“For Thanksgiving my extended Kuhns family came to town and for entertainment the 2 year olds were playing church,” writes Karleen Kuhns.
After viewing Karleen’s videos, I realized they were too cute to not share with you.
In the first of three videos, one of the boys sings the opening to the Loblied (“Hymn of Praise”, sung as the second hymn in every Amish church service).
Compared to the rendition here, the little guy’s notes sound pretty close:
In the second one, the boys are joined by a little girl, there is more singing, and then in a dramatic moment, little Adrian gets plowed over by another child running by.
However Karleen notes that “he was totally fine 5 seconds later.”
The third video shows the children demonstrating kneeling prayer which occurs towards the end of the Amish service, more singing, and possibly some preaching:
At these ages the children have a limited understanding of what they are doing, but they absorb from a young age what happens in Amish church.
I imagine the singing and the kneeling make an impression on the children as standing out in the service, the bulk of which consists of preaching.
Children are included in church service and while sometimes they need a snack or a toy to keep them occupied, even the very young ones are well-behaved (if they’re not, they get a trip outside).
For that matter, Amish children are exposed to singing from an early age and they pick it up early. Here is another video shot in an Amish home of even younger tots singing:
Singing is an important part of Amish faith and culture.
Depending on the setting, the songs Amish sing range from solemn German church hymns to upbeat, English-language 4-part religious tunes. If you’re curious, here are five occasions when Amish sing.
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Adorable
Making me smile … just precious, adorable!!
Cute but quite a hard whack
I don’t know why they were videotaped? I think toddlers can grasp what praying is i don’t know why not. The kid on the left had
the singing down
Off subject.
Maybe someone familiar with Old Colony Mennonites can answer this: where exactly do Old Colony Mennonites live in the United States?
I read a Wiki article stating that such communities can be found in the U.S and Canada, and I don’t think that is accurate. In Canada, most Old Colony Mennonites are seasonal workers who come during the farming seasons. In the U.S, there are also season Old Colony Mennonite workers in Kansas, but I don’t know of any official settlement as you would find in Latin America. I know there was once an attempt in Texas, but that failed.
If there are no communities, I wonder why. The U.S is far more favorable to the Mennonite lifestyle than are many of the countries they settle in, especially related to education laws and property rights.