SxyPorkie
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Amish´s history
- Thread starter Liebling:-)))
- Start date
I loves to amish peoples.... thats my favorite one .....
I collect a amich cookbook over 300.... i have a amish bread and it called "freindship bread".... you can type on google.com and typing "friendship amish bread" and there are some listing on recipes... Enjoy to cook amish bread .
I collect a amich cookbook over 300.... i have a amish bread and it called "freindship bread".... you can type on google.com and typing "friendship amish bread" and there are some listing on recipes... Enjoy to cook amish bread .
jwillisbarrie
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They don't 'own' they are using it to get from point A to B. Depends on how strict the district is as to what is permissible and what is not. May I suggest: Amish Llinks & Reading List
The Book Shoppe
A book to look for is: "20 most asked questions" - check in your local library as well.
The Book Shoppe
A book to look for is: "20 most asked questions" - check in your local library as well.
LakeTahoe
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Amish Sugar Cookies
Part One Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup oil
2 eggs
Part One Preparation
Mix well
Part Two Ingredients:
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
4 1/2 cups flour
Part Two Preparation:
Mix part two well
Blend ingredients together, and then chill. Flour hands, then shape into balls and place on cookie sheet. Flatten with bottom of chilled glass dipped in sugar. Sprinkle with colored sugar. Bake at 350 Fahrenheit until edges are golden.
Part One Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup oil
2 eggs
Part One Preparation
Mix well
Part Two Ingredients:
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
4 1/2 cups flour
Part Two Preparation:
Mix part two well
Blend ingredients together, and then chill. Flour hands, then shape into balls and place on cookie sheet. Flatten with bottom of chilled glass dipped in sugar. Sprinkle with colored sugar. Bake at 350 Fahrenheit until edges are golden.
LakeTahoe
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Amish Friendship Bread
This is more than a recipe - it's a way of thinking. In our hi-tech world almost everything comes prepackaged and designed for instant gratification. So where does a recipe that takes ten days to make fit in? Maybe it's a touch stone to our past - to those days not so very long ago when everything we did took time and where a bread that took 10 days to make was not as extraordinary as it seems today.
The recipe comes to us from Mrs. Norma Condon of Los Angeles. Amish Friendship Bread is a great bread for the holidays. When you've made your bread, you can give your friends a sample and the starter that made it! Then your friends can make their own and pass it along to their friends. This is why the bread is called "friendship bread". It makes a great homemade birthday and Christmas present. Church groups and hospitals have spread a lot of love and cheer by making Amish Friendship Bread for their members. Many people make it regularly just because it tastes so good!
Amish Friendship Bread is a genuine starter bread. If you know someone with a starter, you are in luck. For those of you without access to a starter, we've done our research and found a great option. It's a special starter in powder form that can be activated with flour and water; it's safe, very inexpensive and we can send it to you.
Starter for Amish Friendship Bread (G-110)
The Recipe
Important Note: Don't use metal spoons or equipment. Do not refrigerate. Use only glazed ceramic or plastic bowls or containers.
Required Main Ingredient
1 cup live yeast starter (see above)
day 1:
Do nothing with the starter.
days 2-5:
Stir with a wooden spoon.
day 6:
Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup milk. Stir with a wooden spoon.
days 7-9:
Stir with a wooden spoon.
Day 10:
Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Stir. Take out 3 cups and place 1 cup each into three separate plastic containers. Give one cup and a copy of this recipe to three friends. To the balance (a little over one cup) of the batter, add the following ingredients and mix well.
1 cup oil
1/2 cup milk
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
In a separate bowl combine the following dry ingredients and mix well:
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 - (5.1 oz) box instant vanilla pudding
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup nuts
Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Mix and pour into two well greased and sugared bread pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.
This is more than a recipe - it's a way of thinking. In our hi-tech world almost everything comes prepackaged and designed for instant gratification. So where does a recipe that takes ten days to make fit in? Maybe it's a touch stone to our past - to those days not so very long ago when everything we did took time and where a bread that took 10 days to make was not as extraordinary as it seems today.
The recipe comes to us from Mrs. Norma Condon of Los Angeles. Amish Friendship Bread is a great bread for the holidays. When you've made your bread, you can give your friends a sample and the starter that made it! Then your friends can make their own and pass it along to their friends. This is why the bread is called "friendship bread". It makes a great homemade birthday and Christmas present. Church groups and hospitals have spread a lot of love and cheer by making Amish Friendship Bread for their members. Many people make it regularly just because it tastes so good!
Amish Friendship Bread is a genuine starter bread. If you know someone with a starter, you are in luck. For those of you without access to a starter, we've done our research and found a great option. It's a special starter in powder form that can be activated with flour and water; it's safe, very inexpensive and we can send it to you.
Starter for Amish Friendship Bread (G-110)
The Recipe
Important Note: Don't use metal spoons or equipment. Do not refrigerate. Use only glazed ceramic or plastic bowls or containers.
Required Main Ingredient
1 cup live yeast starter (see above)
day 1:
Do nothing with the starter.
days 2-5:
Stir with a wooden spoon.
day 6:
Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup milk. Stir with a wooden spoon.
days 7-9:
Stir with a wooden spoon.
Day 10:
Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Stir. Take out 3 cups and place 1 cup each into three separate plastic containers. Give one cup and a copy of this recipe to three friends. To the balance (a little over one cup) of the batter, add the following ingredients and mix well.
1 cup oil
1/2 cup milk
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
In a separate bowl combine the following dry ingredients and mix well:
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 - (5.1 oz) box instant vanilla pudding
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup nuts
Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Mix and pour into two well greased and sugared bread pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.
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Thank you for provide this link here.I think sometimes that Amish is a cult ?
Is the bible says that anyone allow to experiment their life before they consider their belief? Is Amish´s bible says so?
The reason, I create a thread here because I want to learn more about them.
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Yes, both of them boys and girls
If they want one, its their choice.
He will make a decision to stick with his religious or gave up and join with this "English" girlfriend(s)
If they don't envy of us, why are they happy to stay there as Amish/Mennoties and not join us in the outside world?
It has nothing do with envy but they are happy what they have as we are happy what we have.
I sometimes think Amish style is a cult ?
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I have seen the real life of amish and it was in Lancaster, PA. It was very interesting to learn about them.
I also saw a bunch of teenagers amish changed into our clothes and hang out the outsider at the mall.
wow
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- Joined
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Can you care to explain me why we use sugar double? "sugar and powdered sugar"? It´s tooooo sweet?
What is that tartar? Could you put an example picture of tartar. I googled to find out what tartar is but it says...
tartar - Google Bilder
I would TRY it but I need to know what difference between "sugar" and "powdered sugar". I guess you mean powdered sugar is "icing sugar"?
Is it taste good or too sweet?
Very interesting about Amish Friendship Bread! No Yeast? I often baked the breads but no yeast....
I baked old German tradition farmer bread few times for 3 days without yeast but Amish bread is longer... .shock: What is taste alike?
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It is not a biblical Christian concept.
It is a concept that is part of the Amish religion and culture.
I really don't know where they go that idea.
I guess you'll have to do some research for that answer. :P
LakeTahoe
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I found this off the website...
cream of tarter is spice. here is what it look like.
I guess just follow the direction. I am sure it'll turn out good. Sometimes in my cookie recipes added 2 cup of sugar and it came out pretty good.
Powerded sugar is icing sugar I am not sure what's another term for Germany.
I made PB cookies another day I put 2 cups of sugar, 2 cup of PB and 2 eggs that's it. No flour. I like that! LOL! Less work but I won't eat PB cookies, they're for my boys.
cream of tarter is spice. here is what it look like.
I guess just follow the direction. I am sure it'll turn out good. Sometimes in my cookie recipes added 2 cup of sugar and it came out pretty good.
Powerded sugar is icing sugar I am not sure what's another term for Germany.
I made PB cookies another day I put 2 cups of sugar, 2 cup of PB and 2 eggs that's it. No flour. I like that! LOL! Less work but I won't eat PB cookies, they're for my boys.
Can you care to explain me why we use sugar double? "sugar and powdered sugar"? It´s tooooo sweet?
What is that tartar? Could you put an example picture of tartar. I googled to find out what tartar is but it says...
tartar - Google Bilder
I would TRY it but I need to know what difference between "sugar" and "powdered sugar". I guess you mean powdered sugar is "icing sugar"?
Is it taste good or too sweet?
Very interesting about Amish Friendship Bread! No Yeast? I often baked the breads but no yeast....
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2004
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- 31,022
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How Much Do You Know About the Amish?
How Much Do You Know About the Amish?
Read the following statements and indicate whether they are true (T) or false (F). The answers are at the end of this list of 320 statements.
1. __ There are more Amish today than there have been in any time in history.
2. __ The Amish do not study science in their schools.
3. __ The Amish do not serve in the military.
4. __ Some Amish vote in elections.
5. __ Amish children leave school after the eighth grade.
6. __ The Amish pay property taxes, income taxes, sales taxes, and a variety of local and state taxes, but do not receive any federal, state, or local benefits because they rely on mutal aid instead.
7. __ The Amish do not receive Medicare and Medicaid.
8. __ Amish shop owners pay Social Security taxes for their Amish employees, but these employees receive nothing in return from the federal government.
9. __ The Amish do not accept funds from federally subsidized agricultural programs.
10. __ The Amish believe in self-sufficiency and independence from all government programs.
11. __ The Amish do not receive welfare checks.
12. __ During times of war, young Amish men often participate in some form of alternate public service instead of actually serving as soldiers.
13. __ The Amish believe that everyone should work for peace and nonviolence in the world.
14. __ The Amish provide their children with a emotional security, meaning, identity, and belonging.
15. __ The Amish are the conservative “cousins” of the Mennonites.
16. __ The Amish originally came from Switzerland.
17. __ The Amish live mainly in the United States, but they also live in Canada, Guatemala, Belize, and some other countries.
18. __ The Amish were named after a young, Swiss Mennonite bishop called Jacob Amman.
19. __ The Amish came into being in 1693.
20. __ The Amish are sometimes called Anabaptists.
21. __ The Amish are Protestant Christians.
22. __ The Amish believe the Bible is their guide to living.
23. __ The Amish believe in the separation of church and state.
24. __ The Amish believe in the Trinity and the other orthodox doctrines of
traditional Christianity.
25. __ The Amish practice believers’ baptism.
26. __ The Amish believe in living simply and close to nature.
27. __ The Amish speak standard German in their house churches and in
school, speak a Low German dialect at home and with other Amish, and learn English so that they may speak with non-Amish people.
28. __ There are different groups of Old-Order and New-Order Amish.
29. __ It is possible for non-Amish people to join the Amish and live as they do.
30. __ The Amish wear distinctive clothing because they believe in practicing humility, simplicity, nonconformity with the world, and modesty.
31. __ Amish men and boys wear coats without lapels.
32. __ Amish men and boys wear broadfall pants (no zippers).
33. __ Amish men and boys wear white or plain-colored, pastel shirts.
34. __ Amish men and boys have their hair cut at the collar line.
35. __ Amish women and girls wear full skirts, long sleeves, high necks, capes, and aprons.
36. __ Amish women and girls can wear dresses that are of a solid color and can be intensely blue, brown, green, gray, black, maroon, orange, pink, or purple.
37. __ Amish women and girls never cut their hair.
38. __ Amish women and girls wear their hair parted in the middle and pulled back from the face, twisting the hair into a bun on the back of their necks.
39. __ Amish women and girls always wear a white, organdy prayer cap when they are awake.
40. __ Amish women and girls wear prayers caps as a sign of their submission to God.
41. __ In cold weather, Amish women and girls cover their prayer caps with large, black bonnets and often wear shawls.
42. __ Amish men and women never wear jewelry.
43. __ The Amish do not wear zippers or buttons; they use hooks and eyelets instead.
