In Scouting, a jamboree is a large gathering of Scouts and/or Girl Guides who rally at a national or international level.
The 1st World Scout Jamboree was held in 1920, and was hosted by the United Kingdom. Since then, there have been twenty-four other World Scout Jamborees, hosted in various countries, generally every four years. The 26th World Jamboree is to be held in Poland in 2027.
There are also national and continental jamborees held around the world with varying frequency. Many of these events will invite and attract Scouts from overseas.
With the birth of the Jamboree concept, other large gatherings are also organized by national Scout organizations, geared towards a particular group of Scouts. Examples of these large gatherings include:
The origin of the word jamboree is not well understood. This is reflected in many dictionary entries. For example, according to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, the etymology is "19th century, origin unknown". The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) identifies it as coming from American slang, identifying a use in the New York Herald in 1868 and in Irish writing later in the 19th century.[1]
It is popularly believed within the Scouting Movement that the word was coined by Baden-Powell, but there is no written documentation by either Powell or Scouting publications, and the word was in use decades earlier.
Baden-Powell was once asked why he chose "jamboree". He replied, "What else would you call it?" Other than a light-hearted retort, one way his response could have made sense is if the word had already had a specific meaning.
Other writers used "jamboree" in the early 20th century, prior to its use in Scouting, to refer to "a lavish or boisterous celebration or party".[2] [3] Poet Robert W. Service used the term in a poem, Athabaska Dick, published in 1912: "They are all a-glee for the jamboree, and they make the Landing ring".[4] Lucy Maud Montgomery used the term three times in 1915 in Anne of the Island, a book set in the 1880s. For example, "There was quite a bewildering succession of drives, dances, picnics and boating parties, all expressively lumped together by Phil under the head of “jamborees”.[5]
Robert Graves suggested in 1954 that Baden-Powell might have known the word through his regiment's Irish links, rather than from U.S. slang.[6]
The word "jamboree" has several claimed possible origins, ranging from Hindi to Swahili to Native American languages, which further confuses the meaning used by Baden-Powell.[7] [8]
A guess is that the word "jamboree" is derived from the Swahili for hello, Jambo!. Baden-Powell spent a considerable amount of time in East Africa in the 1880s, then again in the late 1890s.[9] [10] [11]
The word "jamboree" is used primarily by the Scouting program following the first Boy Scout jamboree in 1920. Baden-Powell deliberately chose the name "jamboree" where attendees were warmly welcomed attending this first Boy Scout rally or meeting with the word "jambo."
The word jamboree in English is used as a borrowed foreign word, with the ending -ree. The word jamboree is both a noun and a transitive verb, with a direct action of the root word jambo.[12] For example, an attendee of a jambo is a jamboree.
Many, at this first "jamboree" or Scout gathering, did not fully capture the spirit of this then-new concept or greeting. At the first World Jamboree at Olympia, London, in 1920, Baden-Powell said:
"People give different meanings for this word, but from this year on, jamboree will take a specific meaning. It will be associated to the largest gathering of youth that ever took place."[13]
Olave Baden-Powell coined the term to refer to the lingua franca used between Scouts of different languages and cultural habits, that develops when diverse Scouts meet, that fosters friendship and understanding between Scouts of the world. Sometimes the word "jamborette" is used to denote smaller, either local or international, gatherings.[14]
A similarly-used word, "camporee," in the Scouting program is also reflective of the older British use. "Camporee" reflects a local or regional gathering of Scouting units for a period of camping and common activities.[15] Similar to a camporee, a jamboree occurs less often and draws units from the entire nation or world.[16] [17] [18]