The fascinating documentary, Devil’s Playground, is centered on a period called Rumspringa, which is a period of time when Amish youth, boys more than girls, experience greater freedom. They are no longer under the control of their parents on the weekends and, because they are not baptized, they are not yet under the authority of the church. During this time, many Amish youth adhere to traditional Amish behavior. Others, however, experiment with “worldly” activities (2014). The main question during Rumspringa is whether or not to be Amish.…
Janie Kiester Mini Ethnography on Amish Dinner Instructor, Michelle Stone, PhD Amish/Mennonite Information: Today there are over 12 different Amish and Mennonite groups in the Shipshawana area. They do not permit electricity or telephones in their homes. By restricting access to television, radio, and telephones, the Amish feel they are better able to keep the modern world from intruding into their home life. The Amish have long preferred farming as a way of life. They feel their lifestyle and their families can best be maintained in a rural environment. While they do not permit the use of tractors in their fields, these traditional Amish groups do use modern farm equipment pulled by teams of horses or mules. These traditional Amish groups…
Children in school are well behavior and know that they should always do as they are told by the teacher. The Amish culture teaches children and adults that they should be kind, nonaggressive, and respectful to others. The Amish do not receive money from the government, they are not allowed to participate in war, they don’t believe in material things, and they don’t believe in living in the city. The Amish do not use or have any electronics. They believe that you should feel blessed for what God gives you in life. They speak in a version of Pennsylvania Dutch. The Amish do not drive cars; their means of transportation is horse and buggy. In many people’s eyes, the Amish are strange and very different. As English men and women, we do not understand this way of life. We are used to and embrace all the modern conveniences. In the Amish culture, this simple way of life is normal and what they believe in. I think that this source is one of the best one I found on Amish culture for a research paper. It goes into great detail about what how the Amish live and what their value system is.…
The Amish is a group of traditionalist Christians that rely on simple living, plain dress and refuse to adapt to modern technology. The history of the Amish started in Switzerland in 1693 led by Jakob Amman. Today majority of the traditional descendants of the Amish live in Pennsylvania and Ohio.…
The Amish culture is one of fascination and attracts tourist. “The Amish family is the foundation of the Amish way of life. The family structure and traditions that seem to be taken from a page out of history have remained an integral part of the Amish culture” (http://www.exploring-amish-country.com/amish-family.html) The Amish are mostly horticulturist, because they farm. They have been farmers for many years, but the growing number of Amish citizens has made them look elsewhere for finances. Amish people have a strong belief in god, which has set the path for some very strong values. Men are the main farmers, but women can and do help. Men handle the finances of the home, while women handle the cooking cleaning, and gardening. Children are educated through the eighth grade, and then learn the adult way in the Amish culture. Amish people vary a great deal from church to church or community to community. Some have cars, some use gas powered farming equipment, and some keep ties with family who leave the culture, while other do not. Even though Amish culture seems simple, it’s far more complicated than people know.…
practices like Rumspringa. The Amish also participate in a lot of social roles or expectations in…
Amish society is very different from American society. Both societies have different beliefs and value very different things. The Amish reject modern advances, while the rest of America is constantly striving for the latest technology. The Amish believe in humility and religion above most everything else in life. They have very simple lives and believe in surviving with just the necessities. They are very community and family oriented. Americans put more value on money, material possessions, becoming “successful,” and having fun. Most Americans are independent and fend for themselves, while the Amish work together as a community and are very close.…
literacy skills, and it starts with having a greater connection with your family. Basic learning skills must start at a very young age when the child's brain is most capable retaining information. The father of the household will start by reading a children s Disney story to his six year old son. Though the boy is not able at this young age to read or write, he is actively participating and gaining an understanding of words that are read to him by his father. This boy in Amish society is considered to be a fully literate family member.…
I decided to choose the topic about Amish because I’m very curious about the Amish culture. I don’t think people understand how different the Amish live. Students who go to Ohio State University no idea what an Amish person looks like. My cousin takes pictures of horse and buggies to show them what is normal in our town. I live in the country, so therefore there are Amish people all around us. I never understood how they lived, or why they choose lived like that. I know that Amish people are humble people and they don’t ask for much in life. They work hard, have many children, go to church every Sunday, and many other normal things. But what happens when someone wants to leave the Amish community? This…
