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…
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…
If you have Amish friends or acquaintances, you might just have a strong memory of how you met them. I can clearly recall the morning years ago I met one Amish couple who eventually became close family friends. Their oldest child – who was then just a tot in a baby seat perched on the back of a horse-drawn planter – is now out of…
In an age of sophisticated computer software that can calculate a hifalutin statistical outcome which only a few mathematical geniuses can understand, one can forget the value of other ways to knowing about peoples and cultures anywhere in the world. In volume 3, issue 2 of the Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities (JPAC), however, we are reminded of the importance of plain, everyday communication between…
This video is one of the more unusual ones I’ve seen when it comes to Amish singing. This group, described as “Amish youth”, are singing in an “English” church. It’s also clearly a mixed group of Amish from different communities. A commenter states that “this is a diversified group of Amish. Some Old Order PA Amish and regular Old Order Amish.” I’m not sure what…
An Amishman in the Geauga County, Ohio settlement has permanently lost vision in one eye after teens hurled an egg at his buggy. This was apparently part of a spree in which they threw dozens of eggs at different buggies. From Fox8: GEAUGA COUNTY (WJW) — Geauga County sheriff officials charged four teens with assault after an Amish man was hit in the face with…
Earlier this week we launched a new site design. This is the first update in many years, and probably long overdue. To be frank, I usually never love when sites that I’m used to go and change their design. But in this case, I think the changes should make the site more user-friendly – and I hope more pleasant for you, the readers. The previous…
We recently heard a rendition of the song “On the Winning Side” by a New Order Amish youth group. Here’s another nice Amish singing video by P. Thomas, from that same gathering. It turns out he actually recorded a number of songs from this particular singing (which you can find on his channel). I chose this group’s rendition of “‘Tis Marvelous and Wonderful” to share…
I want to share a set of photos with you today taken by Don Burke in an Amish schoolhouse in Missouri. This great set of shots shows a lot of detail inside a school in a fairly progressive Amish community. Even though I describe the community as “fairly progressive”, much of what you’ll see here has a quite old-fashioned look about it. Amish schools tend…
A suspect in a Chicago murder was just found in LaGrange, Indiana. That small town is the seat of LaGrange County, where you’ll find the third-largest Amish settlement in the world. From WGNTV: LAGRANGE, Ind. — A man charged with a Christmas murder of a 21-year-old on the South Side was arrested Monday in Northern Indiana’s Amish country. Bunmi Adeoye, 35, was charged with first-degree…