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Who are the Amish? Are they the same as the Pennsylvania Dutch? |
The Amish are a religious group who live in settlements in 22 states and Ontario, Canada. The oldest group of Old Order Amish, about 16-18,000 people live in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The Amish stress humility, family and community, and separation from the world. Although Lancaster Amish are Pennsylvania Dutch, all Pennsylvania Dutch are not Amish. The Pennsylvania Dutch are natives of Central Pennsylvania, particularly Lancaster and its surrounding counties. Unlike the Amish, they are not all one religion. Instead, their common bond is a mainly German background Pennsylvania Dutch is actually Pennsylvania Deutsch, or German. They also have Welsh, English, Scottish, Swiss, and French ancestry. |
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The Amish have their roots in the
Mennonite community. Both were part of the early Anabaptist movement
in Europe, which took place at the time of the Reformation. The
Anabaptists believed that only adults who had confessed their faith
should be baptized, and that they should remain separate from the
larger society. Many early Anabaptists were put to death as heretics
by both Catholics and Protestants, and many others fled to the
mountains of Switzerland and southern Germany.
Here began the Amish tradition
of farming and holding their worship services in homes rather than
churches. |
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The Amish seem stuck in history. Why don't they accept modern ideas and innovations? |
Although the Amish look like they
stepped out of the rural nineteenth century, in fact they do change.
Their lives move more slowly than ours, but they definitely are not
stuck anywhere. They choose to examine change carefully before they
accept it. If the new idea or gadget does not assist in keeping
their lives simple and their families together, they probably will
reject it. Each church district decides for itself what it will and
will not accept; there is no single governing body for the entire
Old Order population, but all follow a literal interpretation of the
Bible and an unwritten set of rules called the Ordnung. Old Order groups all drive horses and buggies rather than cars, do not have electricity in their homes, and send their children to private, one-room schoolhouses. Children attend only through the eighth grade. After that, they work on their family's farm or business until they marry. The Amish feel that their children do not need more formal education than this. Although they pay school taxes, the Amish have fought to keep their children out of public schools. In 1972, the Supreme Court handed down a landmark unanimous decision which exempted the Old Order Amish and related groups from state compulsory attendance laws beyond the eighth grade. Many Mennonites and progressive Amish do attend high school and even college. |
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Most Amish are trilingual. They speak
a dialect of German called Pennsylvania Dutch at home; they use High
German at their worship services; and they learn English at school.
They speak English when they deal with anyone who is not Amish. They
pronounce Amish with a broad "a" Ah-mish. The Amish are a private people who believe God has kept them together despite pressure to change from the modern world. They are not perfect, but they are a strong example of a community that supports and cares for its members. They are a people apart; they are also a people together. |
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Old Order Amish women and girls wear
modest dresses made from solid-colored fabric with long sleeves and
a full skirt not shorter than half-way between knee and floor. These
dresses are covered with a cape and apron and are fastened with
straight pins or snaps. They never cut their hair, which they wear
in a bun on the back of the head. On their heads they wear a white
prayer covering if they are married and a black one if they are
single. Amish women do not wear jewelry.
Men and boys wear dark-colored
suits, straight-cut coats without lapels, broad fall trousers,
suspenders, solid-colored shirts, black socks and shoes, and black
or straw broad-brimmed hats. Their shirts fasten with conventional
buttons, but their suit coats and vests fasten with hooks and eyes.
They do not have mustaches, but they grow beards after they marry. |
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Family is the core element in the
Amish church, and choosing a mate is the most important decision in
an Amish man's life. Boys and girls begin their search for a spouse
when they turn sixteen. By the time a young woman turns twenty or a
young man is in his early twenties, he or she is probably looking
forward to the wedding day. But several definite steps must be taken
by a couple before they may marry. Both must join the Amish church. They are baptized into the Amish faith and are responsible for following the Ordnung. The Ordnung is a written and unwritten set of rules for daily living. Joining the church prepares the young people for the seriousness of setting up their own home. The young man asks his girl to marry him, but he does not give her a diamond. He may give her china or a clock. The couple keeps their intentions secret until July or August. At this time the young woman tells her family about her plans to marry.
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Yes...for the many Old Order Amish and Old Order Mennonite children
living in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the ringing school bell
signals a time to shift attention from field work to school work, a
time to drop the hoe and pick up a pencil.
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