Amish Culture

“Sis en Bu.” “Sis en Maedel.” You’d hear these words often enough in Amish homes, with their ever-expanding families. These Pennsylvania Dutch phrases mean “It’s a boy” and “It’s a girl,” as noted in a recent article on the language, “Keeping the Pennsylvania Dutch language alive – and thriving.” Is Pennsylvania Dutch alive and thriving? […]

Continue Reading 5 Interesting Facts About Pennsylvania Dutch

Thanks to everyone for another great year. It’s been over 11 years now since I fired up this site in November 2006, really having no idea at the time where posting my observations on the Amish might lead. Thousands of posts and nearly 50,000 blog comments later, it’s been one of the most enriching things […]

Continue Reading In Case You Missed It – Favorite Posts of 2017

Interesting column this week from Gloria Yoder. Gloria, an Amish mother from southern Illinois, writes the Amish Cook column. It’s not unusual to find Amish serving as foster families for non-Amish children. When I sold books in Amish communities, I would bump into these situations from time to time. This week Gloria answers several questions on fostering among […]

Continue Reading How do Amish care for non-Amish foster children?

A nice feel-good story out of northwestern Minnesota: GLYNDON, Minn. — A fire destroyed multiple buildings at Andy Lake Woodworks in May. Now a group of Amish workers are bringing out all of their tools to help owners of the business rebuild. Andy Lakes Woodworks has risen from the ashes, and it’s all thanks to […]

Continue Reading Amish Help Rebuild English Friend’s Buildings

This is a simple two-minute video, showing scenes from a barn-raising at Walnut Creek, Ohio. I like it because, besides some bumper text, there is no narration – just clips of activity accompanied by the sounds of hammering and machinery. You see children observing the scene, horses chomping on a snack, and women walking around, while […]

Continue Reading Scenes From An Amish Barn Raising (Video)

Anyone out there in Amish America-land catch the eclipse yesterday? I noticed a few news articles today referencing Amish and the event, such as this report or this one referencing a meeting “with some 1,200 other Amish and Mennonites on a large hill on an Amish farm.” More than a handful of Amish communities were in the […]

Continue Reading Did you catch the eclipse?

How do Amish support each other when disaster strikes? How do rules typically change in Amish churches? And how do Amish pay for health care? Amish couple Ivan and Ruth Chupp of Burr Oak, Michigan share succinct answers to these questions in today’s interviews. The three videos below are by Joseph Michaels, responsible for other interviews we’ve seen […]

Continue Reading An Amish Couple Answers Questions – On Health Care, Mutual Aid, and How Church Rules Change (Video)

How different are High German and the everyday language of the Amish*, Pennsylvania German (aka Pennsylvania Dutch)? In today’s video, a High German speaker converses with three Amish people – first Menno Petersheim of Shipshewana, IN, then Ivan and Ruth Chupp of Burr Oak, MI. You can see how well they are able to understand one […]

Continue Reading High German vs. Pennsylvania German In Conversation (Video)

Longtime readers might recall the story of Amos Hertzler, an Amish boy in Cattaraugus County, NY who was born with a serious esophageal condition in addition to having Down Syndrome. We first heard of this case in 2011 when Amos was just a one-year-old. Amos hasn’t appeared in the news much lately from what I’ve […]

Continue Reading Amos Hertzler Benefit Auction Draws Thousands

An Amish-owned horse decided to go for a little ride with no one behind the wheel, so to speak. The incident happened Sunday morning in the Holmes County, OH community. From the Wooster Daily Record: Ohio State Patrol Sgt. C.O. Smith was the one of a a small group of law enforcement officers from the […]

Continue Reading Amish Horse Leaves Owner Behind, Goes On 10-Mile “Joyride”