Amish America

Book Review: Tom Shachtman's Rumspringa

I winced when I saw the cover.  I was sure this book would be another lightweight voyeuristic Hollywood look at the Amish.

Yet Shachtman seems to reserve judgment and present the Amish even-handedly throughout Rumspringa:  To be or not to be Amish.  He seems to have a heart for the kids involved, presenting their tales with compassion and respect.         

At the same time, like a good documentarian, he largely avoids outright condemnation of the 'other side'.  Shachtman calls a spade a spade and gives the Amish culture its due, as when he points out the miniscule rates of divorce, unemployment, and substance abuse among Amish adults.

 

Thoughtful analysis

Rumspringa: To be or not to be Amish is not just an 'Amish in the City'-like  freakshow peek into these kids' lives;  Shachtman attempts to analyze the myriad issues at work in the mind of an adolescent during Rumspringa by examining the cultural aspects of the Amish.

He shows how things like shunning, the reverence held for farming as a traditional occupation, formal education (or rather, lack of it), faith issues and a number of other subjects all play into the typical Amish youth's decision whether or not to join the church.

The voices of the kids and the concerned adults stand out above all...they could belong to any suburbanite mother-father-teen combination, as you listen to them voicing their concerns, moms worrying who their kids are running around with, teens trying to act 'cool' and fit in with peers.

I was pleasantly surprised by the work, and would recommend it for anyone who is interested in learning more about the background of the Amish as well.  Shachtman seems to have gotten his facts right, relying alot on scholarly sources as well as his own observations and interviews--you can tell he's done his homework.

 

In examining a touchy subject for the Amish, Shachtman chooses analysis over exposition, and readers gain as a result.  A lot deeper than what it's shock-value cover intimates, it's a book worth checking out.  And it is a page-turner--I knocked it out in three days.

Amish dating, Amish smoking: 'Old' and 'New' perspectives

'The typical English guy looks at one of us and just sees an Amish person.  Actually there can be a lot of difference.'

So said a Holmes County Amishman, commenting on the diversity in his area.

Compared to the Old Order Amish, the so-called New Order is a curious mix--one which we might term technologically more liberal, but in some ways culturally more conservative. 

The New Order, which formed in 1966, is similar in dress and transportation to the Old Order, wearing plain clothing and using the horse-and-buggy.

Many New Orders allow phones and even electricity in the home.  They also use tractors in the fields.  Typical Old Orders own tractors but park them by the barn and use the horsepower to fill the silo at harvest time. 


The New Order is adamantly against two practices seen among the Old Order:  bundling and tobacco.

Bundling is an Old World practice of bed courtship.  The dating pair lie fully clothed on the bed together.  Some might call that a recipe for temptation. 

This interesting wiki gives more detail, including some clever uses of a device known as the 'bundling board'. 

Tobacco use is seen in Lancaster County, where it has a long tradition as a cash crop, and in other settlements as well. 

Being anti-smoking is not necessarily being more conservative.  As John Hostetler points out in Amish Society, in some communities, quitting smoking may be taken as identifying with more liberal Mennonite groups.

Hostetler also points out that cigars and pipes are traditionally more acceptable than 'worldly' cigarettes.


Donald Kraybill explains the differences between these and other groups in The Amish Struggle with Modernity.

States where New Order settlements can be found include Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Montana.

31 Flavors of Amish

Most Amish look alike to the man on the street. In reality the group is surprisingly diverse. Though tied by a set of core beliefs, the Amish have no national governing body, no pope nor patriarch. The individual congregation, guided by its bishop, decides its own rules and customs. This decentralized approach, along with a widely varying tolerance for progressive ideas, creates many different ‘flavors’ of Amish. Within the 1200-plus congregations in North America you will find:

• Amish that use cell phones and electricity, and Amish that forbid indoor plumbing, toilets, and hot water in the home.

• Amish that practice 'bundling'--fully-clothed bed courtship--and those that forbid it.

• Amish 'ballers'.  Basketball is a popular sport, as is softball.  One Indiana Amishman built an indoor gym onto the side of his shop.

• Amish that smoke cigarettes and cigars.  The majority don't use tobacco, and the practice is generally on the decline.

• Amish that vote.  Most avoid politics, but up to 10% do participate in elections, usually local.  George Bush felt they could potentially tip Ohio and Pennsylvania to his side in 2004, prompting some unusual meetings with Amish church members.

• Amish sports fans.  Members in one equidistant central Illinois community split between the Bears and the Rams.

• All Amish use buggies--except for those that don't. The 'Beachy Amish', a group that splintered off in the 1920's, have accepted cars and other modern innovations.  For this reason they are often considered closer to the more moderate Mennonite groups.

• Buggy paint jobs differ--besides the most common color, black, there are gray, brown, white, and even yellow-colored buggies.  Non-black buggies are usually found within the various Pennsylvania settlements.   

This is just the tip of the iceberg.  Congregations differ on beard length, lawnmowers, airplane travel, church-houses, Game Boys, and a host of other issues.  It seems the 'plain people', in many ways, are not so plain after all.

Most Amish look alike to the man on the street. In reality the group is surprisingly diverse. Though tied by a set of core beliefs, the Amish have no national governing body, no pope nor patriarch. The individual congregation, guided by its bishop, decides its own rules and customs. This decentralized approach, along with a widely varying tolerance for progressive ideas, creates many different ‘flavors’ of Amish. Within the 1200-plus congregations in North America you will find:

• Amish that use cell phones and electricity, and Amish that forbid indoor plumbing, toilets, and hot water in the home.