The Green Feather

            The Green Feather represents the Warrior that walks the forest and stares up at the great trees in wonder. The color of green represents life on Mother Earth. This garden of green will give him many things to sustain his life. It will give him the tools and weapons to make his life easer on earth. It will give him shelter in the harsh winters and cool shade from the hot summer sun. The trees will bare fruit to fill his belly and give his body nourishment. The Warrior will walk in the beauty and respect the thing that the Great Spirit has made. His ears will listen to The Great Spirit voice in the wind.

            The Green Feather is said to be the hardest feather for a brave to earn. The Green Feather is earned by brave’s demonstrating his knowledge and stating from memory, a brief history of the Indian Guides, the Story of the Headband and the National Emblem.

A BRIEF HISTORY

            "The Indian father raises his son. He teaches his son to hunt, to track, to fish, to walk softly and silently in the forest, to know the meaning and purpose of life and all that he must know, while the white man allows the mother to raise his son." These chance remarks made in the early 1920s by Ojibway Indian hunting guide Joe Friday to Harold Keltner, a St. Louis YMCA director, struck a responsive chord.

            In 1925 Keltner arranged for Friday to speak before boys and dads in the St. Louis area. One evening after a talk given at a father and son banquet, Friday was so closely surrounded by fathers that the boys could not get near him. This gave Keltner an idea. Perhaps this strong mutual interest in the Indian could be put at the heart of a program aimed at closing the gap that he had seen widening between American fathers and their sons. Keltner designed a father-son program based on the qualities of American Indian culture and life: Dignity, Patience, Endurance, Spirituality, Feeling for the earth, and Concern for the family. From this, Y-Indian Guide programs were born.

THE STORY OF THE HEADBAND

             The central theme of the headband is the Eye of the Great Spirit surrounded by the four winds of heaven. The feathered arrow designs which extend right and left of the central symbol represent the useful services of father and son. The fact that father-and-son achievements are united in the center of the design is interpreted to mean that fathers and sons together, under the eye of the Great Spirit, are seeking to help each other in the services they render.

            To the right is the symbol of the mother and home. A line connects the mother symbol with the tepee, or home symbol. the fact that it is a home symbol is shown by the fire in the tepee. On the left are symbols of father and son. Their relationship again is shown by the line that joins the two symbols. These symbols add to the richness of the central theme, for it is in service to mother and home that many of the more significant achievements of father and son will take place.

            Far to the right are symbols of day and forest. Far to the left are the symbols of mountain, lake, field, and stream, with the moon for night. Here again, these symbols tend to enrich the central theme, giving broader scope to services by centering the efforts of father and son on village and community life, and, as the ritual says, "in forest, field and stream."

            In summary, the interpretation of the headband can be taken as "Father and son, through friendly service to each other, to our family, to this tribe, and to our community, seek a world pleasing to the eye of the Great Spirit."

ABOUT THE INDIAN GUIDES EMBLEM

            The National Emblem of blue, gold, and red represents some of the main points that are stressed in Y-Guides. The cross section of an ear of corn symbolizes goodness of the Great Spirit in the life of the American Indian. The arrow head is a symbol typical of Indian life. The triangle identifies the organization as an integral part of the YMCA.