The Amish Community

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlt9KgGVb38

There are over 370,000 Amish people living in the US today largely, but not
exclusively, centered around what's known as Pennsylvania Dutch country in the state's
Lancaster County. Even though they shun technology and largely keep to themselves,
the Amish are frequently depicted in pop culture.
But what is it really like to be part of this small community? Today, we're going to take
a look at what it's like to be Amish. But before we get started, be sure to subscribe to the
Weird History channel. And leave a comment letting us know what other areas of
American history you would like to hear about.
OK, time to roll up your sleeves and raise ourselves a barn. The Amish religion dates all
the way back to the 17th century and a split within a Swiss church practicing what was
known as anabaptism. Among other beliefs, the Anabaptists held that it was improper to
baptize infants because a baptism was only valid if the person made a conscious
decision to confess their faith in Jesus Christ. For obvious reasons, this is a challenging
task for a baby. By the 1690s, Swiss Anabaptists were divided into two rival groups,
which held various opposing beliefs about their faith, including whether or not an adult
who refused to get rebaptized should be accepted into their church. The more strict and
extreme of the two groups ultimately broke off from the rest of the church and formed
their own faith. They came to be known as the Amish after one of their leaders, a man
named Jakob Ammann.
Then starting in the 1700s, attractive offers on parcels of land and the promise of
freedom from religious persecution convinced some members of the Church to pack
their bags and begin settling in North America, in what is now Pennsylvania. They
originally selected the area of modern day Berks County, but that land proved
dangerous due to the early stirrings of what would become the French and Indian War.
By the time the bulk of the Amish movement set sail, they were largely settling in
what's now Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, along with other parts of Ohio, Illinois,
Iowa, and Southern Ontario, Canada. Hmm, not sure what happened with that last one.
Maybe they got lost. Most of those original Amish settlers in the New World ultimately
left that faith and joined with other churches and religious movements. The somewhat
similar Mennonite Church and its many denominations eventually absorbed much of the
original Amish community, particularly its more progressive members. What remains of
the Amish in the US today are descended from the most conservative portions of that
original community, along with later American converts. The cornerstone of the Amish
worldview involves a rejection of pride and arrogance, which is one reason you don't
see many Amish in professional sports.
The Amish embrace a concept they know by the German word [GERMAN WORD],,
which translates as calmness, but more accurately refers to a reluctance to be self-
promoting or to place oneself ahead of the group. The center of Amish life is
understood to be the family and beyond that, your community of neighbors, so your cul-
de-sac family family. In many ways, the group's well-known rejection of modern
technology, which in many ways defines their beliefs for outsiders, stems from this
understanding of [GERMAN WORD].. The Amish see most modern conveniences as
opportunities to sever the individual from their community by allowing them to live
more independently. Modern innovations from the car to electric lights to the iPhone
allow people to isolate themselves and set themselves apart or even above their
neighbors. That's actually why a lot of people like it. Additionally for the Amish, the
idea of living in accordance with the Bible also means living simply, as people did in
biblical times. Innovations like electricity represent humanity imposing its will on the
natural world rather than submitting themselves to live under Gods divine design.
Though children in the Amish community
are gradually introduced to their beliefs and ideas over time, actual membership in the
Church doesn't begin until you're baptized, usually between the ages of 16 and 23.
Many Amish communities practice a tradition known as Rumspringa in which
adolescents are temporarily allowed to experiment with nonconforming behavior before
deciding on their own to return to the Church and get baptized as a full member. This
term translates to English as running circles. And in some circles is known as getting a
job as a line cook. You experience a whole lot of life's buffet in a short period of time
with that gig. Marriage is forbidden until someone has taken this crucial step and chosen
to get baptized. Adults who don't meet these baseline expectations and agree to be fully
participating members of the Amish faith are excommunicated and typically shunned by
the rest of Amish society. Ultimately, around 90% of Amish teens opt to join the
Church.
Huh, wonder where all those errant 10 percenters end up? Once you're baptized, all of
the various rules and principles for your adult life are set forth in a book known as the
Ordnung, which differs a bit depending on which community you're joining. The
Ordnung is the ultimate authority you consult for all the specific practices around things
like clothing, the use of technology, and day-to-day living. While such an old and strict
community might seem entirely rooted in the past, that's actually not the case. If the
entire community agrees, they have an opportunity to collectively alter the Ordnung
twice a year.
Perhaps, the most famous Amish rules of all forbid the use of modern technology. Even
zippers are considered too modern. Still, it's nearly impossible to survive in the world of
2023 without any modern conveniences whatsoever. So a lot of Amish communities cut
corners here and there when possible. Some settlements have started using green
technology, like solar panels or wind turbines, to generate their own electricity while
still remaining off the main power grid. For some, this is enough to satisfy the biblical
principle of staying true to their communities and their shared ideals without becoming
too worldly. Which is a phrase here meaning without seeing too many Married with
Children reruns. Many Amish are allowed to accept help from other people who are
using technology. For example, taking a ride in a person's car when a horse and buggy
simply won't do might be acceptable.
