Arrow of Light

Arrow of Light Knot

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Worn by adults who earned the Arrow of Light as a youth member.

Note that the current "Arrow of Light" patch worn by youth members (shown below), was called the "Webelos award" from 1941 to 1967.  When the current Webelos rank was created in 1967 (replacing the Lion rank, the former Webelos rank was renamed the "Arrow of Light".  Scouters who earned the patch under the old system are also eligible to wear the knot shown above.  It's basically the same award with a different name.

Arrow of Light Badge

For current requirements see Webelos - Arrow of Light Badge

Historical Note:

The Arrow of Light Square Knot is an adult only item. It was first issued in the days of the older khaki-green shirts with the green rope forming the standing loop and the red rope ends to the left. When BSA switched to the new khaki-tan an error was made in ordering and for several months two versions of the knot were being sold. One was the original configuration with the green standing loop and the other was a complete reversal of the color scheme with a red standing loop. (I was one of those Scouters that ended up with some uniforms having the older version and some uniforms with the newer version - both with the new khaki-tan background. - MFB) Apparently more than 20,000 knots were produced with the new color scheme before BSA reached a decision on what to do. In the end, BSA elected to use the new color scheme and to pull remaining stocks of the old version. Rumors persist that BSA may use the old design for a new award to recognize recipients of the Youth Leadership in America Award and the Congressional Award. However, this remains speculation at this point.

Recent Arrow of Light Knot

Early Version of
the New Design

Old Arrow of Light Knot

Old Design


Our thanks to Mike Walton for the original scans of these knots,
and to Mike Walton and Mike Bowman for the original text on this page.


Page updated on: May 23, 2014



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