Most of the Amish will use modern medicine, after they have tried all of their home remedies without success. For example one of my Amish friends, Ed, had an accident with his horse and buggy. The horse was young and not use to pulling without another horse. While being passed on a gravel road by a car, his horse bolted, crashed the buggy, and ejected Ed out of the front of the buggy and over the horse into the ditch. Don’t worry about the horse, she is fine and only suffered minor injuries. Ed told me that the mare had been skittish all morning and that he shouldn’t have taken her out that day. However, Ed did not fare as well. If you could imagine, Ed, Horse, and Buggy would have been travelling at almost 20 mph when all of a sudden the horse started to gallop then veer off into a deep ditch which caused the horse to go down with the buggy to follow. Without a seatbelt or airbags for safety, Ed broke through a small plastic window over the horse into the ditch. He stumbled up and cut free the horse. A neighbor found the horse and came to Ed’s aide. Please note that Ed is 65 years old and the father of eight children. Ed told me that the first week that his wife and a community elder which has many years of knowledge of the healing practices could not figure out why Ed could not do his work without major pain. An English neighbor took Ed to a Chiropractor for an adjustment. It seemed that Ed had a pinched nerve in his back. Since the Amish don’t have health insurance, they combine efforts and funding to cover medical expenses for any member of their community in need of financial assistance. Each community appoints a leader for their mutual aid fund. #AllAboutAmish by #MissouriAmsih As you know on some past Sundays we talked about how the Amish Church Service is conducted.
Their clergy preach powerful, emotional messages, often moving about since many of the congregation will be seated in different rooms of the home. Ministers present their message in a chanting, sing-song manner, in the Pennsylvania German dialect, with scriptures in High German. Scriptures are followed by brief minister messages, prayer and more songs. After the religious service concludes, the rooms are cleared of people and some of the benches are converted into tables so that a light lunch can be served. Because of limited space, men and women eat in shifts, oldest through youngest, and usually in separate rooms. The meal may consist of coffee, bread, "church spread" (a combination of peanut butter and marshmallow), jam, apple butter, red beets, pickles, cheese, and sometimes snitz (dried apple) pie. Social time follows the meal. This is a great time to get caught up with what is going on locally and nationally. #AllAboutAmish by #MissouriAmsih An early Swiss Anabaptist named Jakob Ammann, was a man who had some controversial teachings which caused a division in the Mennonite church in Europe. He taught his followers to live non-resistant lives, care for the community, work the land, and accurately follow the Bible. He believed strongly in the practice of excommunication. Jakob Ammann became the namesake of the Amish religious movement.
The Amish began immigrating to North America in the early 1700s, first settling in Pennsylvania. There are now almost 300,000 Amish people living in over 28 states. After 1850, a rift developed between those who accepted elements of modernization, or the "new order," and the "old order," now referred to as the Old Order Amish Mennonite Church #AllAboutAmish by #MissouriAmsih The Amish forbid their members to be in pictures because their society values humility with their members; thus one should not draw interest to themselves above others. Posing for photos or knowingly participating in getting their picture taken is prohibited.
Another reason for avoiding pictures is Biblical. The Second Commandment in the Bible says, “Thou shalt not make any graven image or any likeness of anything.” This is in the book of Exodus. The Amish above all believe that it is important not break any of the 10 Commandments of the Bible. Now, some people will say, “But, I have seen many pictures of Amish?” Again the Ordnung (The rules for Living Amish) is not all the same for all Amish Communities especially in more liberal churches. Once an Amish is baptized as an adult, they must strictly follow the Ordnung of their community. Those who break the rules are strongly reprimanded. If you notice all of the pictures that I take are from a long distance shot. I do my best to not get identifiable faces because I do not want to offend my friends. #AllAboutAmish by #MissouriAmsih This is very interesting to hear about. Church service is an act of worship, a preservation of tradition, a restoration of faith, and an affirmation of community. As stated before, church services are done in the Amish families homes throughout the entire house. The men and women with children are separated into different rooms of the home. The Amish mothers are normally in the rooms that their children are in along with grandmothers and sometimes aunts.
The Church service normally last about three hours. Yes, I said 3 hours. Worship begins around 8:00 am. There is not just one preacher, normally there are between 3 to 5 preachers and a bishop. They normally start with a prayer for everyone in the house and then a song. The songs are sung from the Ausbund, which is a Hymnal that is used by all of the Amish. This Hymnal was started over 500 years ago. It has had revisions which now makes it over 500 pages. Most of them are written in High German. We will continue this next Sunday. #AllAboutAmish by #MissouriAmish November and December are when most wedding take place. This is because the harvest has been completed and winter is around the corner. A full day is needed to set up for a wedding. While the bride has been making her preparations for some time, most of the set up happens on the day before the wedding. Most weddings are held on Tuesdays or Thursdays with clean up the day after. I have known weddings to happen on Wednesday. This is only done when there are lots of weddings. Some would ask why don’t they have weddings on Saturday like most of the English? Then they would have to do cleanup on Sunday which would be sacrilegious because that is church day.
#AllAboutAmish by #MissouriAmish Yes, we will be talking math. In 2012, the Amish population was around 270,000. The population is predicted to double within the next 15 years. There are multiple reasons this is predicted to happen.
First, the average Amish family has seven (7) children. Yes, seven kids in one household. Their families are tight knit. Many of the grandparents and even great grandparents can live in houses near the main home. Many of the children do not leave home until they get married. Even then the newlyweds may live with their parents for quite a number of years until the couple gets a home of their own. From: Powell, Albrecht. "Amish 101 - Amish Beliefs, Culture & Lifestyle, History of the Amish in America,". about.com. Retrieved 2012 Second, the retention rate is above 80%. Missouri’s retention rate is estimated to be even greater at over 90%. So of you have seen those Reality TV Shows that show young people breaking away from their Amish communities. Yes, that is happening; however, at a much lower rate in Missouri. #AllAboutAmish by #MissouriAmish The answer is no with a little extra. The Amish do not vote in any politics at the National, State, County, or City level. Now they do vote on things in their Amish communities. The politics within their community are much different than the English’s negative spin. If you were Amish, during the time something is being voted on there is no TV, Radio, or Newspaper Ads. Wouldn’t that be nice? They talk about the issues at hand and I have not ever heard of them going negative. They bring the issue up, discuss the issue, and vote on the issue. Most issues are decided by the Elders of the communities. The majority of the issues are voted that way.
Here’s a surprise for you. The Amish will not tell you, but I have noticed over the years that they are very interested to hear about our politics. On numerous occasions with a variety of Amish people, I have discussed some of our current political situations that were going on at the local or state level. I was quite surprised how much the Amish person knew about the issues. I feel they like to keep up with current events whether it’s about the Amish or English politics. #AllAboutAmish by #MissouriAmish As you know Amish do not drive cars, but they are allowed to ride in them. This may sound confusing. As long as they are not doing the driving, Amish can be a passenger in the vehicle. This is where the English come in handy. Many of the Amish communities have some English people that are available for transporting the Amish. This can be from hauling one Amish person to a large van load. Sometimes, the Amish may have a lot of cargo like furniture or they may be moving to another community. Martha is a lady that a helps out some of the Amish Families near Eli, my Leatherrman. She is so kind because she takes phone messages to them and helps them get to other larger cities. Over the last two months she has been very busy with all of the weddings. #AllAboutAmish by #MissouriAmish |
AuthorKyle G. Smith Archives
May 2015
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