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Pilgrims of Freedom

Why are you dressed this way?
Shekinah sewing

Our appearance reminds many people of times gone by. We are not trying to imitate a particular way of dress of a certain time and culture, but we do like to make a connection with all of those ancients who, because of their integrity helped mankind make progress in the development of the understanding.

And although we are certainly not against wisely used technology, in the present world we see a strong need to return to simpler and more natural ways of doing things.

We wear what we feel reflects our message, what is practical, what is comfortable, and what we like.

We each carry a whole sheepskin. It serves as a mattress to sleep on, a pad to sit on, as a windbreaker and a cover against the rain.

In the beginning of our pilgrimage we first started with sowing our tunics. Then, by and by, we began to also sew our shirts, pants, jackets, pouches, backpacks, sandals, and eventually solid shoes.

In 2012 for the first time we wove cloth for our tunics on simple self-made back-strap weaving looms.

Making things ourselves teaches us patience and respect for the work of another person. Working to develop a skill helps us appreciate those who know a craft well.

We are very much opposed to the exploitive, in many cases cruel conditions, under which industrially produced items are made today. Most clothing articles are purposely made to not last long to augment the sales; that, and the constantly changing fashions contribute a large part to the appalling waste of natural resources in the world today and present the seeming necessity to mass-produce.

We try to make our few necessary clothes to last; and unless God shows us to give away or leave behind an item, we mend and keep them until we feel they cannot be mended well anymore.

The Pilgrim's Shoe

The pilgrim’s way it has been long,
He speaks the truth, he sings his song.
Has given up his things, his home,
Content in love with God to roam.
He’d made his sandals, shirt and hose,
Because the simple life he chose.

With summer gone in northern land
He thought it good to try his hand,
To also make a solid shoe,
Keep warm his feet the winter through.

But making shoes takes skill you know,
Of how to measure, cut and sew.
It takes a master of the trade;
No good shoe’s by a novice made.

The master saw the pilgrim’s plight
As he took pity at the sight,
He said, “I shall be teaching you,
Just how to make a solid shoe.”

So pilgrim with a grateful heart,
First listened, watched and then did start,
With master's help to stitch by stitch,
With patience make his shoes with which
For many miles to come he’d walk,
While with and of his God he’d talk.

So in this world that’s growing cold,
Thank God, can still be stories told
Of folks who won’t just selfish live,
But like to share, to teach, to give.
And God bless Master Janus who
For love helped pilgrim make his shoe.

(Written by Shekinah in the workshop of a kind shoe maker, Warsaw, Poland, September 2012)