...The Amish are a group of traditionalist Christian church fellowships who are known for simple living, plain dress, and unwilling to accept the conveniences of modern technology. The aspects of the Amish life and their beliefs are proclaimed by written and oral rules, which are called Ordnung (Zavada). The Ordnung explains the Amish faith and helps outline what it truly means to be Amish (Powell). The way the Amish dress is very symbolic of their faith. Their style encourages modesty and separation from the world. Most clothing is made at home from simple, dark coloured fabrics. Most clothing is very plain and designs are not usually added to clothing. Typically, Amish woman wear solid coloured dresses that are long sleeved and have a full skirt. They are also covered with a cape and apron. For men, a straight cut suit is worn, but it has no collars, lapels or pockets. As for the trousers, they never have creases or cuffs and they are worn with suspenders. Black shoes are worn along with black socks. There are also items that are forbidden including belts, sweaters, neckties, gloves, jewelry, and patterned clothing. Before marriage, men are required to be clean shaven, however, after marriage men must let their beard grow, but mustaches are forbidden. The Amish never cut their hair. They wear their hair is a braid or a bun at the back of their head. It is sealed with a white cap or a black bonnet (Powell). Part of the Amish culture is being opposed to any technology that weakens...
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...Cultural Research: The Amish Culture Nilaja Gardner ANT 101 Cultural Anthropology Prof. Bethany Heywood July 2nd, 2012 The Amish Culture Introduction The Amish people are the epitome of what one would consider plain, ordinary, boring, and prude (perhaps next to the modern day view of Muslims). Their name is often synonymous with quality furniture, crafts, and food items. Originating from Switzerland, the Amish have managed to maintain a safe distance from the rest of the world’s influence and immorality, strengthening family ties and maintaining subsistence through agrarianism. This essay serves to explore the kinship, beliefs and social organization of the Amish Culture. Agrarianism, and Freundschaft (Kinship) The Amish maintain a strong sense of community and kinship by way of agrarian lifestyle. Agriculture is a form of adherence to spiritual and manmade (Biblical and Ordung) laws that The Amish follow. Agrarianism is compatible with the doctrine of separation to the world (Hostetler, J., 1964). By isolating themselves from the city, Amish communities avoid what they believe to be sinfulness, sloth, and frivolousness. Man occupies his right place in “the garden”; the plants and animals created by God (Hostetler, J., 1964). Agrarianism separates Amish families from worldliness. By farming their own land and raising their own livestock, this creates self-sufficiency. The need to exit the community for food is alleviated. The hands-on labor creates...
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...the Amish culture. A few details regarding the background of the Amish culture is they are most concentrated in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana with 273,700 adults and children and nearly 350 settlements in thirty states of the USA and in Ontario (Kuhnova, 2012) The Amish culture tries to live in nonconformity to the world. This is demonstrated by their dialect, their plain clothing, transportation of horse and buggy, and their housing, functioning to the outside world as distinction and to the inside community as confirmation of a shared identity (Kuhnova, 2012). This clothing style is uniform and leaves little room for individualism, although small differences are perceptible in sewing and cloths. Where for non-Amish this might sound like a limitation of freedom. They fear that owning a car leads to individualism, distinction, social inequality, and too much personal freedom (Vonk, 2012). The above behavior choices of the Amish cultural emphasize togetherness and reinforce group cohesion. According to Vonk (2011), “The community and its welfare are ranked above personal freedom and individual rights, what contradicts modern values such as individualism and self-expression the Amish receive a durable and visible ethnic identity” (pg. 68). The traditional community is quite separate from the outside world, with strong social capital, is known for keeping and sustaining their faith, identity, important beliefs, values, and communal behavior choices (Vonk, 2011). The Amish would...
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...Amish People in America Onieca Baraka ANT 101 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology June 11th, 2012 Imagine living in house with no electricity, or not having the luxury of driving an automobile. Picture not being able to eat at fast food restaurants or shop at the mall. There are people in our nation who live like that every day. Amish people have been living in America since the early 1700’s. The Amish societies have grown tremendously, and continue to live by their own rules in an ever changing world. With all of the technology available today, Amish leaders choose not to indulge, but rather to live a simple life. Although there are some minor differences in Amish bands, Amish do not falter from their traditions or beliefs and rituals. In about 1730 the first Amish settlers arrived and settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The Amish were led by Jakob Anman in a split from the Mennonites over differences in beliefs. Since settling in Pennsylvania the Amish have split into several different groups and are settled in several different states. People of the Amish society are emerging agriculturalists. Their primary mode of subsistence is farming. For the most part Amish men and children work on the farm. Women take care of the home and help with barn chores if the family lives on a farm (Kraybill, 2001). Amish farms are not known to be big, but just enough to provide for the family. Amish are not allowed to run big farms in order to control power....
