Following our look at a $9,681 Amish buggy, we’ve got an excerpt from Richard Stevick’s Growing Up Amish: The Rumspringa Years which explores the topic of Amish youth and their horsepowered vehicles. In this selection taken from Chapter Seven (“Singings: The First Step to Independence”), we learn about the many ways the Youngie adorn their buggies (including one surprising modification I had never heard of before, see…
Rita asks: I’ve seen the comments about teens, during Rumspringa, driving cars. How do they get a permit, practice time, license and money to buy a car without the parent’s assistance? We’ve discussed Amish youth getting their first buggies, but what about cars?  First off, some Amish youth do in fact drive, and some Amish parents have no choice but to concede car driving to…
Today, an interview with Ira Wagler on his new memoir, Growing Up Amish. Ira was born in the Aylmer, Ontario Amish community and grew up in Bloomfield, Iowa. During his youth and young adulthood he spent time on a Nebraska cattle ranch, Canadian wheat fields, and in Amish communities across the country. Ira struggled with life as an Amish person before finally leaving for good…
If you dig around enough on Facebook, you’ll come across profiles of adolescents with Amish names and profile pics taken in Plain clothing. Â These were the catalyst for an interesting piece–“Amish youth hitchin’ up to Facebook“–in yesterday’s Lancaster Sunday News. As the article makes clear, Amish youth+Facebook is far from a universal phenomenon. Â I thought one insight by Steven Nolt was particularly interesting–the way…
On the AOE entry “What do Amish do for fun?“, one reader asked if Amish like to dance. Â Well, good question. Â I guess do they like to dance, versus do they actually dance are two different things. Â We’d have to do a poll, I suppose. Â If anyone saw that classic study of Amish life, the comedy film “For Richer and Poorer”, there is of course…
Sunday is the day Amish youth groups gather, and when dating couples traditionally meet. Â So I thought it would be a good day to share this. National Geographic is airing a new show called “Amish at the Altar”. They describe the show as: Three couples–two Amish and one ex-Amish–reveal courtship, engagement, and marriage among the Amish. Interviews with the couples, family members, and current and…
The New Order Amish in Amish society What distinguishes New Order Amish from Old Order Amish? New Order Amish make up only a small percentage of the total Amish population–roughly 3%. New Order Amish live in a number of states, with the largest group found in the Holmes County, Ohio settlement (around 18 church districts, or about 2,400 individuals). Visually, New Order Amish can often…
We never actually got to the brown eggs, but did cover a lot of other ground during my interview with Ira Wagler yesterday. That includes Ira’s takes on buggy speakers bigger than the driver, Ira’s experience leaving the Amish, and why the “all things Amish” wave may be cresting. Listen to the podcast here (link no longer available). This was my first time hosting radio,…
At a talk I gave in Holmes County, at one point one of the Amish entrepreneurs on the 5-man panel expressed concerns over technology. Paraphrasing, he spoke of worries over “kids having the PSP and the Game Boy and half of the boys having cars”.  Having been to a few Amish homes, I can say this is not far off in some communities, where both…
You frequently see basketball hoops in the Holmes County settlement, and in other Amish communities as well. As with many things Amish, there are different stances on the issue of sports—on what games are acceptable, who should play sports and when, and so on. If you’d like to read more check out this review of the Amish and sports. And: a pastime common among Lancaster…