The caption accompanying the above photo in an AP story on Amish and gas usage reads: “Using real horse power to get around, an Amish buggy makes its way through Middlefield, Ohio, unconcerned about the rising gas prices…” Actually, the Amish aren’t as oblivious to rising gas prices as we might think. While it’s true they don’t have to worry about filling up a gas-slurping…
Despite what you may read or hear elsewhere, no Old Order Amish live in California today. That said, you will find related groups, such as Beachy Amish (similar to horse-and-buggy Amish, but they use cars and more tech) or Mennonites. But it’s good to keep in mind that these related groups like Mennonites are not Amish – though they have some things in common. Amish…
Siss im blut is PA Dutch for ‘it’s in the blood’. It’s often given as a reason when Amish and Mennonites talk about genetic problems in their midst. Amish and Mennonites have taken a practical approach to an unfortunate situation: a cramped gene pool causing numerous genetic disorders, often popping up with a frequency unseen outside their tight communities. Amish communities have accepted medical help…
The crime was horrendous. But the point now is not the crime – it’s the hard issues at hand for the Amish community of Ed Gingerich – allegedly the only Amishman ever tried and convicted for the death of another human being. Gingerich killed his wife in a fit of insanity in 1993. A paranoid schizophrenic, he was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and served a…
Amish tourism did not begin with Witness. That 1985 film just made it worse (or better, depending on how you look at it, I suppose). David Luthy, writing in The Amish Struggle with Modernity, tells us that the first Amish-themed novel came out in 1905 (wait a minute–back when many of us English were still riding around in buggies!), the first Amish postcards around 1915,…
Following up the great Amish photos from Bill Coleman last week, here is a new, no-less impressive batch from Randall Persing. Randy says that he feels fortunate to have developed friendships with the Amish. This also allows him to freely move about the community, attend events, and document Amish life. Nebraska Amish Like Bill Coleman, Randy has been able to photograph perhaps the most conservative…
When selling books in Amish communities, I’m often asked if I carry the Martyrs Mirror. This book is very popular in Amish homes today. It is an account of the numerous Anabaptists, spiritual predecessors of the Amish, who perished on account of their faith. It is also a hefty tome–at over 1100 pages there are more than a handful of accounts in here. One of…
photo from Wired magazine In Amish Country, Lancaster County, a quiet behind-the-scenes battle is happening–it’s business vs. the bishops, in a discrete tussle over modern America’s favorite portable gadget, the cellphone. Tensions have risen over the now common device. “Sometimes I wonder if we’re not getting to a point where some of our people don’t respect church authority the way they should,” says a frustrated…
I just picked up my 2002 Indiana Amish Directory for Elkhart, Lagrange, and Noble Counties, and flipped to a random page. Here are the last names of the Amish in the 40 households in the district I landed on, in order: Bontrager, Bontrager, Bontrager, Bontrager, Bontrager, Bontrager, Bontrager, Bontreger, Bontreger, Eash, Gingerich, Hochstedler, Hostetler, Jones, Lambright, Lambright, Lambright, Lambright, Lambright, Lambright, Lehman, Miller, Miller, Miller,…
Some Amish avoid vaccination. Why? There are a few reasons why, but some have a motive similar to why almost all Amish avoid insurance: it would be placing faith in an outside body instead of in God. A lot more Amish do vaccinate their kids than participate in insurance programs, however. The motive rings clear to non-Amish ears–why take the chance with your child’s life?…