The compagnon’s cane and colours

On UNESCO’s list

In 2010, at its meeting in Nairobi, UNESCO’s committee inscribed Compagnonnage, network for on-the-job transmission of knowledge and identities, on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. UNESCO describes it as combining travel in France and abroad, the ‘Tour de France’ period, with initiation rituals, school-based teaching, customary learning and apprenticeship, and says that to pass the knowledge on, an apprentice must produce a ‘masterwork’ judged by the compagnons.

To verify: The earliest written record of compagnonnage: our sources give none

The cane and the masterpiece

Among the Compagnons du Devoir, an aspirant receives a name taken from their home region or town, a sash and a ceremonial walking staff. They then work in several towns for three to five years, living in the compagnons’ houses. To be received, the aspirant presents a masterpiece, a chef-d’œuvre, to the compagnons; if it is accepted, the new compagnon receives a compagnon name and a new walking stick that reaches the height of the heart. Some masterpieces are shown at the Musées du Compagnonnage in Tours and Paris.

To verify: That compagnons call their ribbons ‘colours’ and tie them to the cane, as in our drawing; Whether every compagnon organisation gives the cane and colours in the same way

Earned, not bought

Until 2005 the Compagnons du Devoir took only men; today young women join too. The cane, the sash and the name are earned through years of work and given by the compagnons themselves, so we will not sell copies. We tell them as signs of a working life that is still handed on from hand to hand, and make no promise about anyone’s career.