Gerry Callaghan
Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- 2015 Cycled from Clonmacnoise in Ireland, France, Camino Frances, Camino Finisterre.
Since my camino last year I've spent some time working in the refugee camps in northern France.
While building refugee shelters in Dunkirk last month I had the great pleasure of working with two young German journeymen carpenters.
They were 'on the waltz', travelling for three years and a day to work for different employers and learn how things were done elsewhere. They wear traditional dress, a hat signifying their status as a free person, and a single gold earring.
There are lots of rules associated with being a journeyman, like not having more than five euro when you start and never coming closer than 50 km to home. It's definitely a different form of pilgrimage.
For a very interesting look at this 1000-year-old tradition see
While building refugee shelters in Dunkirk last month I had the great pleasure of working with two young German journeymen carpenters.
They were 'on the waltz', travelling for three years and a day to work for different employers and learn how things were done elsewhere. They wear traditional dress, a hat signifying their status as a free person, and a single gold earring.
There are lots of rules associated with being a journeyman, like not having more than five euro when you start and never coming closer than 50 km to home. It's definitely a different form of pilgrimage.
For a very interesting look at this 1000-year-old tradition see
A Fascinating Tradition: Traveling Journeymen - Understanding Germany
German journeymen at work. Image by Krabatmühle-Schwarzkollm e.V., licensed…
UNDERSTANDINGGERMANY.DE|BY JUDITH MEYER