What activities take place in a typical week in an Amish community? Amish church member Rebecca Miller returns today with a recent week’s worth of diary entries from her life in the Holmes County community. Rebecca works as an Amish school teacher, and at the Amish and Mennonite Heritage Center in Berlin, Ohio. She has previously written on preparing for baptism, a firsthand account of an Amish funeral, and…
How do Amish decorate their walls? Artwork and other items typical in English homes are generally not found in Amish homes. That doesn’t mean that Amish don’t display nice things, however. No matter your culture, people still like to fill their houses with eye-pleasing items. The general rule for the Amish is that things with a practical purpose are most acceptable. You’ll see what I mean below. As…
Have you ever visited an Old Order Mennonite community? One of our readers recently did, and shares a look at an off-the-beaten-path Ontario settlement in today’s post. Old Order Mennonites are spiritual kin of the Amish. Similarities include language, plain dress, cultural values, and of course an Anabaptist religious heritage. Amish and Old Order Mennonites live side-by-side in some places (like Lancaster County and the Nappanee, Indiana area),…
What steps do Amish youth go through once they’ve decided to be baptized? Ohio Amish church member Rebecca Miller today takes us through the process. Rebecca describes the instructional meetings based upon the 18 articles of the Dordrecht Confession of Faith. She also shares what happens on baptismal Sunday, and what it feels like to become a member of the church. As Rebecca hints below, the…
The Amish, contrary to popular belief, are not self-sufficient. In one of our previous “Ask an Amish Person” posts, PA Amishman John Stoltzfus addressed this topic. John noted that “we are very dependent on the outside world, far from self-sufficient, all of us are intertwined…” It’s easy to see why some might think Amish live in a bubble. They’ve been called “a people apart,” and sometimes described…
In a community that values outward uniformity, it can take some courage to stand out. In today’s post, Serving The Amish author Jim Cates details the challenge of recruiting Amish leaders to help guide a fledgling alcohol program for Amish adolescents. As Jim describes below, finding those leaders wasn’t easy–but was pivotal to the program’s success or failure. — It Was Such a Clever Idea! As a…
One of our readers recently came across some issues of the Amish publication Young Companion, dating to the early 1970s, at a local thrift shop. I’m calling this “retro”, but as a look at the contents shows, most of the subject matter would probably be just as appropriate today. A little background first. Young Companion is a publication with an interesting history. It is one of…
Coming on the heels of the Wisconsin building code exemption, another conflict involving Amish appears to have been resolved last week in Heuvelton, New York (St. Lawrence County). As reported in the Watertown Daily Times, area Amish have agreed to nearly double the amount of reflective tape used on their buggies (the group in question objects to using the orange SMV triangle; for a summary of the case, go here)….
Ohio Amish church member Rebecca Miller takes us inside the Amish recipe book with seven meals, one for each day of the week. Of course I got hungry just reading these, and I predict the same will happen to you. Below you’ll find ideas for breakfast, dessert, “quick and easy” meals, and a Saturday night family favorite. Which of these sounds best to you? Do you plan…
Amish in Wisconsin will no longer be required to install smoke detectors in their homes after a new exemption was signed into law last week. You may recall that Amish in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin had come into conflict with authorities after failing to secure building permits which would obligate them to install smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. Some Amish in the area had been evicted, while some had…