We’ve got the second batch of answers to your questions on the Amish, courtesy of Merlyn Yoder in northern Indiana. If you missed it, here are Merlyn’s replies to the first 17 questions. Below, you’ll find responses to 16 more. Today’s questions cover everything from waking up early to celebrating Christmas to tracking the weather to former Amish clothing. Thanks to everyone who asked a question, and a…
What happens at an Amish funeral? In today’s post, Rebecca Miller shares an account of a funeral which took place in her community. Rebecca is a member of an Old Order Amish church in Holmes County, Ohio. She is a schoolteacher, and also works at the Amish and Mennonite Heritage Center (Berlin, OH). Over the past couple of months, Rebecca has kindly offered her knowledge of her…
Indiana Amishman Merlyn Yoder, who has contributed articles for us on the Ausbund, beekeeping, and being an example, has offered to answer questions you might have about Amish life. Here’s Merlyn’s bio again: Merlyn, his wife, and six children live in northern Indiana. He has a job in the RV industry and his hobbies include woodworking, working on engines, beekeeping, orcharding, and history. So feel free…
I didn’t realize the story of the little stitches that hold Amish quilts together could be so interesting. Thanks to Janneken Smucker’s post today, I now do. I hope you enjoy her concise look at quilt stitching including the importance of consistency, the 1980s “Quilters War”, and how much it costs to hire an Amish person to do these stitches. — Quilting by the Yard In…
Do the Amish care about the environment? How do they respond to challenges like pollution, the impact of pesticides, and habitat loss? College of Wooster professors David McConnell and Lyn Loveless wrote about Amish views of nature in their last post. They return today with a look at the Amish and environmental problems in their communities and beyond. Do these issues concern Amish people? Is the Amish lifestyle “ecological” as…
Is Amish quilting static, or does it change? Amish women Mary Stoltzfus Lapp and Hannah Stoltzfoos were separated by a generation or two, but each contributed her own special innovation to Amish quilting. Quilt historian Janneken Smucker shares what those innovations were below–plus the unusual example of an Illinois Amish family who created their own “wild, individual” style. — Amish Quilt Innovators We know of lots of examples of…
“Hard-working” is one of the positive stereotypes firmly attached to the Amish. We see barn-raisings, 4 AM milkings, and tending broods of half-a-dozen children or more, and it’s hard to suggest otherwise. But do the Amish actually work harder than the rest of us? Do they just work differently? Jim Cates explores these questions today with a look at how an Amish friend’s work differs…
How do the Amish thrive in a hypermodern society? What life lessons has Donald Kraybill learned from them? Yesterday, Kraybill addressed these and other questions in his last major address before retirement. The talk, the keynote speech for Elizabethtown College’s “Scholarship and Creative Arts Days” (described here), was about “unpacking” Amish riddles both large and small. Lancaster Online’s Tim Stuhldreher was in attendance. Below are five points he picked up…
How do you count to ten in Pennsylvania Dutch? In the video below by Virgil Schrock you can hear a variety of speakers doing just that, in different accents. The video also includes a little bit of 11-20. There is a cute segue about 2/3 through, with a young Amish boy doing his own counting, but not in PA Dutch. Listen to the end, where you’ll…
Just what is a skid house? And why would you want to move one? Karen Johnson-Weiner explains below, complete with photos of a skid house being loaded and moved in a Swartzentruber Amish community in upstate New York. — A “skid house” is the equivalent of a mobile home for more conservative Amish. It is built—on wooden skids—so that it can be taken apart and moved….