Rumspringa: To be or not to be Amish got a lot of attention when it was released in the spring of 2006, with media such as the Wall Street Journal calling it a ‘wonderfully rich portrait and history of the Amish as a people and a faith.’ Rumspringa is also, and primarily, an on-the-scene look at a crucial period of Amish adolescence. Tom Shachtman was…
I was reading through the Economist magazine a couple of days ago and came across an article entitled ‘Where angels no longer fear to tread’, discussing a study whose main objective it describes as an attempt to provide a ‘biological explanation’ for religion. Whether science should be ‘poking its nose into the God business’ may be of issue to some. But if you can get…
‘Sylvan’, one of my Amish friends in Lancaster County, runs a scooter workshop in addition to milking cows. In Lancaster County and related settlements, you rarely see bicycles–in Lancaster, for instance, there are only a few church districts I’m aware of that seem to allow them. I’ve also seen scooters in use among the Amish of Allen County, Indiana, and I’d imagine they’d be found…
They live about as far back in as you can get, two miles down a mud road, deep in the heart of a serene pine-and-birch forest. The neighbors are mostly friendly, and Jacob has worked out a deal with one of them – a big-city transplant and a bit ‘unhandy’ when it comes to farming – to manage and use a cow and some of…
The Amish Studies site based out of Elizabethtown College tells us that as of mid-2007, there were approximately 400 separate Amish settlements comprised of approximately 1,600 church districts in 27 states and Ontario. The Amish continue to grow at a rapid pace and can today be found in such unlikely places as Mississippi, Florida and Montana. photo: Mennonite Church USA Throughout their 250-plus years of…
A quick note on language…as we know the first language of the Amish is Pennsylvania Dutch. Picking up English and learning it from Amish-raised teachers in school means that certain traits of speaking and accent get passed down the lines. I rather enjoy hearing a good thick ‘Amish English’ accent. Sitting with Abe and Rachel in their farm home, I appreciated both the conversation as…
Amish also enjoy competitive team sports. This photo, taken by Holly in Mount Hope, Ohio, illustrates one of the most popular. Amish typically play sports as children and as members of the youth. On marriage and having kids, participation in sports tends to drop off markedly. It’s also worth remembering that different groups of Amish may have differing opinions on the matter of sports. Generally…
…is the title of the hymn we sang the other morning after breakfast at Abe’s. Abe and his wife Sarah like to sing a song and read a chapter from the Bible before starting the day. The Amish enjoy music. Last Wednesday, Daniel was out late at a singing at a neighbor’s. Amish men get together, usually once a week, to practice the high German…
Amish school gets the job done. At the same time, the kids have a blast. After hearing about some of the stuff they get to do, I think I’m ready to re-enroll in fifth grade. On Friday Daniel and Mary’s kids had a spelling quiz (not fun), and made gingerbread houses (fun and tasty). An excited Lizzie described an unfortunate scooter collision on the way…
Well, despite the inclement weather, I managed to get up to Lancaster County and to my friends ‘Daniel’ and ‘Mary’, where I’ll be staying the next few days. The last hour-and-a-half or so, from the PA line onward, was pretty hairy, as snow and ice accumulation made driving tricky. I pulled in late Tuesday night to Daniel’s, happy and relieved to see the kitchen gas-lamp…