44. __ Amish men never wear necces that might weaken family bonds, like owning automobiles, radios, telephones, and television sets.
46. __ The Amish maintain their own one-room school houses.
47. __ The Amish farmer produces more harvest per acre with less energy consumption than his non-Amish neighbors.
48. __ The Amish still plow their fields with horses.
49. __ The Amish use gasoline-powered tractors only for the belt-power to thresh grain or to fill silos.
50. __ The Amish are permitted to ride in cars, trucks, taxis, and trains, but they are not permitted to own them since owning a vehicle might keep people away from home too long.
51. __ Not all Amish are farmers. Some work as carpenters, craftsmen, buggy repairmen, or cheese producers, or factory workers.
52. __ Unmarried Amish women may work in other people’s houses, doing housework, or they may work in farmers’ markets or even in small shops and factories.
53. __ The Amish raise more than enough food so that they can give it to poor people and even send it overseas to poor nations.
54. __ The Amish believe in volunteerism and often mobilize during national or regional disasters to help the non-Amish clean up and rebuild.
55. __ The Amish usually have very large families.
56. __ Some groups of Amish, like the Beachy Amish, do missionary work in other countries.
57. __ An Amish man and woman may divorce and remarry.
58. __ Young Amish men and women keep their courtship a secret usually.
59. __ Young men and women are permitted to socialize on at Sunday evening singings, and the young man will take a girl to her house in his carriage if he likes her.
60. __ If an Amish man and woman wish to marry, they will tell the bishop, minister, or deacon of their church. The church official will then obtain the consent of the girl’s parents. Finally, a marriage announcement (called a “ban”) is made (“published”) in the congregation two days to two weeks before the marriage. The following Monday, the groom-to-be (der Hochzeiter) personally visits all the people he wished to attend the wedding. This may take several days since he is actually visiting all the relatives and
relatives-to-be and sometimes spends the night at their houses.
61. __ Marriages are big affairs among the Amish and often there are up to four hundred people attending a wedding.
62. __ The Old Order Amish groups usually have weddings in November (when farm work is not so demanding) on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
63. __ An Amish wedding usually lasts four hours, beginning at 9:00 in the morning.
64. __ An Amish wedding consists of a church service in the house comprised of wedding hymns, a very long sermon about marriage based on the Old and New Testaments and even the Apocrypha, simple vows, testimonies from church leaders, and an extended prayer.
65. __ At an Amish wedding, there are no kisses, rings, photographers, florists, fashion consultants, or caterers.
66. __ After the wedding service, the Amish sit together at long tables and eat chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, ham, relishes, canned fruit, and many kinds of cookies, pies, and cakes.
67. __ At an Amish wedding reception two tables are placed together in a corner of the large living room, the tables forming an L. This is where the bride and groom sit because it is a special place of honor. The room is full of tables, and all the guests take turns eating at the tables, but the bride and groom always eat first.
68. __ On the wedding day, the Amish do not leave the house after the wedding service. They stay there all day and have both a wedding lunch (called dinner) and a wedding supper later in the day. They sing hymns late into the evening.
69. __ Amish newlyweds do not take honeymoons. Instead, they spend every weekend of the winter visiting their extended families and receiving wedding gifts (including heavy pieces of furniture), which they put into a large wagon.
70. __ Amish couples that get married in November do not live together until the spring of the following year when they set up housekeeping.
71. __ Amish women are superb at gardening, quilting, and sewing.
72. __ Both Amish men and women co-own their farms.
73. __ Amish children are taught to be disciplined, respectful, and obedient.
74. __ Children are a vital part of an Amish family, and they learn how to do useful chores early on. Amish children feel needed and work very hard.
75. __ The Amish tend to eat lots of pickled, garden-fresh vegetables, canned fruit (which they can themselves) from their orchards, and smoked and cured meats because they do not have freezers that run on electricity.
76. __ The Amish do not oppose modern medicine. They often go to doctors, take pills and other medications, and stay in the hospital when necessary.
77. __ The Amish often rely on home remedies when someone in the family is sick.
78. __ When Amish people die, the funeral and burial take place three days after death.
79. __ The Amish permit bodies to be embalmed.
80. __ The Amish have their own style of coffins. It is a very plain, six-sided box with a split lid that is hinged. All coffins are made of pine.
81. __ The Amish dress their dead in white shrouds.
82. __ Amish funerals take place at home and last nearly two hours.
83. __ There are no eulogies at Amish funerals.
84. __ At an Amish funeral, a hymn is spoken but not sung.
85. __ After an Amish funeral, the body of the loved one is taken to an Amish-owned cemetery in a horse-drawn hearse.
86. __ No one places flowers on an Amish gravesite.
87. __ A simple tombstone is placed on an Amish gravesite, and all the tombstones look alike.
88. __ Following an Amish burial, all of the friends and relatives of the bereaved will have a fellowship meal, and the friends and relatives bring all the food.
89. __ The Amish can have fun without the help of the American entertainment industry.
90. __ Amish children often play baseball or softball after the evening meal, play lively table games like Monopoly or Rook, ride their scooters, travel down the road on rollerskates, sew clothes for dolls, play with toy trucks, build tunnels in the lay lofts, go sledding and ice skating in the winter, visit friends, tell stories and have discussions, sing, and do many of the things that rural families without TV do.
91. __ The Amish sing, but do not play music instruments.
92. __ The Amish are extremely honest, much more than any non-Amish person.
93. __ The Amish actually enjoy working hard. They do not complain about hard work but find joy in it.
94. __ You will not find books of modern fiction in an Amish home and very few novels.
95. __ The books that you will find in an Amish home would include the Bible, Bible storybooks for children, Menno Simons’ writings (He was a Dutch Mennonite leader), The Martyrs Mirror (about the early persecutions of the Anabaptists), some prayer books, some Christian inspirational books, and school books (often published by the Amish themselves or older reprints of American textbooks).
96. __ The Amish read newspapers.
97. __ The Amish read inspirational magazines.
98. __ The Amish do not believe in becoming wealthy. That is not the purpose of life.
99. __ The Amish do not hold public, elective office, but some of them vote.
100. __ The largest Amish community in the world is in Holmes County, Ohio. The second largest Amish community in the world is in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Cont...
How Much Do You Know About the Amish?
Read the following statements and indicate whether they are true (T) or false (F). The answers are at the end of this list of 320 statements.
1. __ There are more Amish today than there have been in any time in history.
2. __ The Amish do not study science in their schools.
3. __ The Amish do not serve in the military.
4. __ Some Amish vote in elections.
5. __ Amish children leave school after the eighth grade.
6. __ The Amish pay property taxes, income taxes, sales taxes, and a variety of local and state taxes, but do not receive any federal, state, or local benefits because they rely on mutal aid instead.
7. __ The Amish do not receive Medicare and Medicaid.
8. __ Amish shop owners pay Social Security taxes for their Amish employees, but these employees receive nothing in return from the federal government.
9. __ The Amish do not accept funds from federally subsidized agricultural programs.
10. __ The Amish believe in self-sufficiency and independence from all government programs.
11. __ The Amish do not receive welfare checks.
12. __ During times of war, young Amish men often participate in some form of alternate public service instead of actually serving as soldiers.
13. __ The Amish believe that everyone should work for peace and nonviolence in the world.
14. __ The Amish provide their children with a emotional security, meaning, identity, and belonging.
15. __ The Amish are the conservative “cousins” of the Mennonites.
16. __ The Amish originally came from Switzerland.
17. __ The Amish live mainly in the United States, but they also live in Canada, Guatemala, Belize, and some other countries.
18. __ The Amish were named after a young, Swiss Mennonite bishop called Jacob Amman.
19. __ The Amish came into being in 1693.
20. __ The Amish are sometimes called Anabaptists.
21. __ The Amish are Protestant Christians.
22. __ The Amish believe the Bible is their guide to living.
23. __ The Amish believe in the separation of church and state.
24. __ The Amish believe in the Trinity and the other orthodox doctrines of
traditional Christianity.
25. __ The Amish practice believers’ baptism.
26. __ The Amish believe in living simply and close to nature.
27. __ The Amish speak standard German in their house churches and in
school, speak a Low German dialect at home and with other Amish, and learn English so that they may speak with non-Amish people.
28. __ There are different groups of Old-Order and New-Order Amish.
29. __ It is possible for non-Amish people to join the Amish and live as they do.
30. __ The Amish wear distinctive clothing because they believe in practicing humility, simplicity, nonconformity with the world, and modesty.
31. __ Amish men and boys wear coats without lapels.
32. __ Amish men and boys wear broadfall pants (no zippers).
33. __ Amish men and boys wear white or plain-colored, pastel shirts.
34. __ Amish men and boys have their hair cut at the collar line.
35. __ Amish women and girls wear full skirts, long sleeves, high necks, capes, and aprons.
36. __ Amish women and girls can wear dresses that are of a solid color and can be intensely blue, brown, green, gray, black, maroon, orange, pink, or purple.
37. __ Amish women and girls never cut their hair.
38. __ Amish women and girls wear their hair parted in the middle and pulled back from the face, twisting the hair into a bun on the back of their necks.
39. __ Amish women and girls always wear a white, organdy prayer cap when they are awake.
40. __ Amish women and girls wear prayers caps as a sign of their submission to God.
41. __ In cold weather, Amish women and girls cover their prayer caps with large, black bonnets and often wear shawls.
42. __ Amish men and women never wear jewelry.
43. __ The Amish do not wear zippers or buttons; they use hooks and eyelets instead.
44. __ Amish men never wear necces that might weaken family bonds, like owning automobiles, radios, telephones, and television sets.
46. __ The Amish maintain their own one-room school houses.
47. __ The Amish farmer produces more harvest per acre with less energy consumption than his non-Amish neighbors.
48. __ The Amish still plow their fields with horses.
49. __ The Amish use gasoline-powered tractors only for the belt-power to thresh grain or to fill silos.
50. __ The Amish are permitted to ride in cars, trucks, taxis, and trains, but they are not permitted to own them since owning a vehicle might keep people away from home too long.
51. __ Not all Amish are farmers. Some work as carpenters, craftsmen, buggy repairmen, or cheese producers, or factory workers.
52. __ Unmarried Amish women may work in other people’s houses, doing housework, or they may work in farmers’ markets or even in small shops and factories.
53. __ The Amish raise more than enough food so that they can give it to poor people and even send it overseas to poor nations.
54. __ The Amish believe in volunteerism and often mobilize during national or regional disasters to help the non-Amish clean up and rebuild.
55. __ The Amish usually have very large families.
56. __ Some groups of Amish, like the Beachy Amish, do missionary work in other countries.
57. __ An Amish man and woman may divorce and remarry.
58. __ Young Amish men and women keep their courtship a secret usually.
59. __ Young men and women are permitted to socialize on at Sunday evening singings, and the young man will take a girl to her house in his carriage if he likes her.
60. __ If an Amish man and woman wish to marry, they will tell the bishop, minister, or deacon of their church. The church official will then obtain the consent of the girl’s parents. Finally, a marriage announcement (called a “ban”) is made (“published”) in the congregation two days to two weeks before the marriage. The following Monday, the groom-to-be (der Hochzeiter) personally visits all the people he wished to attend the wedding. This may take several days since he is actually visiting all the relatives and
relatives-to-be and sometimes spends the night at their houses.
61. __ Marriages are big affairs among the Amish and often there are up to four hundred people attending a wedding.
62. __ The Old Order Amish groups usually have weddings in November (when farm work is not so demanding) on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
63. __ An Amish wedding usually lasts four hours, beginning at 9:00 in the morning.
64. __ An Amish wedding consists of a church service in the house comprised of wedding hymns, a very long sermon about marriage based on the Old and New Testaments and even the Apocrypha, simple vows, testimonies from church leaders, and an extended prayer.
65. __ At an Amish wedding, there are no kisses, rings, photographers, florists, fashion consultants, or caterers.
