An Amish acquaintance in Lebanon County, PA has kindly passed on a link to a Lancaster Sunday News story I’d missed from a couple of weeks back. Demonstrating that unceasing Amish innovative drive, it seems the folks at Stoltzfus Coach Supply have hitched up a new buggy alternator (no longer online) device to keep running lights juiced. The alternator solves two issues–the danger of a…
Outsiders sometimes express a desire to join the Amish. As an Amish authority explains in Richard Stevick's Growing up Amish: The Teenage Years, seekers often come with misguided notions: "When seekers from the outside come to us wanting to be Amish," explained a bishop, "they are often attracted for the wrong reasons. They could have fallen in love with one of our Youngie. Or they…
People often wonder about the Amish and photography. Documentarian and film & media professor Dirk Eitzen has an interesting chapter on filming the Amish in the exceptional Amish and the Media. Eitzen describes three methods used by those wishing to visually document the Amish: pushiness, poaching, and focusing on children and young adults. I suppose if I had to confess, I would qualify as a…
Photo man and in-the-field auction expert Rick Harrison shares his latest batch of pictures from the New Wilmington Amish auction, which took place June 6th. This was the 20th annual benefit auction and turnout was sizable. Rick estimated over 125 buggies on the lot. Auctions are popular among Amish. Lancaster County holds a medical benefit auction each year to support the work of Holmes Morton…
Pastry samples at a Flavor retail store Donald Kraybill shares some photos and comments from a recent lecture trip to Japan. Professor Kraybill recently spent a week at universities in Tokyo and Gifu and at the Shibunkaku Art Museum in Kyoto, speaking on the Amish. The Amish are quite well-known in Japan, with perhaps more books on the Amish having been translated into Japanese than…
A recent re-read of a piece by Steven Nolt in Mennonite Quarterly Review–‘Who are the Real Amish? Rethinking Diversity and Identity among a Separate People’— made me recall a common dilemma when discussing our Plain neighbors. ‘The Amish’ is a moniker that tries to do more than it really can, which is blanket a group of people having quite diverse practices. Saying “‘the Amish’ this”…
How do Amish people view Jewish people? And for that matter, people of other faiths? Our Lancaster Amish correspondent has weighed in on the question, recently submitted by a curious reader. So this will give you the views of one Amish person, at least. Here is his response: One of the most important lessons that I learned was taught to me by a Jewish businessman,…
Rick weighs in with an action shot of an intense game of cornerball, aka ‘eck balle’, from an auction this past weekend at Georgetown in Lancaster County. This apparently wasn’t the only sport being played; Rick mentions a few games of football and volleyball going on as well. He comments: ‘I am imagining the football huddle going “Fisher, go deep” and 3 guys answering “Which…
Okay, we’re going to roll this one out on a trial basis. But who knows, could be interesting. I frequently get Amish-related questions in my email inbox. I do my best to answer but sometimes come up short. So: if you have an Amish-related question you’d like answered, and would prefer a response from an actual Amish person rather than hearing me yap on about…
Elam quit shaving today. Amos’ brother was married last autumn during the traditional wedding season in Lancaster. After spending much of the previous few months visiting relatives along with his new bride, today was finally the day to hang his hat under his own roof. Moving into one’s own home around here means that you start growing a beard. So it would actually be more…