Order of the Arrow Brotherhood Requirements and Study Guide

Requirements ( As listed in the OA Handbook )

1. Memorize the signs of Arrow membership. Memorize the Obligation of the Order, which you received from Allowat Sakima (printed on the back of your membership card and in your handbook). Also memorize the Order of the Arrow Official Song, the Admonition, the sign of Ordeal membership, and the Arrow handclasp.
    
2. Advance in your understanding of the Ordeal. Gain a thorough understanding of the Ordeal through which you have passed.
    
3. Serve your unit. Retain your registration in Scouting. During a period of at least 10 months, strive to fulfill your Obligation by continuing and expanding your service to your own troop or team.
    
4. Plan for service in your Lodge. Retain your registration in your Order of the Arrow Lodge and keep your dues paid. Be aware that acceptance of Brotherhood membership involves a pledge of service to the lodge. Develop a concrete idea of how you plan to fulfill this pledge.
    
5. Review your progress. When you earnestly feel that you have met the four challenges above, write a letter to your lodge secretary. In this letter:
   1. Explain what you think the Obligation means
       
   2. Describe how you have been fulfilling this obligation in your troop
      or team and in your daily life, and how you have used your
      understanding of the Ordeal to aid in this service.
       
   3. Describe your specific plans for giving service in the lodge program.
       
   4. Include with this letter your advance registration application and fees for the next
      Brotherhood ceremony according to the instructions given by the lodge.

   The following questions will be useful in studying for the examination of candidates for Brotherhood membership. If you are a Brotherhood candidate, it would be wise to study and learn this material.

   1. Q. What is the name of initial membership in the Order of the Arrow? A. Ordeal membership
   2. Q. Why is it so called? A. Because it is preceded by a fourfold ordeal.
   3. Q. What are the four parts of this Ordeal and their respective purposes? A. A night of camping alone under the heavens, to prove my self-reliance; a day of arduous toil, to indicate my willingness to serve others; 24 hours of scant food, to demonstrate my power of self-denial; and a like period of silence, to turn my thoughts inward.
   4. Q. How were you prepared for the Ordeal? A. I was lead by Kichkinet to the north end of the camp, where the significance of the Arrow was first revealed as I tested the bow.
   5. Q. When you had completed the Ordeal, how were you dealt with? A. I was placed on the trail which leads to the circle of the lodge.
   6. Q. By whom were you first stopped as you approached the circle? A. By Nutiket, the guard, who asked if I had passed the Ordeal without flinching.
   7. Q. Who next barred your further progress? A. Meteu, who inquired if I had been given the admonition.
   8. Q. Had you been given the admonition? A. I had not, but Kichkinet, my guide, had and gave it for me.
   9. Q. Before whom did you then at last arrive? A. Before Allowat Sakima, the chief of the fire, who asked if I had been completely prepared to receive the Obligation.
   10. Q. What was Kichkinet's reply to this inquiry? A. Only in the binding of them together.
   11. Q. How did Kichkinet call the attention of each of these officers to your presence? A. By three taps of the hand upon the right shoulder.
   12. Q. What did these three taps signify? A. The three parts of the Scout Oath or Promise.
   13. Q. How did each of the officers respond to Kichkinet's taps? A. By one tap, followed by two taps, on the right shoulder.
   14. Q. What did these taps represent? A. The twelve points of the Scout Law.
   15. Q. How were you and your companions bound together? A. By a rope, which, until we took the Obligation, represented our tie to the Brotherhood.
   16. Q. How was your preparation for the Obligation completed? A. Nutiket directed me to hold my right hand in the Scout sign and repeat the Obligation after Allowat Sakima.
   17. Q. Repeat the Obligation. A. I do hereby promise on my honor as a Scout that I will always and faithfully observe and preserve the traditions of the Order of the Arrow, WIMACHTENDIENK, WINGOLAUCHSIK, WITAHEMUI. I will always regard the ties of Brotherhood in the Order of the Arrow as lasting and will seek to preserve a cheerful spirit even in the midst of irksome tasks and weighty responsibilities, and will endeavor, so far as in my power lies, to be unselfish in service and devotion to the welfare of others.
   18. Q. In what did Meteu then instruct you? A. In the legend upon which our Order is founded.
   19. Q. Who are the central figures of that legend? A. The aged Chieftain, Chingachgook, and his son, Uncas, who by their cheerful and self-sacrificing service are said to have saved the Delaware lodges from annihilation.
   20. Q. What did Allowat Sakima then impart to you? A. The symbol and handclasp of the Order, the admonition, and the sign of Ordeal membership.
   21. Q. What is the symbol of the Order? A. The arrow, whose undeviating course when aimed high is a token of leadership.
   22. Q. How is it worn? A. Pointing over the right shoulder.
   23. Q. Give me the handclasp of our Order. A. (give it)
   24. Q. How must the admonition always be given? A. Whispered in the ear.
   25. Q. What is the admonition? A. (give it)
   26. Q. What does it mean? A. To love one another.
   27. Q. What is the sign of the Ordeal? A. Right hand draws arrow over left shoulder.
   28. Q. What is the full name of our Order? A. Wimachtendienk, Wingolauchsik, Witahemui. (WWW)
   29. Q. In what language is it given? A. In the language of the Delaware Indians, the Lenni Lenape.
   30. Q. What is the meaning in English? A. The Brotherhood of Cheerful Service.
   31. Q. What are the three memberships in the Order of the Arrow? A. Ordeal, Brotherhood, Vigil Honor.
   32. Q. Give the words of (or sing) the Song of the Order. A. Firm bound in Brotherhood, gather the clan, that cheerful service brings to fellowman. Circle our council fire, weld tightly every link. That binds us in brotherhood. Wimachtendienk.

   Obligation

   I do hereby promise on my honor as a Scout, that I will always and faithfully observe and preserve the traditions of the Order of the Arrow, WIMACHTENDIENK, WINGOLAUCHSIK, WITAHEMUI. I will always regard the ties of Brotherhood in the Order of the Arrow as lasting, and will seek to preserve a cheerful spirit even in the midst of irksome tasks and weighty responsibilities, and will endeavor, so far as in my power lies, to be unselfish in service and devotion to the welfare of others.

   Song of the Order

   Firm bound in Brotherhood, gather the clan, that cheerful service brings to fellowman. Circle our council fire, weld tightly every link. That binds us in brotherhood. Wimachtendienk.