Amish America

Bringin' in the 'Backy

Over the past couple of weeks, the tobacco's been coming in across Lancaster County.

Tobacco production here shot up after restrictions were removed a few years ago.  Lancaster already had a tradition of cultivation, but with farmers now allowed to grow varieties such as burley and with quotas removed, more and more of it has been seen filling up the county's farmlands. 

Tobacco has been controversial among the Amish--Lancaster Amish have a tradition of growing it, though some refuse to do so.  New Order Amish reject tobacco use and cultivation.  Nolt and Meyers in An Amish Patchwork point out that the Parke County, Indiana settlement, which has close ties to Lancaster and an otherwise very similar Ordnung, conspicuously banned tobacco farming when the new community was formed in the early 1990's.

Nonetheless, despite criticism by some of their own, many Amish farmers continue to raise the beautiful yet frequently deadly leaves.

Dad grew up picking tobacco in Eastern North Carolina.  I recently had him along for some visits to Amish tobacco farmers. 

He enjoyed sharing what we jokingly referred to as 'tobacco war stories', ribbing some of the Amish farmers for doing it 'the easy way'--cutting all the leaves at once and inverting them on shocks in the field, as in this photo:

Turns out dad would strip the leaves one by one in the blazing heat over an 8-week period.  Then apparently a blazing oil oven contraption dried them in scorching heat as they hung in the tobacco barn.  He made it sound pretty tough, as dads are wont to do. 

The Amish take their time, hanging their shocks and stripping them over the cooler winter after they've dried naturally.

In any case, it's an interesting issue.  Some of the Amish speak out against cultivation as feeding a destructive habit while others continue to use and grow the stuff as their fathers and grandfathers did. 

As with many things in Amish America, the force of tradition often wins out over more modern currents of change.  And of course, with limited space for growing, economics plays its part--there's a reason tobacco is known as a cash crop.
 

New Order supper and a different sort of haystack

I had a chance to catch up with a couple more friends the Thursday before last--'Martin', a minister of the New Order Amish persuasion, his wife, 'Annie', and their neat kids.

My timing was perfect--suppertime!  A grinning Martin plunked me down in front of a 'haystack'--a potato-lettuce-chili-cheese- crumbled nachos concoction Annie had just prepared.  Yum.  (Yeah, I definitely had seconds).

As we dug into our haystacks, Martin eagerly questioned me about life in Poland.  Many Amish I know are fascinated to learn about faraway places.  I asked Martin if he'd ever flown, as unlike the Old Order, New Orders often allow air travel.  He actually hadn't.  Martin sticks pretty close to home, where he is involved in a produce and agriculture operation.

Martin explained that his congregation strongly encourages working at home.  It's okay if church members work out, but about 75% of their congregation has home-based occupation.  New Order Amish seem to have a strong tendency towards farming in particular, somewhat counter to the general Amish trend away from it. 

New Order Amish use the horse and buggy too, but are somewhat more liberal on the phone and electricity, often having it in the homes.  Dress is similar, with men's beards generally cropped a bit shorter and neater.

Sometimes Amish kids who are just learning English have a funny way of talking.  Martin's youngest boy is a good example.

He's a pretty excited kid, and quite outgoing, unusual for Amish children who usually sit silently when an outsider is around.  A number of times he jumped into the conversation Martin and Annie and I were having.

'We went fishing at 'Bill Miller's' and we saw a (switches to saying something in Dutch)...and then there was a turtle and he (Dutch again)...and then I yanked him off my finger!' 

This little guy didn't even break eye contact as he bounced between languages, just assuming I could understand both.  Martin patiently translated, filling in the gaps.

Getting into it

After knocking back a slice of Annie's homemade strawberry pie plus vanilla ice cream, Martin 'got into it' with me.  Another characteristic of New Order Amish is that they tend to lean a bit to the 'evangelizing' side, though compared to other evangelistic branches of Christianity, it's still pretty tame. 

I recalled that last time I was around we had a similar talk on the Anabaptists vs. the Catholics.  Martin likes to challenge me on my faith and I can appreciate that.  They are both very respectful of other religions, as Annie explained, 'don't get us wrong, we don't have anything against Catholics.  They can be very good people too.'

New Orders are also unusual in that they publish their beliefs in what you could call promotional literature.  Last time Martin gave me an explanatory tract on Amish belief.  Another New Order Amishman who recently completed a survey for me included two pamphlets in the envelope.

