Amish Culture

“Yankees vs. Amish”: Charity Basketball Game Raises Money For A Good Cause

“Yankees vs. Amish”: Charity Basketball Game Raises Money For A Good Cause

Amish vs. non-Amish in a competitive basketball game? In Geauga County, Ohio, home to the world’s fourth-largest Amish settlement, it happens every year in a charity event, pitting Amish against non-Amish teams. The purpose is to raise money for the local DDC Clinic, which helps children with rare genetic disorders. This is something I’d heard about, but hadn’t ever had a chance to share here…

“Amish babies take a little longer” – Ben Answers Humorous Questions on Amish Weddings & Finding Wives

“Amish babies take a little longer” – Ben Answers Humorous Questions on Amish Weddings & Finding Wives

Here’s another video in my series with Ben (previous video – “Do Amish Believe They’re The Only True Christians?” here). In this one, he answers a question about Amish marriages. A viewer asked the following: You made a comment about Autumn being the wedding season for the Amish people. I’m not trying to be sarcastic or funny, but is it so they will have their…

Plain Talk About Health: Linguistic Aspects of Mediation Between Amish and Health Care Professionals

Plain Talk About Health: Linguistic Aspects of Mediation Between Amish and Health Care Professionals

The very first issue of the Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities was published in the Summer of 2020, and in that issue, the lead article was written by Mark Louden, who is the Alfred L. Shoemaker, J. William Frey, and Don Yoder Professor of Germanic Linguistics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His article focused on what is arguably the most distinctive difference between Plain people…

The Three Amish Christmases

The Three Amish Christmases

Did you know that Amish celebrate three separate Christmases? By this I mean three separate days called by some variation of the name “Christmas”. Two of them occur in December, and one in January. Christmas (December 25) First of course, there is the Christmas we all know, on December 25th. This is the official Christmas, the traditional commemoration of Jesus’ birth, and is celebrated in…

Are the Amish Rude? Viewers Respond

Are the Amish Rude? Viewers Respond

“I don’t recall ever feeling they were rude. But I definitely thought they didn’t like small talk. I assumed it was because I was English – or if I was speaking to a man, it was that I was a woman.” That’s a comment from one observer on the question “Are the Amish rude?” Some of you might recall this topic from back in March…

5 Subtle Ways Amish Avoid Seeking Attention

5 Subtle Ways Amish Avoid Seeking Attention

Sometimes people stand out by making noise. Other times, the quieter ones set themselves apart. One thing that I’ve always appreciated about the Amish, is that they’re not attention seekers. Perhaps this is in part due to the fact they automatically get a lot of attention due to being so visually, and culturally different. But there are also aspects of Amish culture that leads them…

Amish Youth Sing “Sometime” (Video)

Amish Youth Sing “Sometime” (Video)

How about another Amish singing video? This is another beautiful one from P. Thomas, from several months back, recorded with a number of other hymns. The venue is a New Order Amish youth group singing (likely in Ohio). New Order Amish tend to be more open when it comes to cameras, so we’ve seen a good number of recordings from them. Like others we’ve heard,…

The Amish Barn Raising (Excellent Documentary)

The Amish Barn Raising (Excellent Documentary)

I want to share with you an excellent documentary on the Amish communal practice of barn raising. In this film by Burton Buller, a barn has recently burned down in an Amish community (which looks to be Holmes County, Ohio). He films the entire process of the barn-raising, starting at the wee hours (4:45 AM) when the first helpers are just arriving. Interspersed with the…

Seven Ways I’m “Amish” About Technology

Seven Ways I’m “Amish” About Technology

How “Amish” are you when it comes to technology? In “We Should Be More ‘Amish’ About Technology“, columnist Tish Harrison Warren examines how over-use of tech (social media in particular) was harming her family life. And she feels that Amish and others like them can be role models on this: American society could learn from Anabaptist groups, including the Amish, Mennonites and others. Many of…

Amishman & 10-Year-Old Son Lose Lives In Freak Pond Accident

Amishman & 10-Year-Old Son Lose Lives In Freak Pond Accident

An Amishman and his ten-year-old son lost their lives this past weekend in a pond accident. The incident happened under unusual circumstances in a restricted area in their community in eastern Ohio. From WTRF: BELMONT COUNTY, Ohio (WTRF) — An Amish man and his 10-year-old son died of drowning Saturday, according to Belmont County Sheriff’s Department Chief Investigator Ryan Allar. Allar said it happened at…