This (click) is about the best explanation I found of "die Walz." I suppose I ought to come up with a translation, so people can see that the Catholic Church and the U.S. Army didn't waste all their money when they tried to teach me German.
-Joe Offer-
Die Walz. Was ist das eigentlich?
Die Walz ist ein jahrhundertealtes Brauchtum, welches früher eine Notwendigkeit war, da nur der Meister werden konnte, der auch auf die Walz gegangen war. Anlaufstellen für die Reisenden waren damals die Zünfte. Diese hatten sich schon im Jahre 1200 begonnen zu bilden. Sie entstanden zuerst in den größeren Städten, wo das Handwerk eine immer größere Bedeutung erhielt. Meist waren mehrere Berufe in einer Zunft vereint. So bildeten z.B. die Zünfte der Zimmerleute, der Dachdecker und der Maurer feste Gemeinschaften. Damals wurde das Zunftwesen auch noch nicht nach Meister, Geselle und Lehrling getrennt. Dies geschah erst im 16. Jahrhundert. Da es hierbei zu unterschiedlichen Bestrebungen kam, bildeten sich die Gesellenschaften im Rahmen einer jeden Zunft heraus. Sie vertraten die Belange der Gesellen gegenüber den Meistern.
"The Walz" - what is that actually?
The Walz is a centuries-old custom. Previously, it was a requirement that those who wanted to become master tradesman had to have gone on "die Walz." At the time, the stopping points for the travelers were the guilds. These had already begun to form in the year 1200. The began first in the larger cities, where skilled hand labor had a greater meaning. Most of the time, several occupations were united together into one guild. For example, this is how the guilds of the carpenters, the roofing workers, and the bricklayers formed stable organizations. At the time, the guilds were not yet divided into apprentices, journeymen, and masters - this did not happen until the 16th century. As they developed into separate enterprises, the journeymen formed into the structure of a guild. They represented the interests of the journeymen as opposed to the interests of the masters.
OK, so it didn't tell the whole story and I'm too lazy to do a translation of the rest of the page. But the general idea was that as part of the process of becoming a master, craftsmen had to work in various guilds, traveling from one to the other. This page (click) tells the story better - and in English. An excerpt:the traditional Walz of the traveling journeyman - a period of at least three years and a day during which young artisans roam the world looking for temporary employment to gather experience in their crafts. Though custom demands that the Wandergesellen follow a set of strict rules - they may not enter a 50 km radius around their home town or remain in one place for more than three months - more and more people...are following the calling. An estimated 500 traveling journeymen, about 10% of them women, from some 30 crafts are currently on the move-almost twice as many as 10 years ago.
There's another interesting article about the Walz here (click). This is fascinating, Bob!
-Joe Offer-And despite my great respect for Wolfgang, I removed his name from the thread title and put something more pertinent to the song itself. I sent Personal messages to Bob and Wolfgang about the title change.