I don't consider the somewhat in-your-face approach to be self-righteous or off-putting.  I see it more as a reflection of the depth of their conviction, something to be admired. In any case, Martin enjoys ribbing me a bit.  I like to rib back.  I'll be stopping by again in September.

The Amish Church District

The Amish arrange themselves into compact groupings known as church districts. 

Each district has its own name, usually a geographically-based one--Lamoni South, Randolph, and Crab Orchard are examples of places providing names for districts, these being found in Iowa, Mississippi, and Kentucky.

Since the Amish travel by horse-and-buggy to one another's homes for Sunday service, most districts are grouped together in a logical, geographical manner.  The district line often runs down the middle of the road, which means you might attend with a different group of families than your neighbor across the street.

photo: Bill Coleman

Districts in northern Indiana and Arthur, Illinois tend to be block-shaped, keeping with the gridlike road plans of the area.  Holmes County, Ohio congregation lines meander along the winding lanes that are characteristic of the hilly country.

New Order Amish churches tend to be more spread out in Holmes County, Ohio--probably because New Order Amish constitute a minority of the 200+ congregations here and must bunch together however possible.  In some districts, members' homes may be ten or more miles apart from one another, about a 90-minute buggy ride.  Contrast that with, say, a certain district in the heart of Lagrange County, Indiana, whose families all fit on a half-mile-by-mile postage stamp of land.  Walk to church?  No sweat.

A church typically has a set of two or three ministers, a deacon, and a bishop whom they might share with another district.  Generally speaking, the ministers and the bishop do the preaching on Sundays, and the bishop acts as the head of the congregation and final level of authority.         

The deacon usually does not preach, but helps with discipline issues and is a bit of a social go-between,  for instance acting to facilitate pre-nuptial proceedings between families. 

Regarding discipline, the deacon will probably be the first guy that stops by after work to talk to you about 'putting away' your jet-ski or whatever offending technology or behavior you may be engaged in.  In this sense he may act as the bishop's 'right-hand' before he himself would get involved.

When churches get too big, they split.  Typical church size is 25-35 families;  when a church nears 40 families, it's usually thinking about dividing. 

Some settlements have unusually large congregations, however--in Allen County, Indiana, nearly a third have 40 or more families.  The record holder is a district which as of 2006 had a whopping 59 families under one bishop.  That is what you'd call a ripe one.

photo: Randall Persing

Once a district splits, it's time to think about selecting a new ministry and eventually a bishop, a process that may take a few years.  In the meantime, the original bishop 'takes care' of the new district.

Church is on one Sunday, off the next.  Usually, if your district is off, you might pop in to the neighboring district's service, or go visiting to family and friends.  One thing is certain--no work gets done except for the most necessary chores--caring for animals, for example. 

And no business deals whatsoever--milk companies have had to make arrangements with Amish dairies to pick up milk (usually a daily thing) late Saturday night and then again shortly after midnight Monday morning, in order to accomodate this most strict of Amish customs.

Do the Amish drink?

Indiana has granted a permit for wine sales to a local hotel in Shipshewana (or just plain Ship-she), the tourist center of the northern Indiana Amish settlement.  Shipshe is a historically dry town.  Seems some residents are pretty upset. 

Some cite Amish traditions as a reason for keeping the town booze-free.

We might think that drinking is not a part of the culture, but Amish and alcohol can and do mix.  Most famously, it's Rumspringa-age youth, but in the decentralized Amish system, there is no across-the-board Mormon-like principle against consumption. 

So it would probably depend more on the community and custom, and of course individual preference.

New Order Amish are completely against it.  Alcohol, like tobacco and bed courtship, was one of the sticking points that caused them to split off in the 60's.  In the Old Order world it's not so clear-cut.

I once sat with an Amishman in central Indiana as he told me, with something akin to horror, of a settlement in another state where hard liquor was customary on greeting a visitor.  Sounds more like Polish custom now that I think about it.

I've noticed the odd bottle of hard stuff on Amish shelves a couple times;  I've bumped into a dad or two having a Saturday night brew.  Amish may have a celebratory drink at weddings.  Homemade spirits like wine or cider were perhaps more common in the past.

One writer in Hostetler's Amish Roots describes her father's long battle with alcoholism, and his eventual triumph over it, thanks in part to Alcoholics Anonymous.