66. __ After the wedding service, the Amish sit together at long tables and eat chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, ham, relishes, canned fruit, and many kinds of cookies, pies, and cakes.
67. __ At an Amish wedding reception two tables are placed together in a corner of the large living room, the tables forming an L. This is where the bride and groom sit because it is a special place of honor. The room is full of tables, and all the guests take turns eating at the tables, but the bride and groom always eat first.
68. __ On the wedding day, the Amish do not leave the house after the wedding service. They stay there all day and have both a wedding lunch (called dinner) and a wedding supper later in the day. They sing hymns late into the evening.
69. __ Amish newlyweds do not take honeymoons. Instead, they spend every weekend of the winter visiting their extended families and receiving wedding gifts (including heavy pieces of furniture), which they put into a large wagon.
70. __ Amish couples that get married in November do not live together until the spring of the following year when they set up housekeeping.
71. __ Amish women are superb at gardening, quilting, and sewing.
72. __ Both Amish men and women co-own their farms.
73. __ Amish children are taught to be disciplined, respectful, and obedient.
74. __ Children are a vital part of an Amish family, and they learn how to do useful chores early on. Amish children feel needed and work very hard.
75. __ The Amish tend to eat lots of pickled, garden-fresh vegetables, canned fruit (which they can themselves) from their orchards, and smoked and cured meats because they do not have freezers that run on electricity.
76. __ The Amish do not oppose modern medicine. They often go to doctors, take pills and other medications, and stay in the hospital when necessary.
77. __ The Amish often rely on home remedies when someone in the family is sick.
78. __ When Amish people die, the funeral and burial take place three days after death.
79. __ The Amish permit bodies to be embalmed.
80. __ The Amish have their own style of coffins. It is a very plain, six-sided box with a split lid that is hinged. All coffins are made of pine.
81. __ The Amish dress their dead in white shrouds.
82. __ Amish funerals take place at home and last nearly two hours.
83. __ There are no eulogies at Amish funerals.
84. __ At an Amish funeral, a hymn is spoken but not sung.
85. __ After an Amish funeral, the body of the loved one is taken to an Amish-owned cemetery in a horse-drawn hearse.
86. __ No one places flowers on an Amish gravesite.
87. __ A simple tombstone is placed on an Amish gravesite, and all the tombstones look alike.
88. __ Following an Amish burial, all of the friends and relatives of the bereaved will have a fellowship meal, and the friends and relatives bring all the food.
89. __ The Amish can have fun without the help of the American entertainment industry.
90. __ Amish children often play baseball or softball after the evening meal, play lively table games like Monopoly or Rook, ride their scooters, travel down the road on rollerskates, sew clothes for dolls, play with toy trucks, build tunnels in the lay lofts, go sledding and ice skating in the winter, visit friends, tell stories and have discussions, sing, and do many of the things that rural families without TV do.
91. __ The Amish sing, but do not play music instruments.
92. __ The Amish are extremely honest, much more than any non-Amish person.
93. __ The Amish actually enjoy working hard. They do not complain about hard work but find joy in it.
94. __ You will not find books of modern fiction in an Amish home and very few novels.
95. __ The books that you will find in an Amish home would include the Bible, Bible storybooks for children, Menno Simons’ writings (He was a Dutch Mennonite leader), The Martyrs Mirror (about the early persecutions of the Anabaptists), some prayer books, some Christian inspirational books, and school books (often published by the Amish themselves or older reprints of American textbooks).
96. __ The Amish read newspapers.
97. __ The Amish read inspirational magazines.
98. __ The Amish do not believe in becoming wealthy. That is not the purpose of life.
99. __ The Amish do not hold public, elective office, but some of them vote.
100. __ The largest Amish community in the world is in Holmes County, Ohio. The second largest Amish community in the world is in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
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101. __ Amish men wear beards but not moustaches because they wish to imitate Jesus Christ (who wore a beard) but, since they recognize they are not perfect as Christ was, they do not wear a moustache as Christ did. This is their recognition that they are trying to be like Jesus but do not always live up to this ideal. They also do not wear moustaches because, in Europe in the old days, military men used to wear moustaches and the Amish are pacificists and do not want to be identified with war in any way.
102. __ There are no Amish in Europe today.
103. __ The Amish are called Dutch because this is a corruption of the word Deutsch, which actually means German.
104. __ The Pennsylvania Dutch are comprised of not only the Amish but also of all German groups, including German Lutherans, the Evangelical United Brethren, the Church of the Brethren (German Dunkards), Brethren in Christ, all Mennonites, and the Reformed.
105. __ Although the Amish do not have electricity in their houses, they do use gas lanterns, oil lamps, battery-operated flashlights, and gas-operated refrigerators.
106. __ In the summer, the Amish will often hold their church services inside a large, spacious barn.
107. __ Each Amish congregation (Gemeinde) contains from fifteen to thirty families or about seventy-five baptized members.
108. __ An Amish church district is made up of the houses of the members of a congregation. Church services are held twice a month in the homes of the members on a rotational basis.
109. __ Each Amish church district has one bishop, two or three assisting preachers, and a deacon. When there are too many people in a district, it is divided and a new set of preachers are ordained.
110. __ When it is an Amish family’s turn to host the church service, many preparations are made: stables are thoroughly cleaned, the house is freshly painted, the furniture is moved and cleaned, the stoves are polished, the fences are whitewashed, the meeting benches are hauled by wagon to the farm and, the Saturday before the house-church meeting, a dozen or more women arrive to help the woman of the house make bread, cakes, and pies, and to supply the kitchens with pickles, beets, jams, and coffee for the fellowship meal that follows every service.
111. __ Amish people never miss church services unless they are deathly sick.
112. __ Before an Amish house-church meeting, everyone shakes hands and the ministers greet each other with a holy kiss (I Thessalonians 5:26), which is an ancient Christian custom.
113. __ All the Amish hymns are sung slowly in a special chant. These hymns come from an ancient Amish hymnal called the Ausbund, which is 500 years old.
114. __ On a Sunday morning, two sermons are given in Amish home-church services: a long one by an older minister and a shorter one by a younger minister.
115. __ The Amish read prayers from a prayer book and these prayers are both read aloud and silently.
116. __ After prayer, short testimonies called Zeugnisse are given by all the preachers present. There are at least two or three preachers in every district and some visit from other districts.
117. __ Two Sundays a month, when there are no church services, the Amish either rest at home or visit each other and talk about God and other things.
118. __ Amish children attend the long, four-hour home-church services, even if they are babies.
119. __ Amish sermons are chanted in a special sing-song voice.
120. __ In the fellowship meal that follows the church service, the food is always the same by custom. There is no variety in the meal from month to month.
121. __ Amish bishops, preachers, and deacons are chosen by the congregations (a true democracy) by the lot system and these positions are held for life and they receive no salary.
122. __ The Amish do not meet in church building. All their services are conducted at home or in the barn.
123. __ In Amish communities, it is age, not youth, that is respected.
124. __ The Amish live in extended families. Additional rooms are built onto the house when the house gets crowded. Actually, these look like separate houses that are connected to one another. The grandparents move into the “grossdawdy” (grandfather) house as new children are born into the family.
125. __ Amish houses are usually quite large and partitions in the living room can be removed to accommodate large gatherings, especially for church services and weddings.
126. __ The Amish believe in mutual aid. If a farmer’s barn burns down, the Amish community will immediately come together and build the farmer a new barn.
127. __ If someone gets sick in the Amish community and cannot pay expensive hospital bills, the community itself will collect funds to pay for all the expenses.
128. __ The Amish do not usually have banking accounts and pay for everything by cash.
129. __ The Amish do not make much of a profit by farming. Most of the profit is put back into farming. However, since Amish farming families don’t have the expenses that ordinary Americans have (like cars, electric bills, luxuries, etc.), they are able to save some money.
130. __ Some Amish are dairy farmers and produce milk.
131. __ Many Amish families churn their own butter from their own cow milk.
132. __ The Amish call all non-Amish people “English” whether they are actually English or not.
133. __ The Amish do not decorate their houses with photos or paintings.
134. __ The Amish have decorative things in their house if those items serve a practical purpose, like calendars, colorful dishes and cups, rugs, and family registers on the walls.
135. __ The Amish do not paint geometric or hex signs on their barns for good luck and protection from bad luck. This is a custom of the “gay” (meaning gaily dressed) Deutsch, Americans of German ancestry who are non-Amish.
136. __ Amish young people start thinking about whom they would like to marry when they are around sixteen years old.
137. __ Amish boys don’t usually ask girls directly if they can take the girls home after a Sunday-evening sing. If a boy is interested in a girl, he will ask a friend to act as a go-between. The friend will tell the girl that
a boy likes her. If she accepts the boy’s invitation to ride home with her, this is called “getting propped up.”
138. __ Amish boys and girls also meet each other at husking bees, weddings, apple schmitzins (apple-peeling and cutting parties) and barn socials (called frolics).
139. __ An Amish boy and girl who are going steady will meet each other every week or two on Saturday nights. The boy is permitted to visit the girl’s home, talk with her in the parlor or sitting room without her parents being in the room, (The parents are usually asleep by the time the sun goes down.), but they do not go out on dates as non-Amish young people do.
140. __ Although it is becoming a very rare practice now, bundling is sometimes still practiced. This is an ancient custom where boyfriends and girlfriends lie together on a bed fully dressed and put a blanket over them as they have a talk. This is done in cold weather usually. This “date” is completely innocent and has no sexual connotations at all for the Amish. (This stems in part from their lack of awareness about how babies are made. They often find out shortly before they marry.)
141. __ The Amish do not believe in pre-marital sex, and Amish girls never get pregnant before marriage.
142. __ Amish young people are not automatically members of the Amish church. They are not punished for breaking church regulations concerning clothing or other non-moral matters. However, when they are older (whether in their teens or twenties), they can voluntarily join the church. It is at that point that they will follow the Ordnung (the practices of the church). That is why it is okay for tourists to take pictures of Amish children (since they are not members of the church and have not been baptized yet) but not all right to take pictures of Amish adults.
143. __ Contrary to popular myth, the Amish do not paint their gates blue to announce that a daughter is getting married.
144. __ The Amish do not have engagement or wedding rings.
145. __ At an Amish wedding, the bride and groom wear new clothes, but they are the same type of clothes they wear for normal Sunday church services. There are no wedding gowns or tuxedos.
146. __ Amish brides like wearing blue dresses when they get married.
147. __ The Amish wedding is held in the bride’s family’s house.
148. __ At the wedding table (after the wedding), the bride and groom sit in the corner (die Eck) and are waited on by four people (two boys and two girls). When evening comes and it is time to eat again (the second wedding meal of the day), all the unmarried boys must sit with all the unmarried girls as partners.
149. __ In some Amish communities (especially those in Pennsylvania), the groom is tossed over a fence by his friends after he is married. The new bride steps over a broom.
150. __ The night of the wedding day, the married couple sleep in the house of the bride’s family and they help clean up the house the next day.
151. __ After some Amish weddings, the young people play games in the barn. The barn is swept and cleaned before the wedding day. Lanterns are hung in the barn because the games go on late into the night. The young people do not actually dance as such, but they do tend to hold hands and swing each other around a bit when playing games such as O-Hi-O, Skip to My Lou, The Needle’s Eye, and Six Steps Forward-I Do, I Do.
152. __ One favorite game of Amish young people is “mush ball” (Mosch Balle), sometimes translated as “corner ball” in English. It is like dodge ball but all the boys stand in four corners with one person in the middle who must avoid getting hit by the ball.
153. __ Amish school children play tug of war, jump rope, have foot races, and practice high jumping.
Cont...
101. __ Amish men wear beards but not moustaches because they wish to imitate Jesus Christ (who wore a beard) but, since they recognize they are not perfect as Christ was, they do not wear a moustache as Christ did. This is their recognition that they are trying to be like Jesus but do not always live up to this ideal. They also do not wear moustaches because, in Europe in the old days, military men used to wear moustaches and the Amish are pacificists and do not want to be identified with war in any way.