These special cases also extend to things like photographs. Amish people typically don't
own their own cameras, but many are willing to be photographed by other people.
Because no matter how gifted the narrator, sometimes a description just won't do.
However, standard portraits where you sit and pose are generally viewed as being too
vain, whereas photos in a candid or natural setting are viewed as more acceptable. So
while you probably won't see a lot of Amish portraits, you might see a shot of them
raising a barn, churning butter, or some other activity in which they were already
engaged, like growing a beard.
Still, these exceptions only go so far and a lot of technology the rest of us take for
granted are simply disallowed in Amish communities entirely. That includes musical
instruments, which are viewed as tools for vain self-expression, enabling one person to
be heard over the rest of the group.
And anyone who has ever been to a house party where an acoustic guitar suddenly
appeared can tell you, this is a difficult argument to refute. The Amish favor singing
with their own natural voices instead of using auto-tune, usually in choirs performing
hymns. Amish church songs come from a collection known as the Ausbund, which
dates back to 1564 and is among the oldest collection of Protestant hymns that are still
sung today. The book itself contains no musical notation of any kind, instead tunes are
passed down orally from generation to generation. Despite their hirsute reputation, not
all Amish men are allowed to have beards. Unmarried gents must remain clean shaven
as growing out your beards signifies your transition into adulthood. Amish men also
notably shave their upper lip. This is often considered a nod to the culture's history of
pacifism as mustaches were historically associated with members of the military.
Ulysses S. Grant did have a formidable stache. An Amish man's beard is so central to
his identity that in some communities, the shaving of the beard has been used as a
punishment. In 2012, in Ohio Amish leader, Samuel Mullet Sr, was accused of
orchestrating forced beard and hair cuttings against more than a dozen members of his
congregation. After several victims reported that they had been traumatized by the beard
cuttings and forced into seclusion, Mullet was charged with a hate crime. Shockingly,
his sentence wasn't to have his hair shaved into the style which bears his name.
Men aren't the only ones in Amish communities who have to worry about a lot of hair
regulations, either. The distinctive headdresses worn by women in Amish communities
are known as prayer coverings or caps. Though, it's sometimes difficult to tell, these
bonnet-type hats are almost always covering up long flowing manes, as Amish women
are largely forbidden from cutting their hair. This tradition goes back to the New
Testament. Specifically, writings of the Apostle Paul in his first epistle to the
Corinthians, which reads, "Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head
uncovered dishonors her head. It is the same as having her head shaved." The Amish
have interpreted this as forbidding all manner of hair grooming among women. In
addition to not cutting their hair, Amish ladies also don't shave their legs or armpits.
Incidentally, neither do the men.
However, the prayer bonnets are not an around the clock thing. They're mostly for
religious services and other aspects of public life. When they're unwinding at home with
the family or going to sleep for the night, Amish women can leave their heads
uncovered. As you may expect, dating and courtship in Amish communities have a
unique set of rules and regulations all of their own. Some Amish still practice a tradition
known as bundling that dates all the way back to the story of Ruth and Boaz in the Old
Testament. In the story, Ruth was a widow who spent the night in a grain storage room
with Boaz, a wealthy landowner, without ever touching him. Modern bundling, also
known as bed courting, involves a couple sharing the same bed and sleeping quarters
without engaging in any sexual activity. Sometimes, the couple is even sewn into a sack
tightly together or placed in a bed with a large plank between them to guarantee that no
hanky panky can take place. Or would that be hanky planky? They have way fewer
rules to follow than adults because unbaptized kids aren't yet full members of their
parents' church. But life is still different for kids growing up Amish than their non-
Amish counterparts.
Most notably, formal Amish classroom education ends with the eighth grade. Once
they've mastered basic reading, writing, and arithmetic, as well as the Pennsylvania
Dutch language, Amish kids wrap up their schoolwork and get ready to help their
family out with traditional jobs, like crafting or farming.
This has brought the Amish community into conflict with the US government, which
mandates that all kids under the age of 16 go to school every day. The 1972 Supreme
Court case of Wisconsin v. Yoder sided with the Amish on this debate, finding that
forcing Amish kids to attend school until the age of 16 violated their First Amendment
rights. Amish kids are only allowed to have simple toys, such as plain dolls without
faces, which shows that simple can sometimes be terrifying. This is because the Amish
have extended the book of Deuteronomy's rule against the creation of any graven
images to extend to all fake representations of the real people. Even giving a doll a
human face could be considered ungodly. There are also concerns that conventional
fashion dolls might make kids overly fixated on their physical appearance or even vain,
which is expressly forbidden by the Amish faith.
Faceless dolls are all the same and thus reinforce the Amish ideal of an entirely
egalitarian community where no one is elevated above anyone else. And what child
doesn't want a doll that looks like a Dick Tracy villain? In modern times, faceless
Amish dolls have become a culturally distinctive product.
And many visitors to Amish country want to take home their own as keepsakes. So you
can buy one of your own if you like. Those horses and buggies don't pay for themselves,
you know. So what do you think? Would you ever consider living without modern
conveniences? Let us in the comments below. And while you're at it, check out some of
these other videos from our Weird History.