Happy Groundhog Day. Punxsutawney Phil apparently saw his shadow this morning, so batten down the hatches for another 6 weeks of chilly weather. This annual tradition has a couple of connections to the Penn. Dutch. First, there happens to be a sizable Amish settlement in Clearfield County in the vicinity of Punxsutawney, PA (1,000+ people). [...]
Continue Reading Groundhog Day’s PA German connection
I found myself thinking about this after reading an article about an Idaho family. Originally running in the Lewiston Tribune under the title “Amish family in Winchester finds its way” (and elsewhere as “N. Idaho Amish family embraces modern ways”), the article contains the following description: In many ways the Miller family is as Amish [...]
Continue Reading What does “being Amish” mean?
I’m traveling from Poland to NC today, and from the feel of things I’m getting out of town right in the nick of time. After what was an unusually mild start to the season, winter arrived with a vengeance this past week, with the mercury hitting -17 Celsius at one point (and not budging much [...]
Continue Reading Escaping Old Man Winter
I had originally planned to try a separate post for each question, but realized that would take awhile and that some can probably be answered in shorter form. So here are some more of your questions from the “Submit your Amish questions” page. We’ll get to more later: Fr. Andre Leveille, CSC: Do the Amish [...]
Continue Reading More of your Amish questions answered
Stephen B writes: While I certainly understand the idea behind Plain-ness, of not calling undue attention to one’s self out of modesty and of not wanting to be too much of this world, it seems to me that as times and fashions change, the Amish haven’t really updated their fashions enough to actually *stay* plain. [...]
Continue Reading Is Amish clothing really “Plain”?
Michigan Mary asks: What are the standard burial rituals for the Amish? Who/what digs their graves? Takes care of their cemeteries? We’ve hit on this topic on a couple of occasions, so I may just direct you to these previous posts: on the Amish funeral, and Amish cemetery. As to who digs graves, that would [...]
Continue Reading What are Amish burial practices?
Giving new meaning to the term? From the Lagrange County IN Amish settlement. More on the Amish phone.
Continue Reading Dialing long distance
I have a favorite pair of shoes. They’re cold-weather hikers, originally waterproof but after a few years of use, not so much anymore. That’s not the problem, though, as apparently a tiny hole has appeared, somewhere, in the sole (where exactly, I haven’t been able to determine). However it lets enough water in that walking [...]
Continue Reading Amish shoe repair
Here’s a neat story I missed during Christmas, worth taking a look back at. A couple reasons why–one, it’s about an Arkansas Amish community–and you don’t hear too much about Amish in Arkansas, owing to the small size and remoteness of the Natural State Amish population. Two, it ties in with an issue we discussed [...]
Continue Reading Bridging an Arkansas Amish community
I’ve started to take a crack at your many questions. There was quite a range of topics which should make things interesting. And I was stumped by a few, so might have to get a little help! But we’ll put some on the burner and start working through the list. Mona asks: How do the [...]
Continue Reading Do Amish remarry?
