Artifact of the Week 20240322 - The Fleur de Lis

Apple, Harley Davidson, Coca Cola, McDonalds, Google, all have one specific thing in common. Each of them has a distinctive logo or icon that is immediately recognizable and captures the mind of the person who sees it. For the Scouting Movement worldwide and the Boy Scouts of America, that symbol/icon is the Fleur de lis. While it is impossible to determine who came up with the first fleur de lis design, the story of the Fleur de lis goes back to ancient Egypt, Babylon, and Rome. While serving in the British military, Baden-Powell selected the Fleur de lis to be a symbol of soldiers who mastered the skills of being a military scout. Building off of that tradition, B-P used the fleur de lis as a symbol for his peacetime Scouting movement. Today more than 54 million Scouts belonging to 174 national organizations governed by the World Organization of the Scout Movement are all recognized by the stylings of a simple image that represents a lily.