Amish Culture

 I asked Marlene Lehman about the Amish custom of circle letters. If you haven’t heard of the circle letter, it’s a delightfully old-fashioned way for Amish people (with some sort of connection – sometimes “deep”, sometimes based on coincidence) to stay connected across communities. A viewer on YouTube jokingly referred to the circle letter as “Amish group chat”.  Marlene explains more in our talk,…

“It’s amazing what our labels do,” says Ben Riehl. In this video, Ben explains why Amish men wear beards and suspenders. He also describes the difference between a bonnet and kapp (prayer covering). This was an illuminating and fun discussion. If you prefer to read, you’ll find the full transcript of our conversation just below this video.  Amish Men & The Beard Erik Wesner:…

That’s the clear message from Steven Nolt of Elizabethtown College. He has analyzed the numbers and shares why with us today. This comes in contrast to one recent headline (“It’s too early to know whether Amish voters ‘delivered’ Pennsylvania for Trump, researchers say“). Rather, Nolt says that “It IS too early to know how many Amish voted, but it’s not too early to know that…

JPAC Highlights Amish Attitudes and Identity in Relation to Pennsylvania Dutch, by Rose Fisher, Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities, volume 4, issue 1, 2023 Rose Fisher is a Ph.D. candidate in German Linguistics and Language Sciences at The Pennsylvania State University. Her dissertation is about the use of Pennsylvania Dutch (PD) by current members of the Old Order Amish and Old Order Groffdale Conference Mennonites…

A New York State Police K-9 Handler is being hailed as a hero after he saved a four-year-old Amish girl in a runaway buggy. This actually happened back in May, but there was little-to-no coverage of it – at least none that came across my radar. Now, the trooper is in the news after being praised for his selfless actions. From the Sun Community News:…

In our latest video, Marlene Lehman of Plain & Simple shares a collection of homemade crafts. And, she explains how two of them are made. The first one, “seed bombs”, I had never heard of before. But what a neat, simple idea. I like the idea of sending these organic gifts in letters. I also ask Marlene to explain how long it takes to make…

Mike Kinsey’s garage was moved to its new location on Saturday – thanks to a volunteer team of Amish and non-Amish people. Nelson Troyer, the Amishman in charge of the move, gathered 70 Amish people, and put out the call for 70 more to join from the non-Amish community. And enough responded to get the job done. They ended up with “more than 100” people….

Another feel-good story for your Friday – at least “part one” of the story. An Amish man named Nelson Troyer is spearheading an effort to move the garage of a non-Amish neighbor. Mike Kinsey lost his home in flooding on the Yellowstone River in 2022. The move is happening tomorrow and Troyer is looking to have 150+ people to get the job done. Amish moving…

A viewer writes/asks: “My understanding is that the church bishop makes decisions on what is and isn’t allowed for their community.” I’ve found this is a common belief: the bishops are “in charge”, and in some cases wield heavy hands on their flocks. It fits with certain perceptions of the Amish as an insular, conservative religious community to have a dominant figure at the center,…