But on the public stage, if not the private, the Amish really aren't that big on drinking.  As Donald Kraybill puts it in The Riddle of Amish Culture:  'Alcohol abuse, present among some youth, is practically nil among adults'.

Concerning the youth, some parents look the other way.  But others put time and effort trying to crack down on it. 

This  eye-opener of an article describes collaboration between the Amish and local law enforcement.  One case ends in a couple of nights in jail for a pair of cocky underage drinkers. 

When asked why he chose such a harsh approach, the judge involved replies that 'their elders want me to treat them like that'.


So Shipshewana may no longer be dry, but it's not likely to change much.

You'll still be a lot more likely to catch an Amish fella with a cold can of Dew, a piping-hot cup of coffee, or a tin of straight-from-the-udder raw milk, than a cool Bud.

An Amish killer's attempt to return

The crime was horrendous.

But the point now is not the crime--it's the hard issues at hand for the Amish community of Ed Gingerich--allegedly the only Amishman ever tried and convicted for the death of another human being. 

Gingerich killed his wife in a fit of insanity in 1993. 

A paranoid schizophrenic, he was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and served a few years in a prison psychiatric ward.  He was released in 1998 and moved to Harmony Haven, an Amish-run retreat and mental home in Michigan.

photo:  Tom Boyle, Titusville Herald
While the practice of shunning gets a lot of attention from outsiders, Amish belief also includes an important provision for forgiveness.

The process for getting back in shape looks like this, in a nutshell:  errant members confess and can be reinstated after showing repentance and a change of heart.

But as Dr. Steven Nolt of Goshen College says that the process 'more supposes someone who buys a car' than someone who commits such a heinously violent act. 

Amish in Gingerich's small northwestern PA community are terrified of him.  Sympathetic others, including outsiders, support what they see as his attempt at reconciliation.

His community's bishop has excommunicated members who have contact with him, including two of his brothers.  Members of Gingerich's family have been accused of harassing others in the church, causing some to move away. 

Gingerich has received particular sympathy from some members of the New Order Amish, who preach a more personal form of spirituality.  After his wife's killing, Gingerich was quartered in Harmony Haven, a Michigan mental home for Amish and Mennonites.  It was there that he came into contact with the New Order.

"I love Ed immensely. I've prayed with the man. I've cried with the man" said one New Order supporter.

Should Gingerich have a shot at redemption, as many say he should?  Do the wishes of his community, some of whom asked that he be 'locked up forever' count for more than the state's judgment? 

Are outsiders, including more progressive New Order Amish, overstepping their bounds by advocating so strongly for Gingerich?

I won't go further, but this article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where I've taken a lot of the facts on the case from, is a thought-provoking look at a thankfully rare situation in the Amish world.

Amish technology and 'friendliness'

Diversity in the Amish world is a common theme in this blog.  Ever wonder how different Amish groups use technology?

Judging by the chart, it can be seen that the most conservative groups include the Swartzentruber Amish, Nebraska Amish, and the Amish of Buchanan County, Iowa (the three of which Amish historian Steven Nolt groups together under the ultraconservative label, referring to the Buchanan group in particular once being seen as 'almost a conservative conscience within the larger Old Order world), as well as certain segments of the Adams County, Indiana settlement.

Often within the same settlement, there will be differences in what is allowed.  For example, in the northern Indiana settlement, churches on the west side of the community allow gas-powered lawnmowers, while those on the east tend to stick with those old-time rotating-blade pushmowers.

Holmes County, Ohio is a very diverse Anabaptist area.  Donald Kraybill says that there are nine distinct Amish groups living in this, the largest of all Amish settlements.  The four most significant, in order of increasing conservatism, are the New Order, Old Order, Andy Weaver Church, and the Swartzentrubers. 

Speaking from experience, I have found that this gauge of openness to technology is also a fairly good gauge of how open the Amish groups are to contact with outsiders. 

For instance, in Holmes County, I generally found it much easier to approach members of the Old and New Order churches.  People from those churches were fairly open and talkative.  I got a slightly colder though not unpleasant reception from Andy Weaver members, but found it most difficult to connect with people from the Swartzentruber districts.  Members of 'lower churches', as they're called, just seemed a bit less open to outsiders, or at least to me.

The Amish in Arthur, Illinois, Nappanee, Indiana, or Kalona, Iowa, compare to the Holmes County Old and New Orders in my personal experience on the 'approachability scale'.  Of course it all comes down to the individual, but as you meet a lot of people in a specific settlement, general patterns seem to emerge.

