[e-mail] (Markus Boettle)

Handout:

23.6.1999

The Amish

Origins:

-

Anabaptist movement in the early 16

th

century

-

After 1536: They are called the "Mennonites", because of the leadership of Menno Simons

-

1693 the Amish are founded by Jacob Amman

-

Early 18

th

century: first amish settlers in Pennsylvania

-

Today live approximately 150 000 Amish people in 22 states of the USA and Ontario, Canada

-

Best known amish community in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Amish way of life:

-

Completely secluded from the non-Amish world

-

Plain lifestyle:
- Tractors and cars are forbidden
- No telephones allowed, only commonly used pay-phones
- Electricity only from batteries
- Computers are forbidden

⇒ very hard work

-

Community as a family

-

Amish rules of dressing:
- Women and girls: long sleeves, full skirt, hair as a bun, bonnet
- Men and boys: dark suits, broad trousers with suspenders, beard, no mustache

-

Rules are written down in the "Ordnung"

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Amish school system

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Importance of the family

Vocabularies:
infant - Säugling
baptize - taufen
worship - Gottesdienst
seclude - absondern
plain - schlicht
sleeve - Ärmel
bun - (Haar-)Knoten
bonnet - Haube
mustache - Schnurrbart

[e-mail] (Markus Boettle)

The Amish

-

Origin: Amish, religious group, who have their roots from the anabaptist
movement in Europe in the early 16

th

century

-

In this time it was usual, that only infants get baptized. But the Amish believed,
that only Adults should be baptized, because they can confess their belief.
Infants can not choose , they got baptized if they want or not.

-

Because adult-baptism was forbidden, they were persecuted and killed by
Protestants and Catholics. => they had to flee to the mountains of switzerland
and the Alsace

-

From this time on, they were called the "Anabaptists"

-

In 1536 a man, called Menno Simons, joined the anabaptist-movement and
became their leader. So the group was called the "Mennonites"

-

In 1693 the swiss bishop Jacob Amman broke away from the mennonite church.
His followers were called the "Amish"

-

The Amish and the Mennonites have still the same beliefs concerning baptism
and basic bible doctrines. But they differ in their clothes, language and their
form of worship

-

In the early 18

th

century the first Amish people settled to Pennsylvania. Today

there live about 150000 Amish people in 22 States of the USA and in Ontario,
Canada.

-

The probably best known city is Lancaster County, where about 18000 Amish
people live

-

In Europe, there are no Amish people any more

-

Amish can be categorized in two groups, the New Order and the Old Order
Amish:
The New Order are not as strict as the Old Order. They are allowed to use
electricity and other many technological things. For the Old Order it is
forbidden.

-

The Old Order Amish live completely secluded from the non-Amish world.
They have their own towns and communities, where only amish people live.

-

They live without electricity and other modern things:
- Tractors for example are only allowed on their farms for transportation,
but not on their fields. Cars are also forbidden.
- They mustn't have telephones at home. Only commonly used pay-phones
are allowed
- They get their Electricity only from batteries, not from the public utility
companies
- Computers are completely forbidden

⇒

Because of this plain lifestyle they are called "Plain People"

-

So they have to work very hard:
- work on fields is very hard, because they have to do the whole work only
with the help of horses
- building houses and barns: without cranes

- because no cars, they have to use buggies, that are pulled by horses

-

Buggies are typical for Amish

[e-mail] (Markus Boettle)

-

But without the help of their neighbours and friends, life wasn't possible for
them:
- If a barn burns for example, the community helps to rebuild it.
(No Businesses who make it for them)
- If a person is ill, the neighbours make his work on the fields

=> The community is like a big family

-

They have their own rules of dressing:
- Women and girls have to wear long sleeves and a full skirt.
They never cut their hair. They wear their hair as a bun on the back of the
head
On the bun, they wear a bonnet, that is white if they are married and black
if they are not married
- Men and boys have to wear dark suits, broad trousers with suspenders,
black socks and shoes and a broad hat. After marriage, they have to have
a beard, but no mustache

-

All the rules are written down in the "Ordnung"

-

An other typical attribute for the Amish is, that they worship at home and not at
a church. They do this, because they want to honor their forefathers, who had to
worship in secret, because of the persecution in Europe

-

The Amish have their own schools. The pupils have to go to school for only 8
years. They are taught humility, quietness and shunning of technological
things. It seems, that their education isn't, but in a test by the U.S. Office of
Education the Amish pupils were above the norm, when they were compared to
non-Amish pupils.

-

Amish children grow up bilingual, at home they speak German and at school
they learn English. After finishing school, they learn to work on their farm and
on the fields.

-

Most important element in the life of an Amish is the family

- They live together in one community.
- Family-members are always in contact with each other.
- They are also in contact with relatives who don't live in their community.

-

The reason, why these people live like that is, that they esteem the beliefs and
way of life of their ancestors.