102. __ There are no Amish in Europe today.
103. __ The Amish are called Dutch because this is a corruption of the word Deutsch, which actually means German.
104. __ The Pennsylvania Dutch are comprised of not only the Amish but also of all German groups, including German Lutherans, the Evangelical United Brethren, the Church of the Brethren (German Dunkards), Brethren in Christ, all Mennonites, and the Reformed.
105. __ Although the Amish do not have electricity in their houses, they do use gas lanterns, oil lamps, battery-operated flashlights, and gas-operated refrigerators.
106. __ In the summer, the Amish will often hold their church services inside a large, spacious barn.
107. __ Each Amish congregation (Gemeinde) contains from fifteen to thirty families or about seventy-five baptized members.
108. __ An Amish church district is made up of the houses of the members of a congregation. Church services are held twice a month in the homes of the members on a rotational basis.
109. __ Each Amish church district has one bishop, two or three assisting preachers, and a deacon. When there are too many people in a district, it is divided and a new set of preachers are ordained.
110. __ When it is an Amish family’s turn to host the church service, many preparations are made: stables are thoroughly cleaned, the house is freshly painted, the furniture is moved and cleaned, the stoves are polished, the fences are whitewashed, the meeting benches are hauled by wagon to the farm and, the Saturday before the house-church meeting, a dozen or more women arrive to help the woman of the house make bread, cakes, and pies, and to supply the kitchens with pickles, beets, jams, and coffee for the fellowship meal that follows every service.
111. __ Amish people never miss church services unless they are deathly sick.
112. __ Before an Amish house-church meeting, everyone shakes hands and the ministers greet each other with a holy kiss (I Thessalonians 5:26), which is an ancient Christian custom.
113. __ All the Amish hymns are sung slowly in a special chant. These hymns come from an ancient Amish hymnal called the Ausbund, which is 500 years old.
114. __ On a Sunday morning, two sermons are given in Amish home-church services: a long one by an older minister and a shorter one by a younger minister.
115. __ The Amish read prayers from a prayer book and these prayers are both read aloud and silently.
116. __ After prayer, short testimonies called Zeugnisse are given by all the preachers present. There are at least two or three preachers in every district and some visit from other districts.
117. __ Two Sundays a month, when there are no church services, the Amish either rest at home or visit each other and talk about God and other things.
118. __ Amish children attend the long, four-hour home-church services, even if they are babies.
119. __ Amish sermons are chanted in a special sing-song voice.
120. __ In the fellowship meal that follows the church service, the food is always the same by custom. There is no variety in the meal from month to month.
121. __ Amish bishops, preachers, and deacons are chosen by the congregations (a true democracy) by the lot system and these positions are held for life and they receive no salary.
122. __ The Amish do not meet in church building. All their services are conducted at home or in the barn.
123. __ In Amish communities, it is age, not youth, that is respected.
124. __ The Amish live in extended families. Additional rooms are built onto the house when the house gets crowded. Actually, these look like separate houses that are connected to one another. The grandparents move into the “grossdawdy” (grandfather) house as new children are born into the family.
125. __ Amish houses are usually quite large and partitions in the living room can be removed to accommodate large gatherings, especially for church services and weddings.
126. __ The Amish believe in mutual aid. If a farmer’s barn burns down, the Amish community will immediately come together and build the farmer a new barn.
127. __ If someone gets sick in the Amish community and cannot pay expensive hospital bills, the community itself will collect funds to pay for all the expenses.
128. __ The Amish do not usually have banking accounts and pay for everything by cash.
129. __ The Amish do not make much of a profit by farming. Most of the profit is put back into farming. However, since Amish farming families don’t have the expenses that ordinary Americans have (like cars, electric bills, luxuries, etc.), they are able to save some money.
130. __ Some Amish are dairy farmers and produce milk.
131. __ Many Amish families churn their own butter from their own cow milk.
132. __ The Amish call all non-Amish people “English” whether they are actually English or not.
133. __ The Amish do not decorate their houses with photos or paintings.
134. __ The Amish have decorative things in their house if those items serve a practical purpose, like calendars, colorful dishes and cups, rugs, and family registers on the walls.
135. __ The Amish do not paint geometric or hex signs on their barns for good luck and protection from bad luck. This is a custom of the “gay” (meaning gaily dressed) Deutsch, Americans of German ancestry who are non-Amish.
136. __ Amish young people start thinking about whom they would like to marry when they are around sixteen years old.
137. __ Amish boys don’t usually ask girls directly if they can take the girls home after a Sunday-evening sing. If a boy is interested in a girl, he will ask a friend to act as a go-between. The friend will tell the girl that
a boy likes her. If she accepts the boy’s invitation to ride home with her, this is called “getting propped up.”
138. __ Amish boys and girls also meet each other at husking bees, weddings, apple schmitzins (apple-peeling and cutting parties) and barn socials (called frolics).
139. __ An Amish boy and girl who are going steady will meet each other every week or two on Saturday nights. The boy is permitted to visit the girl’s home, talk with her in the parlor or sitting room without her parents being in the room, (The parents are usually asleep by the time the sun goes down.), but they do not go out on dates as non-Amish young people do.
140. __ Although it is becoming a very rare practice now, bundling is sometimes still practiced. This is an ancient custom where boyfriends and girlfriends lie together on a bed fully dressed and put a blanket over them as they have a talk. This is done in cold weather usually. This “date” is completely innocent and has no sexual connotations at all for the Amish. (This stems in part from their lack of awareness about how babies are made. They often find out shortly before they marry.)
141. __ The Amish do not believe in pre-marital sex, and Amish girls never get pregnant before marriage.
142. __ Amish young people are not automatically members of the Amish church. They are not punished for breaking church regulations concerning clothing or other non-moral matters. However, when they are older (whether in their teens or twenties), they can voluntarily join the church. It is at that point that they will follow the Ordnung (the practices of the church). That is why it is okay for tourists to take pictures of Amish children (since they are not members of the church and have not been baptized yet) but not all right to take pictures of Amish adults.
143. __ Contrary to popular myth, the Amish do not paint their gates blue to announce that a daughter is getting married.
144. __ The Amish do not have engagement or wedding rings.
145. __ At an Amish wedding, the bride and groom wear new clothes, but they are the same type of clothes they wear for normal Sunday church services. There are no wedding gowns or tuxedos.
146. __ Amish brides like wearing blue dresses when they get married.
147. __ The Amish wedding is held in the bride’s family’s house.
148. __ At the wedding table (after the wedding), the bride and groom sit in the corner (die Eck) and are waited on by four people (two boys and two girls). When evening comes and it is time to eat again (the second wedding meal of the day), all the unmarried boys must sit with all the unmarried girls as partners.
149. __ In some Amish communities (especially those in Pennsylvania), the groom is tossed over a fence by his friends after he is married. The new bride steps over a broom.
150. __ The night of the wedding day, the married couple sleep in the house of the bride’s family and they help clean up the house the next day.
151. __ After some Amish weddings, the young people play games in the barn. The barn is swept and cleaned before the wedding day. Lanterns are hung in the barn because the games go on late into the night. The young people do not actually dance as such, but they do tend to hold hands and swing each other around a bit when playing games such as O-Hi-O, Skip to My Lou, The Needle’s Eye, and Six Steps Forward-I Do, I Do.
152. __ One favorite game of Amish young people is “mush ball” (Mosch Balle), sometimes translated as “corner ball” in English. It is like dodge ball but all the boys stand in four corners with one person in the middle who must avoid getting hit by the ball.
153. __ Amish school children play tug of war, jump rope, have foot races, and practice high jumping.
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154. __ Older Amish children play a game called botching. Two people sit on chairs and clap hands and knees alternately in various ways and quite rapidly. The feet may be used to keep time to the tune of “Darling Nelly Gray” or “Pop Goes the Weasel.”
155. __ Some Amish men may smoke cigars, but tobacco is often discouraged or even forbidden in many church districts.
156. __ The use of alcoholic beverages is frowned upon by all church districts although I have known some Amish to make dandelion wine.
157. __ The Amish are permitted to go to the zoo and to the circus to see the animals.
158. __ The Amish hymnal, the Ausbund, first appeared in 1564 and contains words but no music. The tunes have been handed down for hundreds of years entirely by memory. Many of the hymns were written by the Amish forefathers who were imprisoned at Passau, Bavaria, while awaiting death sentences.
159. __ It sometimes takes twenty or thirty minutes to sing an Amish hymn because the hymn is sung in a kind of slow droning or wailing voice.
160. __ When singing an Amish hymn, there is a song leader called a Vorsanger who intones the first syllable of each line of verse and then the whole congregation joins in singing the line.
161. __ At Amish weddings or young people’s meetings, a smaller hymnal called the Lieder Sammlungen (Collection of Songs) is used. The tunes are faster and are like the American Gospel Hymns of the 1800’s. However the words are in German, not in English. Some of the hymns are easily recognized, such as “Silent Night,” “Beulah Land,” “Sweet Hour of Prayer,” and other Evangelical hymns.
162. __ All Amish men wear beards. They begin growing them when they are baptized or when they are married, whichever comes first.
163. __ Buttons are used on Amish men’s pants, shirts, and underwear and also on children’s dresses, but hooks and eyes are required on all outer garments, such as coats and vests.
164. __ On the two Sundays per month that the Amish attend church services, the men must wear a special black coat with split tails called a Mutze.
165. __ Although Amish girls wear white, organdy caps, if they are unmarried, they will wear a black cap on the Sundays that they go to the church meeting along with a white organdy apron.
166. __ It is hard to tell baby boys from baby girls in an Amish family because even infant boys are dressed in long dresses and have bonnets on their heads. This was the usual dress for baby boys even among regular
Americans in the 1800’s.
167. __ The bustle (a rounded piece of cloth) that is attached to the waist on the back of an Amish woman’s dress is called a Lepple and it is worn as a sign of humility.
168. __ You can tell from the size of a Amish man’s hat brim and from the shape of the hat’s crown what order of Amish the man belongs too. The hats are always black and made of imported Australian rabbit fur by special companies in the United States that cater to the Amish. The hats feel like felt, however. In the summer, Amish men wear specially made straw hats unless they are going to church, in which case they don the black hat as usual. Bishops sometimes wear a black hat with a rounded crown and different curl of the brim.
169. __ Some Amish boys wear hats that look like the stovepipe hats that Abraham Lincoln wore.
170. __ An Amish person does not travel more than ten miles at a time in his horse and buggy.
171. __ A two-seated buggy with a top is strictly for family use.
172. __ A one-seat topless buggy is used by boys who are of courting age.
173. __ Some Amish young people (who have not yet joined the church) will decorate their buggies with feathers, hat racks, compasses, dimmer switches, and signal lights. After they join the church, these decorations must be removed.
174. __ The way Amish parents discipline their children is by “bletching” (spanking).
175. __ The Amish do not swear oaths in court but they do make affirmations of truth. The Amish do not bring lawsuits against others, but some lawyers have forced them to appear in court if they have witnessed a crime.
176. __ The Amish believe in personal nonresistance. They believe in literally turning the other cheek and will not return any violence done to them because they believe God will punish and reward people in the next life. They do not believe in revenge or violence of any kind.
177. __ Although the Amish are a people of peace and harmony, many non-Amish people persecute them by spitting on them, throwing bricks through their windows, throwing stones at their children, deliberately crashing into their buggies with automobiles, burning down their houses and barns, and killing their animals. In all of this, the Amish pray for their enemies so that their enemies may know true love in their hearts.
178. __ The newspaper that all Amish read (no matter where they live) is the Budget, which is published in Sugarcreek, Ohio, by a non-Amish editor. It does contain information about what is happening in Amish communities all over the United States, so that is why the Amish buy it. Many Amish people write letters to groups of friends living in other states and the editor prints these in every issue.
