DIE WALZ A working journey
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COMING HOME IS HARDER than leaving. That’ s the way Horst Schmelz, a carpenter and traditional wanderer feels. Native of a rural German village with fewer than 500 people, he has travelled more than 50,000 km by foot as part of his apprenticeship.
Horst opens his green travel book. Full of documents, emblems of towns, working references and memorabilia, these are the pages of his adventures: his routes and his courage.
“ The aura of adventure was always appealing to me. Maybe that’ s why I became a craftsman, to roam and to have my space,” laughs 51-year-old Horst. He travelled Western Europe from 1983-87.
The tradition of travelling carpenters, roofers, cabinet-makers and masons goes back to the 13th century, when guilds were powerful and artisans went on the road after finishing apprenticeships. The Walz, the journey, taught these journeymen, Gesellen, about life and refined their practical skills.
Over 800 years old, their professional code is an honourable one. The odyssey takes three years and exactly one day to complete and all craftsmen( or women) must be under the age of 30 and debtfree. Traditionally, they are not allowed to use modern transportation and instead walk or hitchhike for the majority of their trip. Mobile phones, credit cards and the internet are also taboo.
Stemming from their code, journeymen are not allowed to contact their family for the journey’ s entirety. They cannot come closer than 50 km to their hometown. Upon departure, they are not even allowed to look back over their
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shoulder, symbolically leaving everything behind to embark on the journey.
“ The craftsman is expected to gather experiences at temporary jobs and be equipped for his life as a master craftsman upon arrival,” explains Hans Tafelski of the guild of the Freie Vogtländer Deutschlands, a traditional trade guild.
Many young carpenters and craftsmen still feel very strongly about their Walz. A virtuous trip in past times, about 250 journeymen made their way in 2010. With the cultural heritage come many songs, drinking habits and traditions.
The most obvious one is the clothing. Journeymen are dressed in a Kluft – a tailored suit of back corduroy bell-bottom pants( so that the saw dust falls off easily), a double-breasted waistcoat with white buttons, a large belt displaying their guild and a black sloppy hat. They carry a walking stick and a small rucksack with their tools and sleeping bag.
Journeymen can be spotted along the country roads in German-speaking countries and Scandinavia. They are not homeless, beggars or medieval history fans but instead part of a living cultural tradition.
Being alone, walking on country roads was the best part of his journey years, reflects Horst. Returning to everyday life became difficult.
Today, Horst owns a small timber company in his hometown. He often thinks back to his Walz and what he has learned:“ Liberty in all respects, the freedom to go in every direction, not to be accountable to anyone but myself and my working hands.”
// Elisabeth Doehne
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volker gerling |
THE NEW NORMAL
TCKs are redefning boundaries
HOME, THE PLACE REMAINS constant throughout your life- a place to return to. What happens when‘ home’ is not the country your passport says it is?
This is just another day in the life of a growing group of people who are defined as‘ Third Culture Kids( TCK).
“ If someone asked me where home is, I’ d ask them if they had 25 minutes to spare,” says Howard McDonald. Born in the UK to an American mother of French Canadian descent and a British father of Scottish descent but raised in Switzerland, 25 minutes seems justified.
The term has come into common currency recently, but is a concept that has been around since the 50s, when American sociologist and anthropologist Ruth Hill Useem coined it. Originally TCKs were expatriate children raised in a host country and culture different from their parents’ passports. It now encompasses people like McDonald and Steph Yiu, a journalist born in Hong Kong and raised in Singapore. She has since then lived in the USA and the UK.
“ I didn’ t realise an actual term existed. When a friend told me about it and described what being a TCK involved I was like, yeah, that’ s me,” says McDonald. >>
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