School has been back in session in Amish Country, and for that matter much of English Country, for a few weeks now. Ask an Amish child how he feels about going to school and you’ll get a range of answers, just like you might hear from his non-Amish counterpart. Some enjoy it very much and look forward to the return of school days. Others would…
A reader shares photos today from a festive occasion in northern Indiana. There’s nothing especially Amish about this, except that this park is in a heavily-Amish area of the county, and that Amish attend the event (and by the looks of it, make up a large portion of attendees). I remember passing this park numerous times in my Indiana bookselling days in 2006. I never…
This is a question that comes up from time to time, most recently asked by reader Treva. The sense I get is that people: want to buy something culturally appropriate that the receiver will appreciate, and above all to not offend anyone with their gift. Getting a gift for an Amish person is not as tough as it might seem. I’ve put together a couple…
Today we have another excerpt from an Amish father’s talk to a youth group and parents in Lancaster County. We last looked at this talk about a month ago, with a segment on cell phones and the internet (the first segment addressed popular music). In this excerpt the Amishman suggests how one might fight temptation and bad habits by developing character. As a whole, this talk…
Reader Ed C has shared some photos of Lancaster County firefighters putting out a blaze in the Strasburg area in winter 2012. You can read this post for more background on Amish serving on fire companies in the Lancaster community. Amish are involved in more than a token way on fire companies in Lancaster County, with one official estimating up to 300 Plain firefighters serving…
This was taken at the 2012 Clinic for Special Children auction in Leola, Pennsylvania. The photographer recalls his first car, purchased for $2000 in the 1970s: “Even allowing for inflation, I got sticker shock from the sign on the buggy window!” I don’t monitor buggy prices, but my impression has been that the buggies in Lancaster are among the more expensive, or at least can…
While playing Amish taxi a few days ago, I found myself behind a buggy on one of Lancaster County’s countless curvy backroads, unsure whether it was safe to pass or not. Lancaster is hilly, and the roads go this way and that, with buggies everywhere, so you do this a good bit. I decided to wait, with a couple of vehicles behind me, until the…
We’ve had a good bit of discussion on Amish youth lately. Two weeks ago, a story on Amish youth on Facebook went viral across the internet. Amish adolescents were directly or indirectly a subject of numerous talks at the recent Amish conference. If you ask Amish people, youth issues are among the main concerns in many settlements–so much so that families may move halfway across…
Just back from Pennsylvania and the Elizabethtown College Amish conference. Lest you think I was on campus all week, I share a few photos here proving I ventured out. Early June is a beautiful time in Lancaster County, and though it rained the first two days of the conference, Saturday and Sunday the weather was just dandy. I spent some time with the youth over…
Amish use of technology often puzzles outsiders. This is exacerbated when observers see Amish using a piece of technology that doesn’t seem to fit their notion of what the Amish should be. Simply put, people are disappointed when they discover the Amish aren’t as “Amish” as they expected, due to the technologies they allow. Sometimes this leads to accusations that Amish have “betrayed their roots”…