179. __ You cannot get an accurate picture of Amish life by watching the entertaining movies that have been produced about the Amish by Hollywood. The actors who played in the film Witness, starring Harrison Ford, were not Amish. The more recent films starring Tim Allen are even worse.
180. __ The Amish have no ambitions to possess the whole world or to convert it.
181. __ The Amish are industrious, neighborly, thrifty, honest, humble, calm, happy, and kind.
182. __ The Amish have generators on their farms that are operated by diesel fuel. The generators are used to recharge batteries and to operate air and hydraulic pumps.
183. __ The Amish do not have clothes dryers, toasters, blow dryers, microwaves, VCRs, or doorbells in their houses.
184. __ Electric home freezers are forbidden, but the Amish are permitted to purchase gas freezers, rent freezer space at public produce markets and stores, or use deep freezers if they are placed in the basement or garage of a non-Amish neighbor.
185. __ Amish women often use the old-style wringer washing machines if they are powered by modern gasoline engines.
186. __ The Amish can use some modern technology as long as it is not powered by electricity and it does not interfere with family life.
187. __ Amish dairy farmers use refrigerated bulk-milk tanks but these tanks do not use electricity. They are operated by diesel engines instead. The automatic agitators are operated by twelve-volt motors powered by twelve-volt batteries. Note: Twelve-volt batteries stores direct current (DC) whereas 110-volt conveniences (like TV’s, radios, and other appliances) operate on alternating current (AC). The Amish may use DC, but not AC. They may produce electricity with electric generators only if the generators themselves are operated using diesel fuel. Then the generators can be used to power electric tools, power welders, and for recharging batteries. No other appliances may be used with the generator.
188. __ The Amish sometimes transform twelve-volt current into “homemade” 110-volt electricity with a device called an inverter. It is the size of a car battery and can operate cash registers, typewriters, soldering guns, cow clippers, and other small appliances. The church has made no prohibitions on the use of inverters yet, but they may in the future.
189. __ Sometimes the Amish will maintain a public telephone at the end of a lane for emergency use, but they do not want telephones in their houses because they cherish personal visits and the telephone in the house would undermine the fabric of Amish social life.
190. __The Amish do not travel in airplanes. In very rare emergencies, such as funerals, church leaders may give special permission to members for flights. Riding in vans or trains is acceptable but planes are considered too worldy and unnecessary.
191. __ Amish children do not ride bicycles, motorcycles, snowmobiles, or all-terrain vehicles because these would encourage individualism, automatic mobility, self-indulgence, and social status...all worldly attributes that should be shunned.
192. __ There are no electric lines going from a pole into an Amish home. The Amish feel that such lines would connect them to the world and badly influence their children.
193. __ The Amish practice the Christian ordinance of water baptism. The person baptized must know what he or she is doing and have a living faith. Baptism is done by pouring rather than by immersion. Candidates for baptism kneel and water is poured over their heads after they have made a confession of Christian faith and have agreed to comply with the order and discipline of the community.
194. __ The Amish practice foot washing as a part of the Communion Service (the Eucharist) because footwashing was done in Jesus’ day at the Last Supper.
195. __ Church members who voluntarily transgress the regulation (Ordnung) of the church are encouraged to repent and to come back into the fold of the church. If they refuse, then they risk excommunication and shunning by the whole community. However, the church is never mean. It tries to lovingly restore its members to fellowship and is never eager to expel erring members. Members can always be restored if they are willing to repent and ask forgiveness. Shunning is a strong form of love designed to win back the transgressor and to preserve the purity of the church.
196. __ Cooperation rather than competition is fostered in Amish schools.
197. __ What the Amish community holds to as a group is considered to be more important that what individuals hold to.
198. __ Mild and modest personalities are esteemed in Amish communities. Patience, waiting, yielding to others, and a gentle chuckle are the signs of maturity in Amish society.
199. __ The Amish believe that pride, egoism, aggressiveness, assertiveness, competition, boasting, individualism, disobedience, self-fulfillment, personal choice, and the insistence on personal rights all sow discord and endanger the community. Instead, the Amish value cooperation, kindness, humility, modesty, conformity, harmony, obedience, peace, equality, and self-effacement. Non-Amish people try to find themselves, but Amish people try to lose themselves in service to others.
200. __ The Amish shun publicity at all costs.
201. __ Grown children who never joined the Amish church are not shunned if they join another Christian denomination.
202. __ Over one-third of married Amish men work in non-farm jobs such as in small cottage industries, repair work, light manufacturing (Amish owned), mobile carpentry and construction work (homes, silos, kitchens, etc.), and retail stores (hardware, clothing, furniture, crafts, books).
203. __ The Amish do not own restaurants, but some Mennonites do.
204. __ Single Amish women are the only ones who teach in Amish schools.
205. __ Amish school children study basic skills, such as reading, writing, spelling, geography, and practical math. Both Standard German and English are taught. There are religious devotional exercises in the school but religion is not taught in a formal way. That is left to the church and to the parents.
206. __ Amish teenagers who are not yet baptized members of the church often sow their wild oats and break many of the taboos of Amish society (drinking, smoking, owning cars secretly, wearing non-Amish clothes in town, etc.). Although the church frowns on this behavior, it also realizes that this period of freedom gives the youth a chance to either accept or reject the culture of their birthright and offers a moment to explore the outside world, and to rebel before making a conscious decision to make a lifetime commitment to the church. It is their moment of choice. More than 80% decide to stay Amish.
207. __ In the one-room Amish school, one teacher is responsible for eight grades.
208. __ In the Amish school, children partake in singing in both German and in English.
209. __ In the Amish school, arithmetic is usually the first subject of the day to be studied.
210. __ English and spelling are usually introduced in the second period in the Amish school.
211. __ On the first day of school, second graders are given a review of work done in the first grade.
212. __ On the first day of school, the first graders are usually asked to stand in front of the class by age and the teacher sees how much English they already know (which is very little actually). The teacher tries not to speak in Low German when giving the English lesson. She will introduce numbers and the alphabet, the children learning a new letter every day beginning with the vowels and then the consonants.
Cultural note: One Amish lady by the name of Esther Horst wrote a little poem that many Amish children now memorize. The poem is called “English, Please” and goes like this:
English, English, that’s the language
We must speak each day in school,
If instead we speak in German
Then we disobey our rule.
German speech is fine for home-folks,
All the family’s gathered ‘round;
But at school we must speak English
So we meet on common ground.
Using English daily helps us
With our reading, writing skills.
So come on! Let’s all speak English!
We can if we really will.
154. __ Older Amish children play a game called botching. Two people sit on chairs and clap hands and knees alternately in various ways and quite rapidly. The feet may be used to keep time to the tune of “Darling Nelly Gray” or “Pop Goes the Weasel.”
155. __ Some Amish men may smoke cigars, but tobacco is often discouraged or even forbidden in many church districts.
156. __ The use of alcoholic beverages is frowned upon by all church districts although I have known some Amish to make dandelion wine.
157. __ The Amish are permitted to go to the zoo and to the circus to see the animals.
158. __ The Amish hymnal, the Ausbund, first appeared in 1564 and contains words but no music. The tunes have been handed down for hundreds of years entirely by memory. Many of the hymns were written by the Amish forefathers who were imprisoned at Passau, Bavaria, while awaiting death sentences.
159. __ It sometimes takes twenty or thirty minutes to sing an Amish hymn because the hymn is sung in a kind of slow droning or wailing voice.
160. __ When singing an Amish hymn, there is a song leader called a Vorsanger who intones the first syllable of each line of verse and then the whole congregation joins in singing the line.
161. __ At Amish weddings or young people’s meetings, a smaller hymnal called the Lieder Sammlungen (Collection of Songs) is used. The tunes are faster and are like the American Gospel Hymns of the 1800’s. However the words are in German, not in English. Some of the hymns are easily recognized, such as “Silent Night,” “Beulah Land,” “Sweet Hour of Prayer,” and other Evangelical hymns.
162. __ All Amish men wear beards. They begin growing them when they are baptized or when they are married, whichever comes first.
163. __ Buttons are used on Amish men’s pants, shirts, and underwear and also on children’s dresses, but hooks and eyes are required on all outer garments, such as coats and vests.
164. __ On the two Sundays per month that the Amish attend church services, the men must wear a special black coat with split tails called a Mutze.
165. __ Although Amish girls wear white, organdy caps, if they are unmarried, they will wear a black cap on the Sundays that they go to the church meeting along with a white organdy apron.
166. __ It is hard to tell baby boys from baby girls in an Amish family because even infant boys are dressed in long dresses and have bonnets on their heads. This was the usual dress for baby boys even among regular
Americans in the 1800’s.
167. __ The bustle (a rounded piece of cloth) that is attached to the waist on the back of an Amish woman’s dress is called a Lepple and it is worn as a sign of humility.
168. __ You can tell from the size of a Amish man’s hat brim and from the shape of the hat’s crown what order of Amish the man belongs too. The hats are always black and made of imported Australian rabbit fur by special companies in the United States that cater to the Amish. The hats feel like felt, however. In the summer, Amish men wear specially made straw hats unless they are going to church, in which case they don the black hat as usual. Bishops sometimes wear a black hat with a rounded crown and different curl of the brim.
169. __ Some Amish boys wear hats that look like the stovepipe hats that Abraham Lincoln wore.
170. __ An Amish person does not travel more than ten miles at a time in his horse and buggy.
171. __ A two-seated buggy with a top is strictly for family use.
172. __ A one-seat topless buggy is used by boys who are of courting age.
173. __ Some Amish young people (who have not yet joined the church) will decorate their buggies with feathers, hat racks, compasses, dimmer switches, and signal lights. After they join the church, these decorations must be removed.
174. __ The way Amish parents discipline their children is by “bletching” (spanking).
175. __ The Amish do not swear oaths in court but they do make affirmations of truth. The Amish do not bring lawsuits against others, but some lawyers have forced them to appear in court if they have witnessed a crime.
176. __ The Amish believe in personal nonresistance. They believe in literally turning the other cheek and will not return any violence done to them because they believe God will punish and reward people in the next life. They do not believe in revenge or violence of any kind.
177. __ Although the Amish are a people of peace and harmony, many non-Amish people persecute them by spitting on them, throwing bricks through their windows, throwing stones at their children, deliberately crashing into their buggies with automobiles, burning down their houses and barns, and killing their animals. In all of this, the Amish pray for their enemies so that their enemies may know true love in their hearts.
178. __ The newspaper that all Amish read (no matter where they live) is the Budget, which is published in Sugarcreek, Ohio, by a non-Amish editor. It does contain information about what is happening in Amish communities all over the United States, so that is why the Amish buy it. Many Amish people write letters to groups of friends living in other states and the editor prints these in every issue.
179. __ You cannot get an accurate picture of Amish life by watching the entertaining movies that have been produced about the Amish by Hollywood. The actors who played in the film Witness, starring Harrison Ford, were not Amish. The more recent films starring Tim Allen are even worse.
180. __ The Amish have no ambitions to possess the whole world or to convert it.
181. __ The Amish are industrious, neighborly, thrifty, honest, humble, calm, happy, and kind.
182. __ The Amish have generators on their farms that are operated by diesel fuel. The generators are used to recharge batteries and to operate air and hydraulic pumps.
183. __ The Amish do not have clothes dryers, toasters, blow dryers, microwaves, VCRs, or doorbells in their houses.
184. __ Electric home freezers are forbidden, but the Amish are permitted to purchase gas freezers, rent freezer space at public produce markets and stores, or use deep freezers if they are placed in the basement or garage of a non-Amish neighbor.
185. __ Amish women often use the old-style wringer washing machines if they are powered by modern gasoline engines.
186. __ The Amish can use some modern technology as long as it is not powered by electricity and it does not interfere with family life.
