Great article here on the journeyman custom for tradesmen in Europe.
They hitchhike across Europe, instantly recognizable in the
wide-bottomed, corduroy trousers, white shirts and colored jackets
that identify them as bricklayers, bakers, carpenters, stonemasons and
roofers.They are “Wandergesellen,” or journeymen — a vestige of the Middle
Ages in modern Europe — young men, and these days women, too, who have
finished their required training in any number of trades and are
traveling to gather experience. Most are from German-speaking
countries.