The Amish Barn Raising: How it works & Why they do it

For the Amish, a barn raising is an example of a frolic, a work event that combines socializing with a practical goal. The barn raising fulfills a practical need. New barns are needed from time to time.

The barn-raising demonstrates the Amish value of hard work. This special event also serves to tie the Amish community together – reinforcing Amish society through a very visible expression of the principle of mutual aid.

Barn raising as Amish mutual aid

Occasionally, there is a need for a new barn to be build in an Amish community.  A farmer may be starting up farming.  Sometimes disaster strikes and a barn will burn down.  Amish society is based on a Christian belief in mutual aid.  Amish church members are committed to helping one another, and put that belief into practice when putting up a barn.

Barn raisings are synonymous with Amish life, and have become iconic of the people, often being featured in images of the Amish or portrayed on film in such movies as Witness.

A barn raising is a showcase of Amish planning, organization, and manual labor. Amish tap into the social capital and goodwill in the community, mobilize labor and come together to erect a building which serves as a practical linchpin of their agriculturally-rooted communities.

Amish Barn-Raising: 2-Minute Clip

This is a simple two-minute video, showing scenes from a barn-raising at Walnut Creek, Ohio. Besides some bumper text, there is no narration – just clips of activity accompanied by the sounds of hammering and machinery.

You see children observing the scene, horses chomping on a snack, and women walking around, while the men work away. It gives a peaceful feeling.

At the same time, the sight of the men just casually standing around like they’re not on an awkward angle where one misstep can send you tumbling to your doom can make you cringe a bit.

But as many Amish work as roofers, navigating about an incline 40 feet above the earth becomes second nature.

The video starts with a touch of back story:

In one afternoon, a fire destroyed a barn near Walnut Creek. In nearly one day, a new barn was constructed during a “frolic”…

And concludes with:

In less than two weeks’ time, the farmer has a brand new barn and a home for his animals. It’s one of the unique things about Amish country that you rarely see anywhere else.

Amish Barn-Raising Movie

If you prefer to watch something longer, the following 40-minute film by Burton Buller is an excellent portrayal of the Amish practice of barn-raising. We see two barn-raisings, one in Ohio and one in Pennsylvania.

It includes commentary by Amish and excellent footage, starting with the first workers arriving in the wee hours of the morning. We also see how the entire community supports the process, including the workers’ wives who help by providing food.

How is an Amish barn-raising organized?

Barn raisings require organization, supplies, and labor.  They are typically led by one or two master Amish “engineers”, who lay out plans for the barn and assure the materials are available.  Supplies and livestock may be donated by fellow church members.  All labor is contributed for free as well.  Amish know they may be in need of the community’s help themselves one day.

Typically the blocks and cement used in the foundation are laid before the day of the actual raising, allowing time to dry and set.  The day of the barn raising, men arrive early. The master organizes men and instructs on jobs, overseeing the whole event.  Amish traditionally build barns using wood-peg mortise and tenon joint construction, but may also use more modern materials and techniques.

Despite the common belief that Amish do the whole job in a single day, it may take a week or more from start to finish.  There are typically a good bit of preparations to be done beforehand as well.  However, the wood frame structure usually does go up in one day.

Women help by preparing meals for the men.  Youth and children participate as well.   Hundreds typically attend, either as workers, support, or observers.

Other Amish work frolics

A barn raising is the most well-known example of what the Amish call “frolics”.  Amish take pleasure from participating in joint cooperative work projects – both from the social aspect as well as from the deeper sense of satisfaction in seeing tangible results of one’s labor.

“We look forward to raisings,” said one Amishman. “There are so many helping, no one has to work too hard.  We get in a good visit” (“The Barn Raising”, Gene Logsdon).  Amish also feel a deep sense of security in knowing that the community they are a part of will return the favor if they ever find themselves in need.

Besides the barn-raising, there are numerous other types of work frolics Amish typically participate in. Quilting bees get women together to do the painstaking work of stitching a quilt, and offer a venue to visit and share news at the same time.  Canning, shucking corn and shelling peas are other, smaller-scale occasions when Amish may get together to tackle a task.

Frolics for men may involve putting up new buildings other than barns, working on a roof, or other sizable tasks requiring many hands.  Word may be put out at the Sunday service of the upcoming frolic, and community members will come as they are able.

Another example of Amish mutual aid

In the video below, an Amish couple named Ivan and Ruth Chupp share an example of how they experienced htheir community’s practice of mutual aid following a family misfortune.

“In 1998, our store burnt down,” Ivan recounts. “Total loss.”

“Before the firefighters had left, there was people all over…dozens of people here, and they were going through, and sorting out…”

“Within a week, it was going back up. And it all just happened.”

“It’s something that we take for granted,” adds Ruth. “Because it just happens…But once you step out of the community and decide to leave… you’re lost. Cause we grew up with it.”

Mennonite Barn-raisings

You’ll also find something of a work frolic/barn-raising tradition in plainer Mennonite communities. A reader describes one primarily involving family:

Have not seen an Amish barn-raising, but did observe my Mennonite neighbors raising a barn just over the back fence from us. As you mention, the foundation work (concrete blocks in this case) had been done in advance. The skeleton, siding, and roof of the barn was done by a big crew of workers in one day (using pre-fab roof trusses.)

There was still plenty of work left to finish it up completely, but it was a water-shedding structure at the end of the barn-raising. Many of the workers at this barn-raising were brothers, brother-in-laws, nephews, cousins and other extended family members.

Barn raisings not as common today

Despite their iconic nature, barn raisings are not as common today as they once were.  This is due to the general decline in farming among Amish, due largely to high land prices.

Still, accidents happen and barns burn down, and Amish stil do set up new farms.  Thus there remain opportunities to both participate in and witness this definitive event of Amish life.

For more, see:

• A Swartzentruber Amish Barn-Raising (11 Photos)
• The Amish Barn Raising (Excellent Documentary)
• Amish Barn-Raising: Time-Lapse Video
• Scenes from an Amish Barn-Raising
• The Amish Work “Frolic”
• Do The Amish Practice Communism?
• “The Barn Raising”, Gene Logsdon, in Amish Roots: A Treasury of History, Wisdom, and Lore, ed. John A. Hostetler
• Amish Houses and Barns, Stephen Scott

Photo credits:  Wisconsin; young boys-Dorothy Jasperson, Westby Times. Indiana barn and thumbnail-Cindy Seigle