Amish tourism did not begin with Witness. That 1985 film just made it worse (or better, depending on how you look at it, I suppose). David Luthy, writing in The Amish Struggle with Modernity, tells us that the first Amish-themed novel came out in 1905 (wait a minute–back when many of us English were still riding around in buggies!), the first Amish postcards around 1915,…
Following up the great Amish photos from Bill Coleman last week, here is a new, no-less impressive batch from Randall Persing. Randy says that he feels fortunate to have developed friendships with the Amish. This also allows him to freely move about the community, attend events, and document Amish life. Nebraska Amish Like Bill Coleman, Randy has been able to photograph perhaps the most conservative…
When selling books in Amish communities, I’m often asked if I carry the Martyrs Mirror. This book is very popular in Amish homes today. It is an account of the numerous Anabaptists, spiritual predecessors of the Amish, who perished on account of their faith. It is also a hefty tome–at over 1100 pages there are more than a handful of accounts in here. One of…
photo from Wired magazine In Amish Country, Lancaster County, a quiet behind-the-scenes battle is happening–it’s business vs. the bishops, in a discrete tussle over modern America’s favorite portable gadget, the cellphone. Tensions have risen over the now common device. “Sometimes I wonder if we’re not getting to a point where some of our people don’t respect church authority the way they should,” says a frustrated…
I just picked up my 2002 Indiana Amish Directory for Elkhart, Lagrange, and Noble Counties, and flipped to a random page. Here are the last names of the Amish in the 40 households in the district I landed on, in order:Â Â Bontrager, Bontrager, Bontrager, Bontrager, Bontrager, Bontrager, Bontrager, Bontreger, Bontreger, Eash, Gingerich, Hochstedler, Hostetler, Jones, Lambright, Lambright, Lambright, Lambright, Lambright, Lambright, Lehman, Miller, Miller, Miller,…
Some Amish avoid vaccination. Why? There are a few reasons why, but some have a motive similar to why almost all Amish avoid insurance: it would be placing faith in an outside body instead of in God. A lot more Amish do vaccinate their kids than participate in insurance programs, however. The motive rings clear to non-Amish ears–why take the chance with your child’s life?…
One thing that sets the Amish apart from many Mennonite groups, and for that matter most other religious bodies: they don’t recruit. Amish typically neither condemn nor encourage attempts to join. They may seem a bit discouraging towards the idea. If the subject comes up, usually you hear something like ‘if you don’t grow up Amish, it’s really hard to do it.’ Occasionally, you run…
Ever wonder why many Amish moms seem to prefer going barefoot while shucking corn or canning beans? The Amish Cook, Lovina Eicher, shares a bit in this excerpt from her column: The children just can’t wait until they can run outside barefooted. I caught a few of them trying to do it already. I don’t think the ground is warm enough yet, maybe once the…
Taxes, puppy mills, cream-cheese muffins – I just looked down the list of posts for the last couple weeks and realized that the Amish have been the subject of a good bit of controversy recently. Most of it fairly tame. But this one made me do a double-take. Apparently tempers got hot at the championship game of the Regency Hockey League in Lancaster County last…
‘The Amish don’t pay taxes. They’re freeloaders.’ Ryan Robinson of the Lancaster New Era writes (no longer available) that myths such as these persist, apparently even among long-time neighbors of the Amish. Why the confusion? Amish are generally exempt from paying Social Security taxes, a privilege negotiated some years ago with the federal government. But at the same time they also refrain from receiving benefits….