Miner's habit


A miner's habit is the traditional dress of miners in Europe. The actual form varies depending on the region, the actual mining function, and whether it is used for work or for ceremonial occasions.

Elements

At work, the miner of the Middle Ages in Europe wore the normal costume for his local region – pit trousers, shoes and miner's jacket.
Only gradually was the typical miner's uniform created by the addition of unmistakable elements of miner's apparel such as the miner's apron, knee pads, miner's cap, the mining tools needed for work in the pit, such as hammers, chisels, wedges, picks, hoes, shovels, crowbars, pikes or miner's chisels, mallets or carpenter's hatchets, the miners' safety lamps, and the Tzscherper bag.
There were specific accoutrements for the individual trade groups. The mining foreman or Steiger, for example, carried the Steigerhäckel, a simple hewer bore a miner's hatchet. Able miners carried a miner's axe, which was simultaneously a tool and a weapon. The smelters wore the leather apron as a pinafore in front of them and carried various implements: the Firke or Furkel, the rake and the tapping bar.
In 1769 in Saxony, the Marienberg Bergmeister, von Trebra, introduced the wearing of the black mining habit.
The variety of mining habits may still be seen in the mining processions typical of the old mining regions even today.

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Literature