Mit Hut, Stenz und Ehrbarkeit - Wandergesellen (2013)

When journeymen are on the road, they always attract admiring glances: Dressed in their traditional garb, complete with a walking stick and a Charlottenburger (a type of bag), they seem to have stepped out of a bygone era. And in a way, they have: With their journeyman's travels, these craftsmen continue a tradition introduced by the guilds in the late Middle Ages – as a prerequisite for a journeyman to begin the master craftsman's examination. And so, many of the customs still practiced today have been passed down from one journeyman to the next for 800 years. But some things have also changed over the centuries – the journeyman's travels are no longer mandatory, and the number of brave souls who venture out into the world to gain work experience and get to know other cultures has shrunk to around 500 in Germany after a brief revival in the 1980s. However, the journeyman's travels have become more inclusive: More than 10 percent of these traveling craftsmen are women. But what is it that drives young craftspeople to travel abroad for three years and a day after their apprenticeships; with little luggage; without being reachable; without knowing where they will sleep at night – but with a wealth of medieval rules and customs in mind? The Medienwerkstatt Franken (Media Workshop Franconia) wanted to find out from journeymen and women from a wide variety of trades. A film by Vanessa Hartmann and Andreas Holzmüller