Traditions, customs, and habits
Today, the job of cheese carrier is an honorary job performed in addition to a person’s normal job. Many traditions and customs from earlier days have been preserved: there are household regulations prescribing how people working on the market are expected to behave. It is forbidden to curse, for instance. If a cheese rolls off the barrow while walking, cheese carriers do not swear but instead call “owl”! Fighting, smoking, and drinking is strictly forbidden during the cheese market. But beer flows abundantly once the market square is empty. One of the guild members regularly hands out hot sausages or sausage rolls. If a temporary worker is appointed cheese carrier, the cheese father and overman think of a suitable nickname. “The boulder”, for instance, owes his name to the fact that he has travelled all around the world (and because of his considerable size). The cheese father is referred to as “the interpreter” relating to the fact that he can make himself understood in foreign languages and dialects. Other nicknames include “the miaower”, “the drink”, “slob”, and “the tulip”. Then there is the “honorary guild”. Once a year, people who have performed a special merit for the Noord-Holland cheese are appointed members of the honorary guild.