Manhole (union)
A shaft is an association of craftsmen (mostly building craftsmen) who are or were on the move . These craftsmen's associations usually have no legal form, but some have existed for several centuries and have a status comparable to that of student associations .
Creation of the shafts
From the beginning to the middle of the 19th century, the companies passed the work on large construction sites in mining, road, path and mainly railway construction to columns. They were called shafts and they were led by so-called shaft masters. Thanks to the collaboration of members of what was then the only journeyman organization of the righteous foreigners , this term found its way into the vocabulary of foreign and local journeymen. They then used this term for all sorts of loose groupings. The righteous journeymen have photo documents from the middle / end of the 19th century, the so-called Sponschächterepresent, e.g. B. Skat shafts, model building shafts, sound shafts, pipe smoke shafts, etc. These Sponschächte sometimes turned out corrupted identity papers, which imitated the regular identity documents, the so-called slips, in a funny and ridiculous way.
This originally joking hustle and bustle of the groups known as Bohmkantige Schächte was forbidden and opposed by the Righteous Journeyman with the arrival of more serious topics, such as the joint holding of the ritual by carpenters and masons. This led to the separation and the emergence of new, independent journeyman's organizations.
History of the shafts
The oldest societies are the Society of Righteous Foreign Masons and Stone Cutters and the Righteous Foreign Carpenters and Slaters . Societies are journeyman's associations but not shafts. Some of their utensils, such as flags, welcome (ritual drinking vessel) and shop, prove that these associations have existed since the 17th century.
However, these journeyman's associations of that time can only be equated with today's shafts to a limited extent, as they used to be an integral part of the social order and are now only an exotic fringe group.
Since the handicrafts were organized in guilds in the Middle Ages , these had a monopoly on the execution of the respective trade in the cities . At the beginning of the “ modern times ” , the guilds increasingly became an instrument for maintaining the power and possessions of a master caste. The journeyman's associations represented the opposite pole to this. Numerous reports of bitter labor disputes at that time herald it. However, a labor dispute did not take place through strikes, but rather because the journeyman's associations “blackened” the corresponding guild of an entire city. This meant that all journeymen of the respective trade had to leave the city. Journeyman who violated it were stripped of their righteousness and were cast out from the community of journeymen.
With the beginning of industrialization and the end of compulsory guilds, the need for comprehensive solidarity ended, and the journeyman's associations of most trades fell apart.
At the end of the 19th century, the Roland brothers split off from the bricklayers' association, which, in addition to its traditional origins, also has roots in Gothic construction huts . So they formed the first shaft. Shortly afterwards, the Aliens Freedom Brothers and finally the Free Vogtlanders were founded . Only male builders travel in these traditional shafts.
Axt und Kelle and the free meeting shaft were founded in the 1980s . They also take in women. Not only builders travel in both shafts, but also all those professions that were traditionally on the roll before the 20th century .
All of them have made it their business to support foreign writers on their wanderings and at the same time to monitor their appearance and proper behavior abroad.
At the moment, however, the strongest group of journeyman hikers is that of free travelers . These craftsmen go on a journey without joining one of the shafts mentioned.
Structures of the shafts
The structure of the shafts is quite different. Some of the oldest traditional shafts have centuries-old customs and rituals. But with all of them you can still find the custom of making decisions and settling disputes in the craft room.
In many cities, especially in Germany and Switzerland, but also in the rest of the world, there are hostels or societies as contact points. The local shaft members of the area and the strangers who are currently there and are working meet there at regular intervals to exchange experiences and memories in a sociable group. Rites and customs are also maintained in the old shafts.
Since many locals have now settled in other countries around the world, there are also addresses and hostels in America, Australia, New Zealand and other countries, for example.
See also
- Foreign-written
- Journeyman fraternity
- Confederation Compagnonnages Européens - Association of European society guilds
literature
- Rudolf Wissel : The old craft law and custom. Ernst Wasmuth Verlag, Berlin 1929.
- Theo Gantner: With favor and permission. Accompanying publication by the Museum für Völkerkunde , Basel 1985.
- Anne Bohnenkamp-Renken , Frank Möbus (Ed.): With your favor and your permission! Wandering craftsmen: tradition and alternative. With photos by Ulla Lüthje. 5th, completely revised edition, Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2012 (first edition 1989), ISBN 978-3-8353-1190-9 .
