Amish Culture

Amish Church Clothing (8 Photos)

Amish Church Clothing (8 Photos)

What do Amish wear to church? In addition to their many women’s head coverings, the Amish & Mennonite Heritage Center also has several items of church clothing on display. The Woman’s Cape & Apron First of all, a woman’s cape and apron: The cape and apron are commonly worn on Sunday across communities (we had a look recently at Amish wedding clothing, showing another example of…

Reader Photos – Amish Clock Shop, William Penn Land Doc, & More

Reader Photos – Amish Clock Shop, William Penn Land Doc, & More

I’ve got some nice photos shared by readers over the past months, which I’ve been wanting to pass along to you. We’ve also got one piece of writing. Here we go! 1. Amish Timepiece Shop – First of all, long-time readers might recall a 2012 post on Mahlon Shetler’s Clock & Watch Shop in Dayton, NY. That post was based on photos and comments from another…

Comparing Amish Women’s Head Coverings (19 Photos)

Ever noticed how Amish women in different places wear different head coverings? A good example is the heart-shaped Lancaster women’s covering, versus the straight-sided, pleated coverings worn by Amish women in the Midwest. Like other items of Amish clothing, there are quite a few different styles of women’s coverings, and some with rather subtle differences. I stopped in at the Amish & Mennonite Heritage Center…

A Closer Look at Amish Fostering & Adoption

A Closer Look at Amish Fostering & Adoption

Do Amish adopt? How does the process work? Do they adopt non-Amish children or just those from their own communities? Amish Cook Gloria Yoder recently shared her family’s story of fostering two children, Jesse and Rayni, in a 2-part series. She gives a window into the adoption process, not yet completed in this case but is moving along well.  Gloria and her husband Daniel…

Amish & Mennonites Help Mississippi Tornado Victims

Amish & Mennonites Help Mississippi Tornado Victims

In a nice story of sacrifice, some Amish and Mennonites recently spent holiday vacation time helping victims of an April 2018 tornado. About 200 homes and businesses were damaged last spring by a 115-mph-wind tornado in the area of Meridian, Mississippi. The volunteers are working through the Mennonite Disaster Service organization (MDS). You can see Amish men in this photo doing what looks like cleanup…

Amish Wedding Meal Logistics: 600 lbs of Chicken, 400 lbs of Potatoes, 64 Pies

What does it take to feed 1,000 wedding guests? Lovina Eicher shares just that in her recent column: Neighbor Laura and I were head cooks, so our job was to make sure we had all the ingredients there to feed about 1,000 people. Six hundred pounds of chicken were grilled by Menno’s uncle. They started at 3:30 a.m. Four hundred pounds of potatoes were bought….

What Do Amish Brides Wear?

What Do Amish Brides Wear?

Amish wedding season is in full swing. I was reminded of this yesterday speaking with an Amish friend about visiting Thursday – he had to stop to think if they had any weddings that day. Thankfully the schedule is clear, but it’s not uncommon to have multiple weddings to attend in a week, and even on the same day (Tuesday and Thursday being the traditional…

A Special Amish Thanksgiving Supper

A Special Amish Thanksgiving Supper

How do Amish celebrate Thanksgiving? As anywhere, that can vary, but Gloria Yoder shares one special experience in her latest Amish Cook column – an annual supper held for widows in her community: This year Wanita took charge of coordinating the event. The meal consisted of ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn and salad, as well as pumpkin, apple and peach pies served with ice cream….

What Is An Amish Wedding Wagon?

How to prep food for 300+ wedding guests? The Amish, accustomed to frequent weddings with many attendees, have figured out a way to make the whole affair easier and more efficient. Enter the wedding wagon: For those who don’t know what a wedding wagon is, it is like an RV with a ramp added on, with six or seven propane gas stoves and ovens in…

Amish Autumn Scenes, Pumpkins, Halloween & More (29 Photos)

Amish Autumn Scenes, Pumpkins, Halloween & More (29 Photos)

With the air crisp and the calendar about to leave October behind, I thought it would be a nice time to look back at fall-related posts we’ve featured here over the years. Check out these beautiful photos by Bill Coleman and others, a look at the Amish and Halloween, and more below. I hope you’re enjoying this autumn season – it has been absolutely beautiful…