 

The chart, by the way, is from this site, which takes it from Stephen Scott and Kenneth Pellman's book, Living Without Electricity.  Scott is a member of a group somewhat related to the Amish, the Old Order River Brethren, and has written a number of informative, concise works on the cultural practice of various Plain groups, including Amish, Mennonites, and Hutterites, such as Plain Buggies, and Why Do They Dress That Way?  Highly recommended.

The Amish on vacation

Amish people often ask a lot of questions when you tell them you have visited places overseas.

I've spent a good bit of time explaining to inquisitive Amish how people live in Poland, or what it's like to climb Mt. Sinai.

The Amish choose to live in a small world, and many are naturally curious of life outside as a result.

At the same time, out-of-state vacations have become more and more popular  over the years.  Some Amish visit Florida, rent RVs (with driver) for long-range excursions, or go hunting out West.

Some even travel overseas, as in this article describing an Amish trip to trace roots in Switzerland.  In this case, the Amish group was made up of both New and Old Orders.  They agreed to go by ship, as the Old Order generally doesn't allow air travel. 

That meant paying $6,000 a head for the Atlantic passage.

Probably the most popular excursion is the trip to visit family in another settlement, perhaps for a wedding or reunion. 

To me, the oddest sights are seeing Amish folks in the Greyhound station.  Especially since these stations are usually found in the most heavily urbanized chunks of the city.  Talk about being a fish-out-of-water.

Amish in the sky

You won't see too many Old Order Amish in line at the Delta counter.

It makes sense to forbid air travel, if one of the main reasons car ownership is off limits is to keep the community tight.

Some of the more progressive New Orders do allow it, even for vacations, but the only time Old Orders really take to the sky is in an emergency.

I spoke with a Nappanee, Indiana Amishman, whose toddler son was run over by a buggy this summer.

The boy was airlifted to a hospital in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  Thankfully, the boy survived and was doing fine.

Lacking insurance as Amish do, this father estimated the pricetag for the helicopter trip would come to around 10 grand. 

He wasn't excited.   

One comfort--members of his church were to pitch in, as the Amish usually do for each other in cases like this.

As this example shows, the Amish have their rules, which make sense in the context of their system of values, yet they are pragmatic about it as well.

That's why if you buy a previously English-owned home, some churches allow you to live in it for up to a year before having to cut off the power. 

It's also why some Amish travel to Tijuana for discount surgery, use battery-powered headband flashlights to see at night, hire taxis, and so on.

Being in the world but not 'of' it doesn't mean you can't adapt when practicality or emergency requires it. 

The history of Amish society in America is a story of adaptation and negotiation.  And when members haven't seen eye-to-eye, it's often been a story of division as well.

But these examples also show why it can be funny to read the romantic version of Amish life served up to visitors at Amish meccas across the nation.

'Living like they did 200 years ago' sounds nice in the brochure, but does it really ring true? 

For most Amish, life now is not even close to how they lived even a couple generations ago. 

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.

No, I Won't Say Cheese

photo:  Jim Tardio
Amish resistance to photography is fairly well-known.

But not by everyone.  Or at least it's not respected by everyone.  Tourists can still be a problem, frustrating the Amish and even causing accidents. 

The Amish believe posing for photographs is a form of pride.

Reporters dealt with the issue, some tactfully, others less so, while covering the Nickel Mines incident last year.   

There are exceptions to the no-photos rule, however.

Donald Kraybill and Steven Nolt relate this humorous account about an Amish business owner in Amish Enterprise:  From Plows to Profits:

Occasionally, youth will appear in advertising photos because unbaptized children are not bound by church regulations.  In one case, an entrepreneur's children were in school when the photographer arrived to shoot a brochure.  Undaunted, the manufacturer went to a neighboring Amish family and borrowed their preschool children for the shot. 

The authors go on to acknowledge that most Amish businesses' promo photos appear without people in them.

One Amish family, lacking standard photo identification, told Amish America about some fairly serious hassles when crossing the Canadian border.

Others don't have such a problem with using photo IDs. 

New Order Amish seem to be the least troubled by the photo ID issue.  They generally seem to allow it, some of them even having passports and traveling by plane.

Plane travel is usually a no-no too.  But that's another post altogether.

And:  Brad Igou provides a much more detailed explanation of the Amish and photography at Amish Country News.