A Danish journeyman carpenter, Søren Hvid, and his friend Christian are travelling through Germany as part of their journeyman years, known as being ‘on the Walz’. They are accepted into the brotherhood of journeymen with the usual rituals prescribed for such events, meet fellow craftsmen on their travels and find work in a lumber yard. Their bindles, distinctive twisted canes and ‘travelling books’ remain with them all the way.
Made at the behest of the Copenhagen Carpenters’ Guild, the film tells the story of ‘Zünften’, the guilds that constituted a secret, 300-year-old brotherhood for the various trades. Upon completing his apprenticeship, a newly trained craftsman would set out on his journeyman years, travelling and finding work to improve his skills and gain experience across national borders, especially in Central Europe. Since the second half of the nineteenth century, Scandinavian journeymen have been known as ‘navers’, an abbreviation of ‘skandinaver’, meaning ‘Scandinavians’.
Made at the behest of the Copenhagen Carpenters’ Guild, the film tells the story of ‘Zünften’, the guilds that constituted a secret, 300-year-old brotherhood for the various trades. Upon completing his apprenticeship, a newly trained craftsman would set out on his journeyman years, travelling and finding work to improve his skills and gain experience across national borders, especially in Central Europe. Since the second half of the nineteenth century, Scandinavian journeymen have been known as ‘navers’, an abbreviation of ‘skandinaver’, meaning ‘Scandinavians’.
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