Promises and Ceremonies

As well as enjoying plenty of adventures, being a Cub is about going on a journey to understand who you are and what you stand for. When you join the Pack, you’ll explore these ideas by making a promise. A promise is a set of words that mean something to you, which you try to follow everyday.

Making the promise is a big celebration within the Pack. Every time a new Cub decides to join permanently, they chat through their promise with their Cub leader before saying it out loud in front of their fellow Cubs. Family and friends might come along to see this, too. The process is known as being ‘invested’ into Cubs, and it usually takes place a few weeks into your Cub experience, once you’ve had time to settle in.

Everyone is unique but there are some things all Cubs agree on – such as the importance of treating everyone in the Pack with kindness, and doing their best to care for the community and wider world in which they live. Cubs make a promise to do their best to make a positive contribution to society. Depending on their own beliefs, they might also promise to live by their faith.

Cubs choose the promise that best suits them. Options can be found here.

Grand Howl

The Grand Howl is a ceremony inspired by The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. In the book, a wolf pack’s meetings begin with everyone circling their leader Akela (pronounces ahh-kay-lah) and howling – this is their Grand Howl.

In Cubs, the Grand Howl gathers everyone together and helps them focus. By talking about ‘doing your best’, it also helps everyone remember their Promise. Not all groups do the Grand Howl, and those that do have lots of different variations, and that’s OK.