Perig (Pierre) Géraud-Keraod (July 1, 1917 – October 21, 1997) was one of the founders of the Bleimor Scouting movement in 1946, and later founder of the '' Scouts d'Europe''.

Background

He attended the railroad school of

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he was deputy stationmaster in

Étampes Étampes () is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southwest from the center of Paris (as the crow flies). Étampes is a sub-prefecture of the Essonne department. Étampes, together with the neighboring ...

, where he avoided being shot by the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

. After the war he entered the Ministère de la Reconstruction (Ministry for Rebuilding) and moved his family in Paris. New to the capital, he entered a

Celtic Circle A Celtic circle ( br, kelc'h keltiek, french: cercle ) is an association which emphasizes the Breton culture, by using possibly the Breton language. The Celtic circles created before the Second World War had very wide cultural objectives, incl ...

, where participants meet each week, welcome newcomers from

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

and dance and sing together. Among the members of this Celtic Circle were many Boy Scouts and

Girl Guide Girl Guides (known as Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) is a worldwide movement, originally and largely still designed for girls and women only. The movement began in 1909 when girls requested to join the then-grassroot ...

s. At this point he and his wife Lizig had the idea to create a ''Centre Scout d'expression bretonne'' (Scout Center of Breton Expression). This center took the name ''Bleimor'', the pen name of the Breton

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

Jean-Pierre Calloc'h, who died in 1917 at the battle of the Somme. This Breton Scout Center was created within the framework of the Saint-Denis district of the

Scouts de France Scouts et Guides de France (''Scouts and Guides of France'', SGdF) is the largest Scouting and Guiding association in France. It was formed on 1 September 2004 from the merger of two Roman Catholic Scouting organizations: the Guides de France (f ...

. The activities at the beginning dealt with Breton dance, song and dramatic art. The first Breton Scout camp took place during the summer of 1946, in

Plomelin Plomelin (; ''Ploveilh'' in Breton) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. It lies near the Odet river, about southwest of Quimper. International relations Plomelin is twinned with the village of Crym ...

, close to

Quimper Quimper (, ; br, Kemper ; la, Civitas Aquilonia or ) is a commune and prefecture of the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. Administration Quimper is the prefecture (capital) of the Finistère department. Geography Th ...

. Very quickly Perig and Lizig made the decision to train the Breton Scouts in

emergency services Emergency services and rescue services are organizations that ensure public safety and health by addressing and resolving different emergencies. Some of these agencies exist solely for addressing certain types of emergencies, while others deal w ...

, as they considered that folklore would not be enough to form in-depth true Scouts and Guides. At the beginning of 1947, the older Guides were attached to the Guides of France. The older Scouts were for many years within the framework of the ''Mission bretonne de l'Ile-de-France'', which had been created to occupy the Breton young people who had emigrated to the Paris area, in order to help them to preserve their Breton religious practice, which they had a tendency to give up in Paris. The service activity of Bleimor consisted of launching ' (Breton festivals) in the parishes of the Paris area where many Breton emigrants were established. The day before festivals, the Scouts distributed invitations, accompanied by bell ringers and

bagpipe Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, ...

References

External links

Pierre Géraud-Keraod's obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Geraud-Keraod 1917 births 1997 deaths Scouting and Guiding in France People associated with Scouting People from Brittany

Background

See also

References

External links