Amish people tend not to be too comfortable in the big institutional medical setting (come to think of it, who ever really is comfortable in a hospital? Shots, flourescent lighting, strange smelling hallways, poking and prodding doctors, ugh). This has influenced the Amish approach to obtaining medical services. Midwifery centers and home births are popular among the Amish, as are the services of country doctors…
I attended the funeral of an Old Order Amish man while in the Holmes County settlement over the weekend. A few observations: Around 200 attendees, mostly Amish, with all four major affiliations represented: Old Order, New Order, Andy Weaver (aka ‘Dan church’) and Swartzentruber. There were only a handful of non-Amish present–mainly consisting of a few plain Mennonites. The Amish funeral takes place in the…
Just what do the Amish do for a living nowadays? The Amish have long been connected with farming. But in reality, this association has become less and less accurate over the past few decades. Published in 1995 (second edition 2004), Donald Kraybill and Steven Nolt’s Amish Enterprise documents one of the most significant changes in Amish society, the shift from agricultural to entrepreneurial pursuits. Today,…
I may have missed this before, but this is the first year I’ve seen the Calender printed in an English version as well as in the usual high German. The bulk of the 88-page pamphlet, produced by an Ohio Amish printer, is a more-or-less comprehensive listing of Old Order Amish church districts along with their respective ministers. The Calender/Almanac also contains a curious mixture of…
Spring is here, and that means plowing and planting time. Most Amish do not use tractors in the field. Some will keep a tractor for around-the-barn tasks, such as filling the silo. Why do the Amish limit tractors? Part of the problem is their similarity to cars. Get comfortable behind the wheel of a tractor, the thinking goes, and it’s a short hop to sitting behind…
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…
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…
I just cracked into my mail (I often get my US mail at my parents’ address, and collect it when I visit), and found a Christmas card from ‘Jake’ and ‘Suvilla’, Amish friends in Ohio. Jake included a two-page letter to get me up to date with what’s been going on since my last visit. In true Amish-letter fashion, he starts out with a fairly…
The ubiquitous Amish phone box (also known as the “phone shanty” or “phone shack”) can be found on patches of Amish-owned land in settlements across the country. These first two particular crude-looking versions are from the New Wilmington, Pennsylvania settlement, and look to be coin-operated. This is the Amish phone booth, so to speak. Other Amish employ a more sophisticated system where each user has…
People often assume that the Amish, whom we think of as a people ‘in tune with nature’ and ‘close to the earth’ (which to some degree may be true, whatever those phrases actually mean) are strictly all-natural when it comes to the food they raise. In fact, on most Amish farms pesticides are put to use. Organic farming is something that is catching on in…