German journeymen

[robin wood]

I just had a German journeyman visiting and though folk might be interested in this hangover from the medieval craft guild system.

This is Dietrich.

The strange costume tells folk in the know that he is a fully trained craftsman having done a full three year traditional apprenticeship before becoming a journeyman. Dietrich has now been on the road nearly 3 further years carrying all his belongings in this little pack.

Journeymen travel over many countries working in exchange for food, lodging and pocket money whilst expanding and broadening their skills. Hitchhiking and staying with local folk helps them get a good understanding of the culture of the countries they travel in and they give as well as take when they travel.

More details of how the system works and pictures of work we did together on my blog.

 

[Radix lecti]

Sounds like a fascinating life style for Dietrich so much culture and new skills to be learned.Good luck to him .Thanks for sharing Robin ,thats a great blog you have too.
Darren

 

[Hugo]

A nice read Robin.
Thanks for the posting on your blog.

 

[Ph34r]

Very interesting. Not too sure I like his pack though!

 

[torc]

I remember seeing these guys around my town most summers. I never had the opportunity to speak to them and always wondered who they were.
Wikipedia has some good info. and links, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journeymen .
Thanks for the post and clues on who they are.
Happy trails...torc.

 

[TomBartlett]

I was looking forward to hearing more about journeymen after you first mentioned Dietrich in your bridge building post.

 

[robin wood]

Very interesting. Not too sure I like his pack though!

Glad you enjoyed reading about Dietrich. I thought the wandering traveler would maybe appeal to folk here. I traveled a bit at a similar age and hitchhiking was a great way of meeting an interesting cross section of the community but the beauty of this system is that they are fully trained in a skill that they can share so giving as well as taking as they travel. The pack looks basic but was remarkably comfortable.

 

[TomBartlett]

It certainly does appeal to me! As an ESL teacher, I feel there are a lot of similarities between Dietrich and myself (living out of a rucksack, working for food, lodging and pocket money). However building a bridge and turning bowls sounds like more fun that a classroom full of screaming Korean kids!

 

[milius2]

A very pleasant read, nice to know that there are folks like that still making life out of it. Thank you Robin! I can only envy of his freedom

 

[Retired Member southey]

What a fantastic way to live and pass down skills thank you for posting this Robin. Is it only native Germans who can live like this, or are they allowed to accept foriegn learners to the programme?

 

[robin wood]

What a fantastic way to live and pass down skills thank you for posting this Robin. Is it only native Germans who can live like this, or are they allowed to accept foriegn learners to the programme?

I am sure anyone could take this training, first you have to find a place to take you on as an apprentice which is min 3 years hard work at low wages while you learn then you can sign up to the journeyman association. Then min 3 years on the road at subsistence levels with no fixed abode.

I often hear from folk who would love to learn traditional crafts and become an apprentice but few have the commitment of these guys. Most actually want to come and work for 3-6 months and be paid whilst you train them. I wonder how it would go down if I went to the college that teaches plumbers and asked them to train me and pay me a wage for being there as well.

 

[Retired Member southey]

Yeah i completey understand about the lack of willingness to learn with minimal reward, alot of folks don't seem to under stand that the knowledge is the biggest return. I'm just trying to find real trade lively hoods that could be still there for my son and daughter, just to give them options(I fully intend to live my life through them). while we have gone the forces route, my wife and i are intent on them training in a real trade, not a standard construction,plumbing,sparky type(nothing wrong with them) but a more traditional trade. I know this is all a bit ahead it self as they are only 16 month old but If we expose them to these skills and use them as family time(hopefully not sucking the fun out of them) perhapse it will stick.

