Amish author Benuel Blank once wrote that the Ausbund, the centuries-old Anabaptist hymnal, is “not to be considered a holy book like the Bible”, but that it has nonetheless been very influential for Amish and their spiritual kin. Passing along a description of the book, Blank calls it “music for the soul, rather than music for the ear”. In use since the 1500s, the Ausbund continues to…
Here on the final day of 2014, I thought it would be a nice cap on the year to share links to favorites of the past 365 days. Below you’ll find those posts which got a lot of comments or otherwise good response from you, plus some of my personal favorites. Wherever you are today, I hope your year went as well as it could have–and that…
Three items for you today. First, David Arment returns with a little slice of life from Amish Indiana. Drivers in cold-weather climates use winter tires to get a better grip in snowy and icy conditions. Going by David’s account today, there must not be anything like that for Amish buggy horses (winter shoes?), which led to a small challenge for one family. Then, reader Jerry shares a…
I hope everyone had a safe and restful Christmas holiday. Snow arrived in my area at 11 pm the evening of the 25th, making it a last-minute White Christmas. Coming later this week, look for a guest post from a new voice out of Indiana, as well as “Favorites of 2014”. Today, Serving the Amish author Jim Cates returns with the first of a two-part look at…
1001 Questions & Answers On The Christian Life is an important little text which concisely lays out Christian beliefs as understood by the Amish. The book, first published by Pathway Publishers in 1992, was created with the input of over 20 members of the Amish ministry and lay people in various communities. It is based upon an older text (written in 1907) called 1000 Questions and…
My calendar tells me it’s officially winter now, which may be what inspired me to start a log fire the other day (even though it wasn’t really fireplace-cold weather yet). In fact, I’ve got another crackler going as I write this post, since I love fires so much. Again not so much for heat purposes as much as for the smell and sound (I suspect I’m…
Today, the second half of the Pennsylvania Dutch kitchen terms quiz we started on Tuesday. If you missed it you’ll find the first 12 words here, and answer key for the original 12 here. All words courtesy of Mark Curtis of the Belle Center, Ohio Amish community. Some of you used knowledge of German to figure the first batch out. Mary Miller noted that two terms…
Suzanne Woods Fisher took a trip to the Amish community in Buchanan County, Iowa earlier this year. She shares that visit with us today–along with a few surprises she encountered. — The next time you have an occasion to travel to an off-the-beaten path Amish settlement, carve out a little extra time. Slow down and take a moment to look, really look, at the sprawling farmhouses that dot the two-lane…
In today’s guest post, David Arment of armentphoto.com discusses those funny little buildings you see here and there in Amish communities. — One thing that seems generally true is that Amish are reluctant to accept technology that connects them to the outside world. We English would say they live “off the grid”. In our area, phone shacks have sprung up as the answer to the need…
Mark Curtis has come up with a little language quiz for us, testing knowledge of some Pennsylvania Dutch kitchen terms. Each of the words below has something to do with the kitchen, food, or cooking. This is the first half of a set of 25 words. I know we’ve got some PA Dutch speakers here. I am not one of them, but took a crack at some of these…