187. __ Amish dairy farmers use refrigerated bulk-milk tanks but these tanks do not use electricity. They are operated by diesel engines instead. The automatic agitators are operated by twelve-volt motors powered by twelve-volt batteries. Note: Twelve-volt batteries stores direct current (DC) whereas 110-volt conveniences (like TV’s, radios, and other appliances) operate on alternating current (AC). The Amish may use DC, but not AC. They may produce electricity with electric generators only if the generators themselves are operated using diesel fuel. Then the generators can be used to power electric tools, power welders, and for recharging batteries. No other appliances may be used with the generator.
188. __ The Amish sometimes transform twelve-volt current into “homemade” 110-volt electricity with a device called an inverter. It is the size of a car battery and can operate cash registers, typewriters, soldering guns, cow clippers, and other small appliances. The church has made no prohibitions on the use of inverters yet, but they may in the future.
189. __ Sometimes the Amish will maintain a public telephone at the end of a lane for emergency use, but they do not want telephones in their houses because they cherish personal visits and the telephone in the house would undermine the fabric of Amish social life.
190. __The Amish do not travel in airplanes. In very rare emergencies, such as funerals, church leaders may give special permission to members for flights. Riding in vans or trains is acceptable but planes are considered too worldy and unnecessary.
191. __ Amish children do not ride bicycles, motorcycles, snowmobiles, or all-terrain vehicles because these would encourage individualism, automatic mobility, self-indulgence, and social status...all worldly attributes that should be shunned.
192. __ There are no electric lines going from a pole into an Amish home. The Amish feel that such lines would connect them to the world and badly influence their children.
193. __ The Amish practice the Christian ordinance of water baptism. The person baptized must know what he or she is doing and have a living faith. Baptism is done by pouring rather than by immersion. Candidates for baptism kneel and water is poured over their heads after they have made a confession of Christian faith and have agreed to comply with the order and discipline of the community.
194. __ The Amish practice foot washing as a part of the Communion Service (the Eucharist) because footwashing was done in Jesus’ day at the Last Supper.
195. __ Church members who voluntarily transgress the regulation (Ordnung) of the church are encouraged to repent and to come back into the fold of the church. If they refuse, then they risk excommunication and shunning by the whole community. However, the church is never mean. It tries to lovingly restore its members to fellowship and is never eager to expel erring members. Members can always be restored if they are willing to repent and ask forgiveness. Shunning is a strong form of love designed to win back the transgressor and to preserve the purity of the church.
196. __ Cooperation rather than competition is fostered in Amish schools.
197. __ What the Amish community holds to as a group is considered to be more important that what individuals hold to.
198. __ Mild and modest personalities are esteemed in Amish communities. Patience, waiting, yielding to others, and a gentle chuckle are the signs of maturity in Amish society.
199. __ The Amish believe that pride, egoism, aggressiveness, assertiveness, competition, boasting, individualism, disobedience, self-fulfillment, personal choice, and the insistence on personal rights all sow discord and endanger the community. Instead, the Amish value cooperation, kindness, humility, modesty, conformity, harmony, obedience, peace, equality, and self-effacement. Non-Amish people try to find themselves, but Amish people try to lose themselves in service to others.
200. __ The Amish shun publicity at all costs.
201. __ Grown children who never joined the Amish church are not shunned if they join another Christian denomination.
202. __ Over one-third of married Amish men work in non-farm jobs such as in small cottage industries, repair work, light manufacturing (Amish owned), mobile carpentry and construction work (homes, silos, kitchens, etc.), and retail stores (hardware, clothing, furniture, crafts, books).
203. __ The Amish do not own restaurants, but some Mennonites do.
204. __ Single Amish women are the only ones who teach in Amish schools.
205. __ Amish school children study basic skills, such as reading, writing, spelling, geography, and practical math. Both Standard German and English are taught. There are religious devotional exercises in the school but religion is not taught in a formal way. That is left to the church and to the parents.
206. __ Amish teenagers who are not yet baptized members of the church often sow their wild oats and break many of the taboos of Amish society (drinking, smoking, owning cars secretly, wearing non-Amish clothes in town, etc.). Although the church frowns on this behavior, it also realizes that this period of freedom gives the youth a chance to either accept or reject the culture of their birthright and offers a moment to explore the outside world, and to rebel before making a conscious decision to make a lifetime commitment to the church. It is their moment of choice. More than 80% decide to stay Amish.
207. __ In the one-room Amish school, one teacher is responsible for eight grades.
208. __ In the Amish school, children partake in singing in both German and in English.
209. __ In the Amish school, arithmetic is usually the first subject of the day to be studied.
210. __ English and spelling are usually introduced in the second period in the Amish school.
211. __ On the first day of school, second graders are given a review of work done in the first grade.
212. __ On the first day of school, the first graders are usually asked to stand in front of the class by age and the teacher sees how much English they already know (which is very little actually). The teacher tries not to speak in Low German when giving the English lesson. She will introduce numbers and the alphabet, the children learning a new letter every day beginning with the vowels and then the consonants.
Cultural note: One Amish lady by the name of Esther Horst wrote a little poem that many Amish children now memorize. The poem is called “English, Please” and goes like this:
English, English, that’s the language
We must speak each day in school,
If instead we speak in German
Then we disobey our rule.
German speech is fine for home-folks,
All the family’s gathered ‘round;
But at school we must speak English
So we meet on common ground.
Using English daily helps us
With our reading, writing skills.
So come on! Let’s all speak English!
We can if we really will.
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- Jan 13, 2004
- Messages
- 31,022
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- 9
Cont...
213. __ Only half-day sessions are held during the first week of school in Amish communities.
214. __ During the second week of Amish school, the seventh and eighth graders are dismissed at noon to go home to help with the farm work.
215. __ Amish parents take responsibility for the repair and annual cleaning of the Amish schoolhouse a week or two before school starts each fall.
216. __ Amish parents visit the Amish school once or twice during the school term, coming without prior knowledge of the teacher or children.
217. __ In some Amish schools, the teacher herself will ask one parent to come to the school each week, making the children feel that their parents are concerned enough about school to visit frequently.
218. __ There is a stove in each Amish schoolhouse, and the parents take turns bringing loads of firewood to the school and placing it on the porch. Wood is burned in the stove, but coal is used in the coldest months.
219. __ In the summertime when school is out, the parents take turns each week mowing the grass in the schoolyard with a reel-type mower pulled by a horse or pony.
220. __ In an Amish school, one parent is appointed to be caretaker, and the teacher reports to him any repair work that needs to be done to the building.
221. __ Amish parents volunteer to open their homes sometime during the school term to have a School Singing. All the parents and students attend this. They begin at 7:00 in the evening, boys sitting on one side of a long table and girls sitting on the other side.
222. __ When there is a School Singing at the home of one of the host parents, the children take turns announcing and leading the German and English songs that are to be sung. Singing lasts an hour and a half. When everyone gets restless, refreshments are served: cookies, popcorn, pretzels, and lemonade or iced tea.
223. __ Sometimes, Amish mothers and grandmothers will bring a hot meal to school for all the children. This is usually a wonderful surprise for the children.
224. __ Amish children enjoy hiking.
225. __ In the wintertime, Amish children sometimes bring potatoes wrapped in aluminum foil to roast on the ledge inside the top furnace door of the school stove. Other children bring leftovers from their evening meal and heat this on the stove for lunch, including pie in pie pans.
226. __ In the wintertime, a kettle of water is usually placed on the school stove to provide some moisture in the air.
227. __ In an Amish school, the day’s date is always written on the chalkboard. There is a calendar on the wall, and yesterday’s date is always shaded using a red marker and tomorrow’s date is circled using the red marker.
228. __ The Amish teacher always writes the homework on the board for each grade after the date is written on the chalkboard.
229. __ Sometimes in the Amish school, older Amish children help the teacher by checking the younger children’s work or answering their questions.
230. __ In an Amish school, the day begins at 8:30 a.m. with the teacher ringing the bell above the schoolhouse and the children coming in and taking their seats.
231. __ After the children are seated at their desks with their hands folded on top of their desks, the Amish teacher will lead the children in prayer. Everyone rises, bows their heads, and repeats the Lord’s Prayer in unison.
232. __ After the prayer in an Amish school, the children walk to the front of the class and sing a few songs in German and in English.
233. __ After prayer and singing, Amish school children take their seats, and arithmetic class begins.
234. __ Grades five to eight will exchange their arithmetic papers and check them before handing them in. Grades three and four hand their papers to an older child or the teacher for checking. Then grades three to eight start on the next lesson by doing the assignment posted on the chalkboard. Second grade studies their reading lesson while first grade goes to the front of the room for their oral reading.
235. __ Amish children often write in special workbooks at their seat.
236. __ In the Amish school, recess takes place at 10:00 a.m. The children play, go to the toilet, get drinks of water, and sharpen their pencils during recess.
237. __ In the Amish school at recess, the children play all kinds of games. “Bear” is a favorite game among the girls. One of them is the bear and tries to catch the others.
238. __ The 10:00 recess at the Amish school lasts for fifteen minutes.
239. __ After morning recess, the children go back into the school building and take their seats. The teacher then rings a desk bell for order.
240. __ From morning recess to lunch time, the children usually work on reading.
241. __ In the Amish school, lunch time is 11:30 a.m.
242. __ In preparation for lunch in the Amish schoolhouse, the children are dismissed by rows to wash their hands, to get their lunch boxes, and return to their seats where they will all say a prayer in unison.
243. __ Lunch lasts for ten minutes. Some children can finish in three minutes and are permitted to go outside and play for the remaining seven minutes.
244. __ After lunch, Amish school children take turns wiping the desks and sweeping up the crumbs from the floor.
245. __ After lunch in the Amish school and after everything has been cleaned, storytime takes place and this lasts for fifteen minutes.
246. __ If the Amish school children have wasted time, it is usually the storytime period that is reduced so that the real lessons don’t have to be reduced.
247. __ In the afternoon at an Amish school, the children study either geography, history or health. They copy questions from the chalkboard into their composition books, look for the answers in their textbooks, and write out the answers and study them so that they can answer by memory in class. (Does this sound like the lessons given in the schoolhouse on the TV program Little House on the Prairie? You bet!)
248. __ In the wintertime at the Amish school house, tables are set up during recess and board games are played, like Checkers, Score Four, Sorry, and Uno. Other children like to play with the dart board. There are different dart games, like “Round the Clock” and “Stinger.”
249. __ Amish children love playing a game called “Jack in the Box.” Three milk cartons of different sizes have their tops cut off, and then the cartons are placed side by side. The children line up three feet from the cartons and toss a rubber ball. If the ball lands in the large carton, the child gets 15 points. If the ball lands in the middle-size carton, the child gets 30 points. If the ball lands in the small carton, the child gets 50 points. Each player gets only one try on a turn, then goes to the end of the line to await another turn. The first player to score 250 points is the winner.
250. __ The Amish schools get their textbooks from Amish printers in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The printers bought the rights to the printing plates of older American textbooks and have built up an entire eighth-grade curriculum. The Amish now own the rights to Stayer-Upton three-book series of Practical Arithmetic, the Ginn Series of Learning to Spell, the Scott-Foresman Basic Readers for grades one through four, the Silver-Burdett Geography series, the Laidlaw Brothers History series, and the Dick and Jane series.
251. __ The Old Order Amish have their own publishing house, called Pathway Publishers. It is located in Aylmer, Ontario, however.
252. __ An Amish schoolhouse has a copy of the World Book Encyclopedia for reference. Some offensive photos in the encyclopedia are covered over with a black, felt-tip marker.
253. __ Amish children read books that are morally wholesome, like Heidi by Johanna Spyri, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, and others.
Cont...
213. __ Only half-day sessions are held during the first week of school in Amish communities.
