Sometimes people stand out by making noise. Other times, the quieter ones set themselves apart. One thing that I’ve always appreciated about the Amish, is that they’re not attention seekers. Perhaps this is in part due to the fact they automatically get a lot of attention due to being so visually, and culturally different. But there are also aspects of Amish culture that leads them…
Autumn is the heart of the traditional Amish wedding season in places like Lancaster County and other communities. Amish weddings draw large numbers of guests, and the Amish custom is to hold a day-long reception afterwards. Amish wedding receptions are typically large, with hundreds of guests, and require a lot of food. In some Amish communities, the custom is to rent a “wedding wagon“, a…
Irma Miller, age 11, and sister Wilma, age 7, lost their lives after their buggy was rear-ended on the morning of September 25th in Fillmore County, Minnesota. Questions soon arose over the alleged driver of the vehicle, which may have in fact been the woman’s twin sister. News station KTTC visited with the Miller family, and spoke with the father of the girls, Menno, about…
Bizarre and disturbing story out of an Amish community in Missouri. A man (who happens to have an Amish appearance, and a name typical among Amish) allegedly confessed to seeking to kill 11 Amish children in the community. The number is oddly specific, and the story doesn’t elaborate on who the children were, or why that number. This is reported by local news channel KTTN:…
This story broke over the weekend. It concerns a poultry plant in the area of the large Holmes/Wayne County Amish settlement in Ohio. From NBC News: Federal agents found more than two dozen minors illegally working inside a poultry plant in Kidron, Ohio, earlier this month, according to local immigration advocates who spoke to NBC News on the condition of anonymity. The children, mainly from…
The case of an SUV-buggy crash which claimed the lives of two Amish children several weeks ago has taken a strange turn – from tragedy to something potentially criminal. Police now suspect that twin sisters, one of whom was believed to be driving the SUV, were not being honest about what exactly happened the morning the Amish girls lost their lives. This crash happened in…
 On certain things, essentially all Amish agree. Things like wearing plain clothing, not fighting in wars, or closing businesses on Sunday. These are universal across all Amish groups – part of a widely-shared culture, tradition, and belief system. Outlined in each church’s Ordnung are more specific rules and understandings, which will vary. There can be a lot of overlap, as well as variation, on…
How about another Amish singing video? This is another beautiful one from P. Thomas, from several months back, recorded with a number of other hymns. The venue is a New Order Amish youth group singing (likely in Ohio). New Order Amish tend to be more open when it comes to cameras, so we’ve seen a good number of recordings from them. Like others we’ve heard,…
I want to share with you an excellent documentary on the Amish communal practice of barn raising. In this film by Burton Buller, a barn has recently burned down in an Amish community (which looks to be Holmes County, Ohio). He films the entire process of the barn-raising, starting at the wee hours (4:45 AM) when the first helpers are just arriving. Interspersed with the…
Let’s take a look inside some Amish food and variety stores today. These stores are in the community at Kalona, Iowa (photos by Jim Halverson). Kalona itself is a sleepy-ish town lying next to one of the country’s oldest Amish settlements. Amish settlers first came here in 1846, even before there was a town. Today they number about 1,400 in 11 church districts. Within that…