Many of the fruits of technological advancement is completely ignored by this sheltered community. Instead of progressing with the times, this community has chosen to ignore the outside world and maintain their traditional values. The Amish live without the internet, cell phones, and cars but still managed to gain over 100,000 members over the past 10 years. According to Laurence R. Iannacconne not only are extreme religious sects enduring technological and societal advancement, but they are growing. The explanation lies in the importance of the collective nature in the Amish community.…
Beyond the archetypal exposé of the Amish culture by all, it seems that the Oscar-winning ‘Witness’ by Peter Weir has expunged the typical intuition of the Amish culture. In a nutshell, 1985 film ‘Witness’ focuses on a detective protecting a young Amish boy [Samuel] who becomes the target of a ruthless killer after he witnesses a brutal murder in a Philadelphia train station. The Amish trace their religious heritage to the Swiss Anabaptist of sixteenth-century Europe, who emerged in the wake of the Protestant Reformation. The first ample group of Amish arrived in America around 1730 and settled near Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Amish are not the prevalent group of U.S. Amish as is generally thought, however. The Amish have settled in as many as twenty-four states, Canada, and Central America, though statistics suggest that about 80% are located in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana. The Amish traditionally speak German and, symbolic of their faith, Amish clothing styles encourage humility and separation from the world. They dress in a very simple style, avoiding all but the most basic ornamentation. Clothing is made at home of plain fabrics and is primarily dark –usually black- in color, as is depicted in the following picture.…
Technology is generally where you will see the greatest differences between Amish orders. The Swartzentruber and Andy Weaver Amish are ultraconservative in their use of technology - the Swartzentruber, for example, do not even allow the use of battery lights. Old Order Amish have little use for modern technology, but are allowed to ride in motorized vehicles including planes and automobiles, though they are not allowed to own them. The New Order Amish permit the use of electricity, ownership of automobiles, modern farming machines, and telephones in the home.…
“However, the religious ritual patterns of the Amish have remained largely untouched by modernity. The Amish maintain a religious symbolism which embodies a social reality, a way of life that teaches how people should live and what they should believe in” (Hostetler, 1964, p. 19). The moral and social conscious of the Amish culture is guided by two things: Scripture (the Bible) and the Ordnung. The Ordnung, or order in German, provides guidance on the issues that Scripture does not clearly or directly address. The Ordnung is an oral, rather than written, guide that is passed down through enculturation. It applies biblical principles to everyday issues and regulates private, public, and ceremonial life (Kraybill et al. 2013, p.118). The Ordnung is learned implicitly and explicitly. The implicit layer of the Ordnung is the unspoken one that children learn from watching their parents’ behavior, and is essentially “common sense.” Examples include dress standards, not wearing jewelry, growing beards as a sign of marriage, travelling by horse, worshiping in the home, etc. On the other hand, the explicit layer of the Ordnung is more obvious and often talked about in Amish life, it entails emergent issues such as the selective use of technology and how it affects the community. “The Amish will accommodate to changes that do not threaten religious harmony or community cohesion and resist those that do” (Brubaker,…
The Amish movement started in Europe by Jacob Amman, it was considered an attempt to revive Mennonite practices. The Amish left Europe and migrated to the United States in search of fulfillment within a new society. They Amish believe in the simple things that our country use to stand for before industrialization took over making the pace of out lives faster and less complicated. The Amish religion still exist today, partially because of Rum Springer, Amish teenagers get to experience the fast-paced American lifestyle for themselves. After that year of experimenting, most decide to join the church and get married. Americans are more accepting of them because they share a lot of the same beliefs that we do, as well as being our window to what are ancestors lives were like without modern technology. As American's we want an escaped from the fast paced, hair on fire lifestyle were use to in favor for the slower, appreciate the sunset lifestyle that they live. Amish are also very close knit and family oriented, the churches actually meet in their homes and the services last about four hours. They also home school their children and spend their leisurely time with family and friends from the…
During the Colonial period and 1800’s there were a few different cultures and ethnic groups that behaved quite differently yet had some similarities. Among these groups are the Puritans, Native Americans, Europeans.…