Amish Culture

This practice dates back to the colonial era, according to John Hostetler. From Amish Society, p. 234 (footnote 1): The Amish practice of calling outsiders “English”…can be traced to language and ethnic-group differences in colonial times. Compact settlements of Germans were distinguished from the English, French, and Spanish colonies in the New World. The Germans […]

Continue Reading Why do Amish call us “English”? (Video)

I always enjoy Lovina’s column but this was nice to see – her daughter Susan took over writing duties last week. If you recall, Susan lost her husband Mose over a year ago, leaving behind two small children. In this column, Susan writes about her niece’s school Christmas program and dealing with her loss, among […]

Continue Reading Amish Kitchen: Lovina’s Daughter Susan Guest Writes

In this video I take a look at some Amish women’s hair customs, including the difference between a bonnet and a kapp, differences in prayer covering styles, and whether Amish women cut their hair. Runtime: 4:36.  

Continue Reading Bonnet or Kapp? (Video)

This was a question that kept popping up, so I did a video on it. While it might seem pretty straightforward, it does open up a couple of interesting related topics – Amish adoption, and outsiders joining the Amish. I give examples from those categories in answering this question. Runtime: 2:34.  

Continue Reading Non-White Amish? (Video)

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you – in commemoration of the day I did a video on Amish Thanksgiving customs. Thanksgiving is a non-religious holiday but one that the Amish celebrate. How do they observe the day? Does it differ from non-Amish Thanksgiving? I hope you enjoy the video, and especially the day spent with […]

Continue Reading How do the Amish celebrate Thanksgiving? (Video)

Elam Stoltzfus shares Part 1 of a four-part series on Amish Parochial schools in Pennsylvania. Elam grew up Amish, and we’ve previously seen his work here in his 4-part “Rediscovering the Ausbund” series on the Amish hymn book. This will be published in full at the Plain Values magazine Substack (linked below). In this part, […]

Continue Reading Elam Stoltzfus on the History of PA Amish Parochial Schools: Part 1

How would you like to manage the shopping, food prep, and cleanup to feed 1,000+ people? Lovina Eicher is facing this task as she prepares for the upcoming wedding of her daugher Loretta, as she writes in her latest column. She will, of course, have some help: Yesterday my three head cooks came, and we […]

Continue Reading Lovina’s Amish Kitchen: Wedding Prep For 1,000

I don’t know if it was just coincidence, but two stories on the Amish and e-bikes came out last week on the same day – one on Amish in Ohio, and the other on Iowa (that can’t be coincidence, I’m thinking). If you’re not familiar, e-bikes are bicycles fitted with an electric motor which provide […]

Continue Reading The Amish & E-bikes

A non-Amish farmer in Morrow County, Ohio lost his barn in a fire in July. Soon after, a local Amish friend offered help (via Morrow County Sentinel): One of the first to come after the fire was their Amish friend, David Raber. The Robinsons have sold hay to the Amish and transported them many times for […]

Continue Reading Amish Raise Barn For English Neighbors After Fire

Lovina Eicher shares some happy news in her latest Lovina’s Amish Kitchen column: After church services the bishop announced the wedding dates of two girls in our church. Mary and Danny chose September 24 for their wedding date, and daughter Loretta and Dustin chose October 1st for their wedding. Congratulations to both couples! “Announcing” a […]

Continue Reading The Amish Wedding Announcement