Rumspringa: To be or not to be Amish got a lot of attention when it was released in the spring of 2006, with media such as the Wall Street Journal calling it a ‘wonderfully rich portrait and history of the Amish as a people and a faith.’ Rumspringa is also, and primarily, an on-the-scene look at a crucial period of Amish adolescence. Tom Shachtman was…
I was reading through the Economist magazine a couple of days ago and came across an article entitled ‘Where angels no longer fear to tread’, discussing a study whose main objective it describes as an attempt to provide a ‘biological explanation’ for religion. Whether science should be ‘poking its nose into the God business’ may be of issue to some. But if you can get…
As of 2024, there are two Amish communities in Orange County, Indiana – both a similar size (500+Amish people). Let’s have a look at a few more of Cindy Seigle’s Orange County, Indiana Amish photos with a few of my own comments attached. Again, we aren’t 100% sure which of the two Orange County groups each particular picture is from, but there are similarities between…
‘Sylvan’, one of my Amish friends in Lancaster County, runs a scooter workshop in addition to milking cows. In Lancaster County and related settlements, you rarely see bicycles–in Lancaster, for instance, there are only a few church districts I’m aware of that seem to allow them. I’ve also seen scooters in use among the Amish of Allen County, Indiana, and I’d imagine they’d be found…
Cindy Seigle (you can find Cindy on Flickr)Â has shared some interesting photos of a conservative Amish settlement in southern Indiana. In An Amish Patchwork, Meyers and Nolt explain that Orange County is home to two distinct Amish communities. The newer of the two groups is comprised of ultraconservative Swartzentruber-affiliated Amish from New York and Ohio who began settling in the area in 1994. The older…
They live about as far back in as you can get, two miles down a mud road, deep in the heart of a serene pine-and-birch forest. The neighbors are mostly friendly, and Jacob has worked out a deal with one of them – a big-city transplant and a bit ‘unhandy’ when it comes to farming – to manage and use a cow and some of…
The Amish Studies site based out of Elizabethtown College tells us that as of mid-2007, there were approximately 400 separate Amish settlements comprised of approximately 1,600 church districts in 27 states and Ontario. The Amish continue to grow at a rapid pace and can today be found in such unlikely places as Mississippi, Florida and Montana. photo:Â Mennonite Church USA Throughout their 250-plus years of…
A quick note on language…as we know the first language of the Amish is Pennsylvania Dutch. Picking up English and learning it from Amish-raised teachers in school means that certain traits of speaking and accent get passed down the lines. I rather enjoy hearing a good thick ‘Amish English’ accent. Sitting with Abe and Rachel in their farm home, I appreciated both the conversation as…
In addition to sports, the Amish also enjoy good old-fashioned family-oriented games that can be played around the kitchen table. Before moving over to Abe and Rachel’s last week, I got in a nice round of ‘Life on the Farm’ with Daniel’s family. The kids love it and wouldn’t let me leave without a game. This neat little Monopoly knock-off pits would-be farmers in a…
Amish also enjoy competitive team sports. This photo, taken by Holly in Mount Hope, Ohio, illustrates one of the most popular. Amish typically play sports as children and as members of the youth. On marriage and having kids, participation in sports tends to drop off markedly. It’s also worth remembering that different groups of Amish may have differing opinions on the matter of sports. Generally…