A couple quick observations from Lancaster County: I recalled today how Amish usually try to switch to English whenever English people are around. I was talking to an Amish guy today and one of his friends walked up to ask for help working on the school playground. Obviously the most comfortable tongue would be PA Dutch, but, seeing I was there, he chose to speak…
I had a chance to catch up with a couple more friends the Thursday before last–‘Martin’, a minister of the New Order Amish persuasion, his wife, ‘Annie’, and their neat kids. My timing was perfect–suppertime! A grinning Martin plunked me down in front of a ‘haystack’–a potato-lettuce-chili-cheese- crumbled nachos concoction Annie had just prepared. Yum. (Yeah, I definitely had seconds). As we dug into our…
I’m still picking the splinters out of my hands this morning and counting up the nicks and scratches on my arms. The Amish broke a city boy in yesterday. But it was only about three and a half hours, so I guess they went easy on me. Hay is ‘made’ in groups. It’s something Amish farmers need to do regularly in the growing season. I…
The Sugarcreek, Ohio Budget newspaper is a vital print lifeline stretching across the diverse Anabaptist settlements of North and South America. Founded in 1890, this weekly paper out of Sugarcreek, Ohio, serves as an information exchange for families sometimes separated by great distances and formidable technological barriers. The Budget is among the favorites when it comes to Amish reading material. Budget ‘scribes’ regularly report on…
photo: Randall Persing Amish women let their hair grow from birth. If you ever catch an Amish female with her hair down, the sheer length of it can be surprising. In fact, with locks often reaching well past waist-length, the typical Amish head-covering seems to somehow bend the laws of physics. Where is their room for it all up there? A quick diversion: A follicle…
The caption accompanying the above photo in an AP story on Amish and gas usage reads: “Using real horse power to get around, an Amish buggy makes its way through Middlefield, Ohio, unconcerned about the rising gas prices…” Actually, the Amish aren’t as oblivious to rising gas prices as we might think. While it’s true they don’t have to worry about filling up a gas-slurping…
When a baptized Amish person leaves the community for another church, it can be a jarring experience, both for the family involved and for others in the church. And especially so, in the very rare occurrence when one party stays behind. Most cases I have come across of Amish leaving have involved the full family; one or two peculiar situations have not–with the wife remaining…
Yes, some Amish do use credit cards. Amish are definitely not credit-averse (after all that’s how most of them pay for their homes and farms), but credit cards themselves would depend a lot on local custom and Ordnung. I’ve been in communities where they are surprisingly common, and in others where they are unheard of. How do the Amish buy things, for that matter? Some…
Amish folks, like the rest of us, enjoy hearing the odd bit of trivia or unusual fact. Hence, three tidbits of Amish trivia, taken from Brad Igou’s compilation The Amish in their Own Words: 1. Quilts. The Amish are well known for their proficiency in the quilting realm. Some of their pieces fetch upwards of $1000. The average quilt takes around 250-350 yards of thread. …
Diversity in the Amish world is a common theme of this blog. Ever wonder how different Amish groups use technology? Judging by the chart, it can be seen that the most conservative groups include the Swartzentruber Amish, Nebraska Amish, and the Buchanan County, Iowa Amish (the three of which Amish historian Steven Nolt groups together under the ultraconservative label, referring to the Buchanan group in…