214. __ During the second week of Amish school, the seventh and eighth graders are dismissed at noon to go home to help with the farm work.
215. __ Amish parents take responsibility for the repair and annual cleaning of the Amish schoolhouse a week or two before school starts each fall.
216. __ Amish parents visit the Amish school once or twice during the school term, coming without prior knowledge of the teacher or children.
217. __ In some Amish schools, the teacher herself will ask one parent to come to the school each week, making the children feel that their parents are concerned enough about school to visit frequently.
218. __ There is a stove in each Amish schoolhouse, and the parents take turns bringing loads of firewood to the school and placing it on the porch. Wood is burned in the stove, but coal is used in the coldest months.
219. __ In the summertime when school is out, the parents take turns each week mowing the grass in the schoolyard with a reel-type mower pulled by a horse or pony.
220. __ In an Amish school, one parent is appointed to be caretaker, and the teacher reports to him any repair work that needs to be done to the building.
221. __ Amish parents volunteer to open their homes sometime during the school term to have a School Singing. All the parents and students attend this. They begin at 7:00 in the evening, boys sitting on one side of a long table and girls sitting on the other side.
222. __ When there is a School Singing at the home of one of the host parents, the children take turns announcing and leading the German and English songs that are to be sung. Singing lasts an hour and a half. When everyone gets restless, refreshments are served: cookies, popcorn, pretzels, and lemonade or iced tea.
223. __ Sometimes, Amish mothers and grandmothers will bring a hot meal to school for all the children. This is usually a wonderful surprise for the children.
224. __ Amish children enjoy hiking.
225. __ In the wintertime, Amish children sometimes bring potatoes wrapped in aluminum foil to roast on the ledge inside the top furnace door of the school stove. Other children bring leftovers from their evening meal and heat this on the stove for lunch, including pie in pie pans.
226. __ In the wintertime, a kettle of water is usually placed on the school stove to provide some moisture in the air.
227. __ In an Amish school, the day’s date is always written on the chalkboard. There is a calendar on the wall, and yesterday’s date is always shaded using a red marker and tomorrow’s date is circled using the red marker.
228. __ The Amish teacher always writes the homework on the board for each grade after the date is written on the chalkboard.
229. __ Sometimes in the Amish school, older Amish children help the teacher by checking the younger children’s work or answering their questions.
230. __ In an Amish school, the day begins at 8:30 a.m. with the teacher ringing the bell above the schoolhouse and the children coming in and taking their seats.
231. __ After the children are seated at their desks with their hands folded on top of their desks, the Amish teacher will lead the children in prayer. Everyone rises, bows their heads, and repeats the Lord’s Prayer in unison.
232. __ After the prayer in an Amish school, the children walk to the front of the class and sing a few songs in German and in English.
233. __ After prayer and singing, Amish school children take their seats, and arithmetic class begins.
234. __ Grades five to eight will exchange their arithmetic papers and check them before handing them in. Grades three and four hand their papers to an older child or the teacher for checking. Then grades three to eight start on the next lesson by doing the assignment posted on the chalkboard. Second grade studies their reading lesson while first grade goes to the front of the room for their oral reading.
235. __ Amish children often write in special workbooks at their seat.
236. __ In the Amish school, recess takes place at 10:00 a.m. The children play, go to the toilet, get drinks of water, and sharpen their pencils during recess.
237. __ In the Amish school at recess, the children play all kinds of games. “Bear” is a favorite game among the girls. One of them is the bear and tries to catch the others.
238. __ The 10:00 recess at the Amish school lasts for fifteen minutes.
239. __ After morning recess, the children go back into the school building and take their seats. The teacher then rings a desk bell for order.
240. __ From morning recess to lunch time, the children usually work on reading.
241. __ In the Amish school, lunch time is 11:30 a.m.
242. __ In preparation for lunch in the Amish schoolhouse, the children are dismissed by rows to wash their hands, to get their lunch boxes, and return to their seats where they will all say a prayer in unison.
243. __ Lunch lasts for ten minutes. Some children can finish in three minutes and are permitted to go outside and play for the remaining seven minutes.
244. __ After lunch, Amish school children take turns wiping the desks and sweeping up the crumbs from the floor.
245. __ After lunch in the Amish school and after everything has been cleaned, storytime takes place and this lasts for fifteen minutes.
246. __ If the Amish school children have wasted time, it is usually the storytime period that is reduced so that the real lessons don’t have to be reduced.
247. __ In the afternoon at an Amish school, the children study either geography, history or health. They copy questions from the chalkboard into their composition books, look for the answers in their textbooks, and write out the answers and study them so that they can answer by memory in class. (Does this sound like the lessons given in the schoolhouse on the TV program Little House on the Prairie? You bet!)
248. __ In the wintertime at the Amish school house, tables are set up during recess and board games are played, like Checkers, Score Four, Sorry, and Uno. Other children like to play with the dart board. There are different dart games, like “Round the Clock” and “Stinger.”
249. __ Amish children love playing a game called “Jack in the Box.” Three milk cartons of different sizes have their tops cut off, and then the cartons are placed side by side. The children line up three feet from the cartons and toss a rubber ball. If the ball lands in the large carton, the child gets 15 points. If the ball lands in the middle-size carton, the child gets 30 points. If the ball lands in the small carton, the child gets 50 points. Each player gets only one try on a turn, then goes to the end of the line to await another turn. The first player to score 250 points is the winner.
250. __ The Amish schools get their textbooks from Amish printers in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The printers bought the rights to the printing plates of older American textbooks and have built up an entire eighth-grade curriculum. The Amish now own the rights to Stayer-Upton three-book series of Practical Arithmetic, the Ginn Series of Learning to Spell, the Scott-Foresman Basic Readers for grades one through four, the Silver-Burdett Geography series, the Laidlaw Brothers History series, and the Dick and Jane series.
251. __ The Old Order Amish have their own publishing house, called Pathway Publishers. It is located in Aylmer, Ontario, however.
252. __ An Amish schoolhouse has a copy of the World Book Encyclopedia for reference. Some offensive photos in the encyclopedia are covered over with a black, felt-tip marker.
253. __ Amish children read books that are morally wholesome, like Heidi by Johanna Spyri, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, and others.
Cont...
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- Jan 13, 2004
- Messages
- 31,022
- Reaction score
- 9
cont....
254. __ Amish children do not read fairytales or mythical fiction (like the Narnia by C.S. Lewis).
255. __ The Amish publish a monthly magazine called Blackboard Bulletin for their school teachers. It gives tips on teaching and how to handle teaching difficulties and discipline problems.
256. __ Amish schools are supervised by a school board consisting of between three to five Amish men. Board meetings take place once a month and are attended by board members and teachers. On these days, school is dismissed an hour early and the meeting is held in the schoolhouse. Often the children will sing a few songs for the board members before they go home. Sometimes a meeting is held at the house of one of the board members.
257. __ An Amish school teacher’s salary is determined by each district separately.
258. __ School taxes are collected from all Amish school parents and church members. The money goes to pay for state property taxes. The Amish pay taxes not only for the public schools, which they do not use, but also for their own schools.
259. __ Amish schools do not charge tuition. Costs are funded by free-will donations given by the Amish community.
260. __ The Amish teacher (most always a female but, in some instances, a married male) informs the school board (made up of three to five Amish men) once a month what supplies she needs.
261. __ Most Amish schools hire teachers of their own faith. However, some school board have hired Old Order Mennonites as teachers.
262. __ In Kansas, where the Amish attend public, rural, one-room schools, non-Amish teachers are hired by the state, but these teachers must be sympathetic to the Amish way of life.
263. __ Amish school-teacher salaries do not match that of the public school system, so teachers teach in Amish schools as a labor of love and dedication with much personal sacrifice.
264. __ Amish school teachers usually meet together five times a year (depending on the state really) where they share teaching tips. These meetings always begin with singing and prayer. The older, more experienced
teachers always help younger teachers.These meetings usually last five and a half hours, including supper.
265. __ Amish schools take very few holidays, preferring rather to fill their quota of required school days and then take an extended summer vacation when work needs to be done on farms.
266. __ Amish schools have Christmas programs, but these do not involve Santa Claus in any way.
267. __ Amish schools have gift exchanges at Christmas time.
268. __ Some Old Order Amish schools celebrate the end of the school year with a picnic. Parents bring potluck food, visit, and watch the children play softball and volleyball.
269. __ The Amish have special schools for mentally handicapped children.
270. __ When an Amish person rides in a buggy, he or she puts a blanket over their laps to prevent horsehairs and mud from getting on their clothes.
271. __ To keep warm in the winter while riding in buggies, the Amish pile on extra-heavy blankets, wear heavier clothing, and heat the carriage with either special, propane-burning heaters (mounted on the dash), hot bricks wrapped in blankets, plastic jugs filled with hot water, and lanterns.
272. __ Amish buggies that have open tops are equipped with a large black umbrella, usually stored under the front seat, that is used when it rains.
273. __ Older-style Amish buggies have tops with roll-down curtains supplemented by a canvas apron that snaps to the buggy box and side posts.
274. __ The Amish make their own buggies. There are many shops (usually owned and operated by the Amish) that make buggy parts. One shop cannot make a whole buggy by itself, however.
275. __ There may be as many as eight coats of paint on the woodwork of an Amish buggy.
276. __ Very few Amish raise or train their own horses.
277. __ Most Amish people buy harness horses at racetracks or at auctions. They prefer Standard Bred horses of a bay color. Sometimes they will buy an American Saddle Horse or Saddle Bred, which are smaller. Occasionally, a few Morgans and crossbreed may be bought.
278. __ There are four types of horse-drawn buggies that are driven by the Amish. The shapes and color of the buggies will tell you where that particular Amish person is from: In Pennsylvania, the buggies have straight sides and two seats with entrance ways to the front seat only. The tops of the buggies can be black, gray, white, or several shades of yellow. In Ohio, the buggies have angled-in sides, one seat, and the tops are always black. In Indiana, the buggy top is built around the base of the seat backrest. It has one seat and the tops are always black. Swiss-style buggies have no tops at all in communities where tops are not allowed. The buggy bodies are always black.
279. __ Within the four basic styles of buggies, there are many sub-styles, depending on what each Amish district allows or forbids. Details that vary include windows, dashboards, roll-up side and back curtains, sliding doors, hinged doors, battery-operated lights, kerosene or gas lanterns, storm fronts (windshields), sun visors, running gear, steel tires, and rubber tires
280. __ There are many different kinds of Amish and each group has different rules they follow. Some of these groups include the King Amish, the Smucker Amish, the Zook Amish, the Amish Mennonite, the Mifflin Amish, the Byler Amish, the Nebraska Amish, the Beachy Amish, the Renno Amish, the Speicher Amish, the Weaver Amish, the Swartzentruber Amish, the Yoder Amish, and the Troyer Amish.
281. __ The Nebraska Amish (named for a bishop from Nebraska who helped them organize in 1881), who live in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, in three distinct groups, are the most conservative of all the Amish. The men wear brown trousers and white shirts, and their carriages have brown bodies and white tops.
282. __ The Byler Amish in central Pennsylvania have bright yellow tops on their buggies.
283. __ The Renno Amish and the Byler Amish of central Pennsylvania have the unusual practice of wearing only one suspender to hold up their pants.
284. __ The Amish who live in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, ride in carriages that have dark yellow-brown tops.
285. __ Amish in Ohio can also own Indiana-style buggies if they immigrated to Ohio from Indiana (for example, in Hicksville and Belle Center, Ohio).
286. __ The Amish who live in Missouri, Iowa, and Wisconsin own Ohio-style buggies.
287. __ The Amish in Dover, Delaware, own buggies that are rounded on the sides and a walk-in back door.
