Everyone has heard of the little world of the Compagnons and we often associate them with the image of builders who travel across France on construction sites. But what exactly do we know about them, their founding myths and their eventful history (even still today), their initiation rites and their traditions of fraternity or their daily profession, which borders on true nobility through work, while being confronted with the tension between tradition and modernity?
The notion of Duty
In their latest work, Sylvie and Rémy Boyer have penetrated their universe to talk about Compagnonnage beyond the spectacular. They collected testimonies from some of them, sometimes unexpected, but whose words are always strong, especially when it comes to combining know-how and interpersonal skills. The first part of the book is devoted to the history and nature of the Compagnonnage, included in 2010 as UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, as a “network for the transmission of knowledge and identities through the profession”.
Women
A transmission which is the cement of the Companions, whose traditions are very strong. Training takes place in dedicated schools open to all, whose numbers are currently at their highest. Today, depending on the source, there are between 15,000 and 45,000 Compagnons in France, divided into three large organizations: the Companion Federation, the Workers’ Association and the Companion Union.
Although they have in common the notion of Duty, not all of them are builders, since we also find all the building trades, as well as iron and leather craftsmen, bakers, pastry chefs… Professions that it is now appropriate to combine the feminine, women having made their entry over the past twenty years, not without resistance and debate…
Fraternal functioning
After a very useful glossary to try to understand the Companion language, the authors have transcribed interviews with Companion bakers, organ builders (in the singular, because he is the only one in France!), carpenters and stonemasons. Rituals, training, place of younger generations, life as a couple, distinctive signs, Tour de France, evolution of the profession… So many themes covered which allow us to better understand the fraternal functioning of these men (and women) who are much more than just exceptional workers…
Paroles de Compagnons, by Sylvie and Rémi Boyer, Éditions de La Tarente (293 pages); €26. Musée.
There is a companionship museum in La Charité-sur-Loire, created by the Fraternité Compagnonnique des Anciens Devoirs, and installed in the former Chapelle du Bon Secours which overlooks the Benedictine garden. It presents works from many professions, every last Saturday afternoon of the month (contact: Joël Aulnette at 06.86.89.27.79).
