Балалар скауттарының құрметтік қоғамы және рәсімдері

Boy Scouts of America honor society

While the OA is not a secret organization, it is an organization with "safeguarded" rituals. There are three main secretive ceremonies for the three levels of the Order: Ordeal, Brotherhood, and Vigil. These ceremonies are usually for recognition of leadership qualities, camping skills, and other scouting ideals as exemplified by their elected peers. Influenced by Scout camp customs, the OA uses "safeguarded" (privy only to members and legitimately interested adults) symbols, handshakes, and private rituals to impart a sense of community. Since the 1980s, concerned parents, scout leaders, and religious leaders may review the ceremony through a process set by the Order of the Arrow and parents can refuse for their child to take part in the ceremony as the membership is voluntary. Inducted members, known as Arrowmen or Brothers (regardless of gender; as BSA and its programs are open to all genders), are organized into local youth led Lodges that harbor fellowship, promote camping, and render service to Boy Scout councils and their communities. Each lodge corresponds to a BSA council in the area. Lodges are further broken down into chapters, which correspond to a district in scouting. Members wear identifying insignia on their uniforms, most notably the OA pocket flap that represents their individual OA lodge and the OA sash worn at official OA functions. The OA program sponsors several events, awards, and training functions. It has foundations influenced by Freemasonry and uses imagery commonly associated with American Indian cultures for its self invented ceremonies. Native Americans have criticized the OA's various symbols and "rituals" as cultural appropriation based on non Native stereotypes of American Indians. In 1921, the "known" Lodges organized themselves under a Grand Lodge as inspired by the Freemasons. A new Constitution was written and the ceremonies used in the early years were re written. The following year, it became an Official Experiment of the Boy Scouts of America. Throughout the 1930s, the Order of the Arrow went through a full review. The terminology used by the order was slowly replaced to sound less masonic and more Native American. This was a requirement from the Boy Scouts of America who wished to not offend the religious groups that represented almost half of their charter organizations at the time and this needed to happen before the OA could be fully integrated in BSA. By 1948, two thirds of the BSA's councils had OA Lodges. That same year, it announced at the 1948 NOAC that the Order of the Arrow was integrated as an official part of Boy Scouts of America Program.

The Order of the Arrow places great emphasis on being a youth led organization. Only youth under the age 21 are voting members and are eligible to hold elected offices. Professional and volunteer adults are appointed to non voting advisory positions at the chapter, lodge, and section levels. The smallest level of organization in the Order of the Arrow is the chapter. The chapter is usually corresponding to a district in the local council. The chapter is led by the elected youth chapter chief, chapter vice chiefs, secretary, and a volunteer adult is appointed as the adviser, the district executive is the professional (staff) adviser. The chapters often hold monthly or weekly meetings together. The next largest unit of the OA is the lodge, which is chartered by a local BSA council. The lodge chief is the elected youth leader, the lodge adviser is a BSA adult volunteer appointed by the Scout Executive, and the lodge staff adviser is the council Scout executive or his designated council professional Scouter. The lodge youth officers, consisting of the lodge chief, one or more vice chiefs, a secretary, and a treasurer are responsible for organizing and leading the various programs and activities of the lodge. Many lodges have standing committees responsible for ceremonies, service projects, publications, unit elections, camp promotions, and dance teams composed of youth members. Like the Boy Scouts of America's Areas, The Order of the Arrow was formerly organized into four regions, Central, Southern, Northeast and Western Region; the boundaries of each OA region correspond with the boundaries of the BSA's regions. As of 2021, following the Boy Scouts of America's restructuring of these areas, the OA changed their region boundaries, now having only two. Each region has an elected region chief, a volunteer adult who is appointed as the region chairman to oversee its region Committee, and an appointed professional (staff) adviser, forming a 'Key Three' much like the Lodge and chapter system described above. Each region chief is elected at the national planning meeting the day after the election of the national chief and vice chief by a caucus of the section chiefs from the given region. The members of the region committee consist of the region chief, the region chair, all national committee members from the region, and other appointed adult volunteers. Each region annually has a gathering of all section officers and advisers. As a region, they are trained in topics relevant to their jobs. Each region also provides opportunities for Order of the Arrow members to go through a National Leadership Seminar. This weekend course is highly rated and a lasting memory for many members.

The national OA committee also sponsors various national service opportunities, the oldest of which is the National OA Service Corps at the national Scout jamborees, at which Arrowmen have helped with many functions including shows and the Outdoor Adventure Program exhibit.

Ceremonies also utilize the OA Song, commonly referred to by its first line of lyrics as "Firm Bound in Brotherhood", and titled "Order of the Arrow Official Song" and "The Order of the Arrow Song" in the printed music score of official OA publications. It was written in 1921 by OA founder E. Urner Goodman to the Russian hymn tune "God Save the Tsar!" (Боже, Царя храни! ), composed by Alexei Lvov in 1833.

The Order of the Arrow sponsors service groups to the four National High Adventure Bases that focus on conservation. Inspired by three gentlemen, Edward Pease, Eugene "Gene" Schnell and Marty Tschetter who gathered at a leadership summit at Philmont Scout Ranch in 1979, the Order of the Arrow High Adventure program was established. Originally starting with the Order of the Arrow Trail Crew at the Philmont Scout Ranch working to build new trails and repair old ones. This expanded to the Northern Tier National High Adventure Bases with the OA Wilderness Voyage, repairing the portage trails in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, and then to Florida National High Adventure Sea Base in 2005 with Ocean Adventure, which works to remove invasive species on some of the Keys and promoting and carrying out of the Bleach watch program in the Florida Keys. After the addition of the third High Adventure Base, the Order of the Arrow implemented the OA Triple Crown Award in the summer of 2009, the OA began the OA Canadian Odyssey program which provided service similar to the OA Wilderness Voyage to the Quetico Provincial Park. In 2014, The Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve began hosting the Order of the Arrow Summit Experience which gives service to the New River Gorge National River.

The National Order of the Arrow Conference (NOAC) is a multi day event which usually takes place on a university campus, bringing together thousands of delegates from OA lodges around the nation for training and activities. NOACs are held every two years, with exceptions made to align the event with significant anniversaries. As a youth led organization, these national conferences are organized and directed by the elected section and region youth officers, who serve on committees responsible for various conference aspects under the leadership of the conference vice chief. Events include training for programs, leadership and American Indian culture; competitions in athletics, ceremonies, cooking and American Indian dances; and exhibits on OA history, outdoor activities, and camping. There are also opportunities to talk with national leaders, perform service work and trade patches. Evening shows have different themes, including American Indian culture and recognition of dance competition winners, presentations of awards including the OA Distinguished Service Award and other entertainment. Largely considered the adult equivalent of the NLS program, NLATS's primary objective was to provide advanced training to adults in each lodge. NLATS and NLS usually happened concurrently on the same weekend. The events were planned and executed by a staff of adults. After successful pilots in 2016, the Developing Youth Leadership Conference curriculum began replacing NLATS in early 2017.

The Order of the Arrow has the exclusive use of the right pocket flap for its colorful patch extremely popular among Scouts. This has led to a phenomenon known as "Sash and Dash" sometimes called "patch and Dash" has been a source of problem for the Order of the Arrow. It refers to Arrowmen who have gone through the election by their peers as well as the Ordeal and wearing the patch and/or sash but are never seen again. They do not participate in any Lodge event. The Order of the Arrow acknowledges the problem and has attempted to resolve the issue by providing training to retain active members.