 

[Beorn]

The journeyman from Germany is related to the general training system in Germany. Everybody wanting to be trained for a job, crafts or office, has to go through it for 2 or 3 years, depending on the type of school they went to.
During this time, they're called "Lehrling", to-be-trained. After they finished they're called "Gesellen" and if they go on learning they become a "Meister". As it is the normal way of qualifying for a certain job. For that is impossible to take part as a foreigner, without first getting trained and qualified, including more school, by a German craftsman.
Journeyman are only left in the jobs of "Zimmermänner", building wooden structures of all kinds, nowadays mostly roofs (the wooden substrucure). Officially they're finished and also could search for a regular job. I know one, who travelled like this to Jerusalem, together with three others. Craftsmen in Germany (and as far as I know Austria) HAVE to employ them for some days, so they can be pretty sure, to make a living while they're on the road.

The old word for what they do is "auf der Walz sein", but that's intranslateable I think.

 

[Hartung]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journeyman_years

 

[pango]

Robin, here's part of a post I made some time ago on a thread entitled "German Crafts".

A mate of mine, Andreas, is a guitar maker who spent 4 years in Granada during his apprenticeship. On his return to Germany he had to present, I believe, 3 instruments for assessment, one of which had to be made under scrutiny. I'd known Andreas for 3 or 4 years when I turned up when he had a customer waiting in his workshop, as Andreas had to leave for some reason or other. I asked him how good a guitar maker Andreas is. His answer was to ask if I'd ever wondered why Flamenco players would travel all the way from Spain to have their guitars looked at!

Andreas built a wooden balcony behind his house. The workmanship was astonishing and every now and then your eye would be drawn to a new squiggle which became a sleeping dormouse, a cat's head... or a point of mother of pearl I spotted on a bannister which turned out to be the eye of a sperm whale!

I said to him that it was the first time I'd ever seen a balcony built like a guitar, he answered that was better than a guitar built like a balcony!

There is also a living tradition of wood carving, apparent in every Gasthaus and restaurant, and the mask carving (a custom once widespread throughout Europe) for the more traditional Fasnet/Fasnacht/ festivals, masks representing everything from apples and pears to witches, ogres, Wildemann and wood-sprits. There is a club from somewhere in Schwarzwald whose mascot/theme involve a story of a man who lived in hiding in the woods for decades. The story appears to date from the 30 Years War (1618 - 1648), into which, I might add, every major European power threw its spanner.

Bill.

 

[Asa Samuel]

Sounds like it would be a wonderful experience

 

[CLEM]

Absolutely facinating, interesting folks the Krauts. Iam really impressed.

 

[BarryG]

A nice way of life. Seems like a sensible system to me.

 

[Biker]

Haven't read your blog yet but being a carpenter and knowing the weight of my toolbox I'd not relish the thought of hauling that around day in day out as well as a change of socks and undies.

Sounds like a very free lifestyle. I wonder how many of them stay the course or just quit once the road gets rocky? Mosty of the apprentices I had working in the workshop didn't seem to be that interested in doing anything above and beyond their job description, even something as menial as keeping their bench tidy! Asking them to goout on the road and earn their trade would have got you some very sarcastic looks. If I were their age and was told the same thing maybe I would too. It's only as I've got older that I appreciate the romance of something like that. But there's nothing romantic sheltering under a bridge in the cold rain wondering where you're going to sleep tonight.

I tip my hat to someone like Dietrich. Makes you appreciate the German sprit of making things properly doesn't it? The same phylosphy seems to extend to their training as well.

 

[robin wood]

I just attended a meeting discussing training in traditional trades where we had a presentation on the French equivalent. The Compagnons Du Devoir. Around 6000 apprentices start each year in a variety of skills they do 2 years basic apprenticeship which enables them to work in a trade. 20% then become journeymen or aspirants to join the compangons, it is a tough route to take involving working for half the minimum wage for several years, working in a workshop then 2 hours of study every evening and Saturdays. They tend to stay in each workshop for 6 months before moving on to the next. Eventually when they are ready they make a masterpiece and apply to become full compagnons, around 8% of those that start go the whole way but compagnons are incredibly highly skilled and highly respected. More details here

http://greenwood-carving.blogspot.com/2010/10/french-compagnons-apprentice-and.html