not a federal holiday - so it is a good day for a troop to notice what most people walk past. Some troops collect worn flags from the community on Flag Day and retire them at a ceremony later in the summer. See the Flag Retirements ceremonies.