As carpenters in ancient Judea, what were Jesus and Joseph building all the time? Would Mary have helped?

by pearlsnvodka

What sorts of things would Jesus and Joseph have been crafting? Architecture, furniture, something else?

Would they have had a family business of sorts or would they have been hired help? Was there anything like a trade guild in the region?

Would Mary have helped run things or was work kept totally separate from family life?

ACable89

The word used for Joseph's profession is tektōn which refers literally to carpenters but also other workers in the building trade such as masons. So he would have been unlikely to have been making furniture and may not have been literally working with wood at all.

https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dte%2Fktwn

It is possible the Evangelist added the whole carpenter detail for purely symbolic reasons but there are religious significance to a lot of professions in the New Testament like Shepherds and Fishermen so I don't see it as being any more likely to be made up than the disciples professions.

Lower class women worked as much as men for most of human history but I don't think we know specifically how women in Gallilee operated in the household. I think it would partly depend on the character of the woman and our only source doesn't give us that information.