What are some characteristic Amish church practices? Amish do a number of things which make them different from most other Christian churches. Here are five religious customs common to the Amish, which you won’t see much of elsewhere. Five Common Amish Church Practices (Uncommon Elsewhere) 1. Home Worship With the exception of a very small minority (here is one example), Old Order Amish do not build churches…
Dr. Holmes Morton, of the Clinic for Special Children located in Strasburg, PA is planning to open a new clinic in Pennsylvania’s second-largest Amish community, known as Big Valley. The modest Lancaster County medical center specializes in treating rare genetic diseases which disproportionately affect Amish and Mennonite communities. It garners wide support from the Plain community, seen financially in donations and auctions which help provide it funding. The new…
I didn’t realize the story of the little stitches that hold Amish quilts together could be so interesting. Thanks to Janneken Smucker’s post today, I now do. I hope you enjoy her concise look at quilt stitching including the importance of consistency, the 1980s “Quilters War”, and how much it costs to hire an Amish person to do these stitches. — Quilting by the Yard In…
Do the Amish care about the environment? How do they respond to challenges like pollution, the impact of pesticides, and habitat loss? College of Wooster professors David McConnell and Lyn Loveless wrote about Amish views of nature in their last post. They return today with a look at the Amish and environmental problems in their communities and beyond. Do these issues concern Amish people? Is the Amish lifestyle “ecological” as…
The South has been the fastest-growing region in America in recent years, thanks in large part to transplants from other parts of the country. But Amish, despite their willingness to move, aren’t heading south in quite the same numbers. However, you’ll still find a number of Amish places in the region. Below, a look at five Amish communities in our Southern states. 5 Amish Communities in the South…
How do the Amish light their homes? Without a public power connection, it’s not as simple as flicking a switch. But Amish do have a number of church-sanctioned ways to illuminate their houses. Like other technologies, lighting will vary across communities. 1. Propane or Natural Gas Lighting This is one of the most prevalent forms of lighting among the Amish (perhaps the most common today). Gas lighting can be…
On our recent list of five Amish publications you might like, we included the Plain Communities Business Exchange, a monthly paper for and about Amish and other Plain businesses. Today we have an interview with PCBE’s Carl Heule, who leads public relations for the publication. Carl shares what the PCBE is all about, who reads it, and his thoughts on a few of the more unusual Amish…
In the photos below, you can see the unusual sight of Lancaster-style clothing in the northern Indiana (Elkhart-Lagrange) Amish settlement. These Pennsylvania visitors were apparently in town for a wedding. First, you see some local families arriving, in Indiana-style clothing (with women in Lancaster-style clothing on the far right). Next, a mixed group: You can see that both men and women have different head coverings,…
The printed word – that is, actual ink-on-paper printed word – is still going strong among the Amish. As more and more of us consume media on electronic devices, Plain families across North America continue to get their news and other written information the old-fashioned way. It’s no surprise that there are scores of Amish-produced publications–in fact, one Amish publisher counted 50-plus subscription publications among his people. These include…
Is Amish quilting static, or does it change? Amish women Mary Stoltzfus Lapp and Hannah Stoltzfoos were separated by a generation or two, but each contributed her own special innovation to Amish quilting. Quilt historian Janneken Smucker shares what those innovations were below–plus the unusual example of an Illinois Amish family who created their own “wild, individual” style. — Amish Quilt Innovators We know of lots of examples of…