288. __ Although most Old Order Amish came to America in the 1700’s, a second wave of immigrants came here in the 1800’s. These immigrants soon lost their Amish identity but some remained in the Old Order. Because they speak a dialect related to that of Berne, Switzerland, instead of the German
Palatinate dialect of most Old Order Amish, they are known as Swiss Amish. They were isolated from other Amish groups for about 100 years, so their customs are somewhat different from other Old Order groups.
289. __ The “Swiss” Amish use only open buggies, those with no tops. They live in Indiana in four groups.
290. __ All the attendants at an Amish wedding are of equal importance. There is no best man or maid of honor.
291. __ Among the Amish, it is not unusual for a person to attend two or three weddings in the same day since the festivities last all day and evening.
292. __ When an Amish bride and groom walk in procession along with four attendants through the narrow aisles of the packed living room, the congregation sings the third verse of the “Lob Lied” (Praise Song), which is the second song at most Amish church services).
293. __ In Pennsylvania, the wedding ceremony opens with the singing of a famous German hymn called “So will ichs aber heben an, Singen in Gottes Ehr.” This is followed by the “Lob Lied.” Then when the three men and three women (bride and her two attendants and the groom with his two attendants) sit down on six cane chairs facing each other, the sixth and seventh verses of “So will ichs” be sung. The ministers enter on the seventh verse.
294. __ When the Amish pray, they kneel facing the benches on which they are sitting.
295. __ The promises (vows) at an Amish wedding are the same for the man and for the woman. The vow, as the bishop presents it, goes this way: “Can you confess, brother, that you accept this our sister as your wife, and that you will not leave her until death separates you? And do you believe that this is from the Lord and that you have come thus far by your faith and prayers?” The man says yes to this. Of course, none of this is said in English.
296. __ After the man and woman say yes to the bishop’s questions at the wedding, the bishop addresses both the man and woman with these words separately: “Because you have confessed, sister, that you want to take this our brother for your husband, do you promise to be loyal to him and care for him if he may have any adversity, affliction, sickness, weakness, or faintheartedness--which many infirmities that are among poor mankind--as is appropriate for a Christian, God-fearing wife?” The woman says yes to this.
297. __ The bishop says finally at the wedding: “And he takes the hand of the daughter and puts it in the hand of Tobias.” (a reference to a marriage in the Apocryphal book of Tobit) “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob be with you together and give His rich blessing upon you and be merciful to you. To this I wish you the blessing of God for a good beginning and a steadfast middle time, and may you hold out until a blessed end, this all in and through Jesus Christ. Amen.” At the name of Christ, the bishop, groom, and bride kneels. The bishops says, “Go forth in the name of the Lord. You are now man and wife.” The bride and groom sit down on chairs..and the testimony service then begins, involving different men in the congregation saying things in agreement with the two sermons that were given just prior to the wedding ceremony.
298. __ Among the Amish, a “roast” is chicken mixed with bread filling.
299. __ Creamed celery is a traditional wedding dish.
300. __ At a typical Amish wedding meal, it is not uncommon for all the
people to eat ten gallons of mashed potatoes, twenty quarts of cole slaw, thirty cherry pies, four hundred doughnuts, fifty quarts of apple sauce, ten quarts of gravy, and loads of fruit salad, tapioca pudding, bread, butter, jelly, coffee, chicken, and creamed celery.
Cont...
254. __ Amish children do not read fairytales or mythical fiction (like the Narnia by C.S. Lewis).
255. __ The Amish publish a monthly magazine called Blackboard Bulletin for their school teachers. It gives tips on teaching and how to handle teaching difficulties and discipline problems.
256. __ Amish schools are supervised by a school board consisting of between three to five Amish men. Board meetings take place once a month and are attended by board members and teachers. On these days, school is dismissed an hour early and the meeting is held in the schoolhouse. Often the children will sing a few songs for the board members before they go home. Sometimes a meeting is held at the house of one of the board members.
257. __ An Amish school teacher’s salary is determined by each district separately.
258. __ School taxes are collected from all Amish school parents and church members. The money goes to pay for state property taxes. The Amish pay taxes not only for the public schools, which they do not use, but also for their own schools.
259. __ Amish schools do not charge tuition. Costs are funded by free-will donations given by the Amish community.
260. __ The Amish teacher (most always a female but, in some instances, a married male) informs the school board (made up of three to five Amish men) once a month what supplies she needs.
261. __ Most Amish schools hire teachers of their own faith. However, some school board have hired Old Order Mennonites as teachers.
262. __ In Kansas, where the Amish attend public, rural, one-room schools, non-Amish teachers are hired by the state, but these teachers must be sympathetic to the Amish way of life.
263. __ Amish school-teacher salaries do not match that of the public school system, so teachers teach in Amish schools as a labor of love and dedication with much personal sacrifice.
264. __ Amish school teachers usually meet together five times a year (depending on the state really) where they share teaching tips. These meetings always begin with singing and prayer. The older, more experienced
teachers always help younger teachers.These meetings usually last five and a half hours, including supper.
265. __ Amish schools take very few holidays, preferring rather to fill their quota of required school days and then take an extended summer vacation when work needs to be done on farms.
266. __ Amish schools have Christmas programs, but these do not involve Santa Claus in any way.
267. __ Amish schools have gift exchanges at Christmas time.
268. __ Some Old Order Amish schools celebrate the end of the school year with a picnic. Parents bring potluck food, visit, and watch the children play softball and volleyball.
269. __ The Amish have special schools for mentally handicapped children.
270. __ When an Amish person rides in a buggy, he or she puts a blanket over their laps to prevent horsehairs and mud from getting on their clothes.
271. __ To keep warm in the winter while riding in buggies, the Amish pile on extra-heavy blankets, wear heavier clothing, and heat the carriage with either special, propane-burning heaters (mounted on the dash), hot bricks wrapped in blankets, plastic jugs filled with hot water, and lanterns.
272. __ Amish buggies that have open tops are equipped with a large black umbrella, usually stored under the front seat, that is used when it rains.
273. __ Older-style Amish buggies have tops with roll-down curtains supplemented by a canvas apron that snaps to the buggy box and side posts.
274. __ The Amish make their own buggies. There are many shops (usually owned and operated by the Amish) that make buggy parts. One shop cannot make a whole buggy by itself, however.
275. __ There may be as many as eight coats of paint on the woodwork of an Amish buggy.
276. __ Very few Amish raise or train their own horses.
277. __ Most Amish people buy harness horses at racetracks or at auctions. They prefer Standard Bred horses of a bay color. Sometimes they will buy an American Saddle Horse or Saddle Bred, which are smaller. Occasionally, a few Morgans and crossbreed may be bought.
278. __ There are four types of horse-drawn buggies that are driven by the Amish. The shapes and color of the buggies will tell you where that particular Amish person is from: In Pennsylvania, the buggies have straight sides and two seats with entrance ways to the front seat only. The tops of the buggies can be black, gray, white, or several shades of yellow. In Ohio, the buggies have angled-in sides, one seat, and the tops are always black. In Indiana, the buggy top is built around the base of the seat backrest. It has one seat and the tops are always black. Swiss-style buggies have no tops at all in communities where tops are not allowed. The buggy bodies are always black.
279. __ Within the four basic styles of buggies, there are many sub-styles, depending on what each Amish district allows or forbids. Details that vary include windows, dashboards, roll-up side and back curtains, sliding doors, hinged doors, battery-operated lights, kerosene or gas lanterns, storm fronts (windshields), sun visors, running gear, steel tires, and rubber tires
280. __ There are many different kinds of Amish and each group has different rules they follow. Some of these groups include the King Amish, the Smucker Amish, the Zook Amish, the Amish Mennonite, the Mifflin Amish, the Byler Amish, the Nebraska Amish, the Beachy Amish, the Renno Amish, the Speicher Amish, the Weaver Amish, the Swartzentruber Amish, the Yoder Amish, and the Troyer Amish.
281. __ The Nebraska Amish (named for a bishop from Nebraska who helped them organize in 1881), who live in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, in three distinct groups, are the most conservative of all the Amish. The men wear brown trousers and white shirts, and their carriages have brown bodies and white tops.
282. __ The Byler Amish in central Pennsylvania have bright yellow tops on their buggies.
283. __ The Renno Amish and the Byler Amish of central Pennsylvania have the unusual practice of wearing only one suspender to hold up their pants.
284. __ The Amish who live in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, ride in carriages that have dark yellow-brown tops.
285. __ Amish in Ohio can also own Indiana-style buggies if they immigrated to Ohio from Indiana (for example, in Hicksville and Belle Center, Ohio).
286. __ The Amish who live in Missouri, Iowa, and Wisconsin own Ohio-style buggies.
287. __ The Amish in Dover, Delaware, own buggies that are rounded on the sides and a walk-in back door.
288. __ Although most Old Order Amish came to America in the 1700’s, a second wave of immigrants came here in the 1800’s. These immigrants soon lost their Amish identity but some remained in the Old Order. Because they speak a dialect related to that of Berne, Switzerland, instead of the German
Palatinate dialect of most Old Order Amish, they are known as Swiss Amish. They were isolated from other Amish groups for about 100 years, so their customs are somewhat different from other Old Order groups.
289. __ The “Swiss” Amish use only open buggies, those with no tops. They live in Indiana in four groups.
290. __ All the attendants at an Amish wedding are of equal importance. There is no best man or maid of honor.
291. __ Among the Amish, it is not unusual for a person to attend two or three weddings in the same day since the festivities last all day and evening.
292. __ When an Amish bride and groom walk in procession along with four attendants through the narrow aisles of the packed living room, the congregation sings the third verse of the “Lob Lied” (Praise Song), which is the second song at most Amish church services).
293. __ In Pennsylvania, the wedding ceremony opens with the singing of a famous German hymn called “So will ichs aber heben an, Singen in Gottes Ehr.” This is followed by the “Lob Lied.” Then when the three men and three women (bride and her two attendants and the groom with his two attendants) sit down on six cane chairs facing each other, the sixth and seventh verses of “So will ichs” be sung. The ministers enter on the seventh verse.
294. __ When the Amish pray, they kneel facing the benches on which they are sitting.
295. __ The promises (vows) at an Amish wedding are the same for the man and for the woman. The vow, as the bishop presents it, goes this way: “Can you confess, brother, that you accept this our sister as your wife, and that you will not leave her until death separates you? And do you believe that this is from the Lord and that you have come thus far by your faith and prayers?” The man says yes to this. Of course, none of this is said in English.
296. __ After the man and woman say yes to the bishop’s questions at the wedding, the bishop addresses both the man and woman with these words separately: “Because you have confessed, sister, that you want to take this our brother for your husband, do you promise to be loyal to him and care for him if he may have any adversity, affliction, sickness, weakness, or faintheartedness--which many infirmities that are among poor mankind--as is appropriate for a Christian, God-fearing wife?” The woman says yes to this.
297. __ The bishop says finally at the wedding: “And he takes the hand of the daughter and puts it in the hand of Tobias.” (a reference to a marriage in the Apocryphal book of Tobit) “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob be with you together and give His rich blessing upon you and be merciful to you. To this I wish you the blessing of God for a good beginning and a steadfast middle time, and may you hold out until a blessed end, this all in and through Jesus Christ. Amen.” At the name of Christ, the bishop, groom, and bride kneels. The bishops says, “Go forth in the name of the Lord. You are now man and wife.” The bride and groom sit down on chairs..and the testimony service then begins, involving different men in the congregation saying things in agreement with the two sermons that were given just prior to the wedding ceremony.
298. __ Among the Amish, a “roast” is chicken mixed with bread filling.
299. __ Creamed celery is a traditional wedding dish.
300. __ At a typical Amish wedding meal, it is not uncommon for all the
people to eat ten gallons of mashed potatoes, twenty quarts of cole slaw, thirty cherry pies, four hundred doughnuts, fifty quarts of apple sauce, ten quarts of gravy, and loads of fruit salad, tapioca pudding, bread, butter, jelly, coffee, chicken, and creamed celery.
Cont...