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...The Amish Instructor Bruce Carruthers ANT 101 Cultural Anthropology Aug 6, 2012 Outline I. Introduction II. History of the Amish a. School b. Church c. Rumspringa III. Social organization d. Children e. Teenage years f. Church membership IV. Beliefs and values g. Church h. Chores i. Socialization V. Kinship j. Nuclear family k. Bands l. Large families VI. Conclusion m. Summary n. Amish throughout time The Amish live a very interesting life involving very hard work and strict religious beliefs. In this essay I will first tell you about the history of the Amish, how they became the Amish we know today, and then tell you what a day in the life of an Amish person is like. I will tell you about their education, church, and the teenage Rumspringa. I will also tell you about how the Amish spend their childhood years, teenage years and when they become an official member of the church. The next subject I will cover is beliefs and values. This will then lead me into telling you about kinship. The Amish get there name from Jakob Ammann, who believed in stronger ties to the church and faster shunning in those not using the church with everyday life. The Amish also known as plane people began to come to America in the eighteenth century. Most Amish settled in Berks County...
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...The Amish are a religious community that were led by Jakob Ammann, a Swiss Elder, in the early 16th century. They were part of the Anabaptist movement that descended from Europe to the USA. They believe in Jesus and in the Holy Trinity and have a set of rules to guide their everyday Christian life known as “Ordnung”, a German word for discipline. Although, they are found throughout America, they are mainly located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and Indiana. The Amish are a “conservative branch of Christianity” and live a rural life, away from the modern society (Massey, 2015). In the Amish culture, women are often seen wearing plain long dresses and no jewelry, and for men, they wear dark colored clothes, (blue jeans during summer and dark suits...
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...The history of the Amish began in Switzerland. Amish live in various regions of the United States, but the largest and oldest Amish settlement is in Wisconsin. Sixty- Four percent Amish in Wisconsin have dairy herds on their farms. The religion the Amish practice is Anabaptist. William Fischel (2012) explains the Amish religion by stating, “Adult baptism must be freely chosen by both men and women, and the choice is usually made in their late teens. Baptism is not just a covenant between the deity and the person who chooses it. Those who accept baptism agree to submit to the congregation’s ordinances and understandings that are collectively known as the ordnung”. (p.110) This explains how Anabaptist is different than Baptist. According to Fischel (2012), the ordnung is what states “Amish may not own automobiles but may ride in vehicles operated by a non-Amish drives” (p.110). This also helps to...
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...The Amish Culture The Amish are a fascinating people. They live surrounded by cities full of technology. Yet they live without automobiles, electricity, and most modern comforts that are taken for granted by many. Donald Kraybill asks the question “How is it that a tradition-laden people who spurn electricity, computers, automobiles, and higher education are not merely surviving but are, in fact, thriving in the midst of modern life?” Though they do not have all of the technology that we take for granted, they live richer lives than many non-Amish people. because gender relations are accepted amongst others in the community, they have strong beliefs, traditions and values, and kinship is important. In the Amish community, they rely heavily on their agriculture as a mode of subsistence. This is known as being an agrarian society. Though they have other means of sustenance, they recognize the importance of agriculture to the community. Amish culture does not use electricity or other modern conveniences. This makes the farming a longer process, as this is their means of survival. They have other means for livelihood but farming is their main job. Some build furniture to sell to the surrounding communities. Others will farm for non-amish employers. “Some stereotypes of Amish life imply that they reject technology and live in a nineteenth-century cocoon. Such images are false. The Amish adopt technology selectively, hoping that the tools they use will build community...
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...The Amish April 30, 2012 Ant 101 There are more than 250,000 Amish in the United States and Canada, the only places they live today. Most American’s view the Amish as backwards mainly because they shun the modern conveniences that most of us take advantage of on a daily basis. The Amish have a very rigid belief system –they believe that their religious faith and the way they live is inseparable and interdependent they do not consider it to be a lifestyle choice. The Amish was originated in Europe after splitting from Mennonite Swiss Brethren in 1692 over treatment of some of their members who had been found guilty of breaches of doctrine. The first Amish arrived in Pennsylvania in 1730’s to escape persecution in Europe. The Amish believe that community is at the heart of their life and faith and that way to salvation is to live as a loving community apart from the world individualism is avoided. They believe that it is essential to keep themselves separate from the “world” so they live in their own small communities and differ from other American’s in their dress, language, work and travel and education. They are not exclusive as they do associate and have contact with outsiders-non Amish and they refer to them as “English”. Each Amish district is fully independent and lives by its own set of unwritten rules, or Ordnung. The Ordnung is a basic outline that helps define what it means to be Amish. A respected Ordnung generates peace, love, contentment, equality and unity...
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...THE AMISH The Amish are a society in North America that follow a very strict interpretation of the bible, and are devout Christians. They seek to be more in tune with familial values and religion versus anything else. How they live is quite different from Western culture. Though the Amish are technically a part of Western society, the two cultures are quite diverse. They have chosen to forsake most modern conveniences for a more traditional way of life. Their primary mode of subsistence is horticulturalists and agriculturalists, because they live off of everything hand grown, whether livestock or vegetables. In this paper, we will explore the way of life for the Amish: beliefs and values, gender relation, and social organization. The Amish religion requires them to abide by the rules of their bible, just like many other religions follow the rules of their bibles as well. The Amish culture originated in the early 1600’s in Bern, Switzerland, and southwestern region of Germany. The word "Amish" comes from the name of the man who formed the sect Jakob Ammann. “Amman maintained a stricter interpretation of Anabaptist doctrine and advocated foot washing and Meidung or the strict social avoidance (shunning) of the excommunicated unfaithful. When other Anabaptist leaders refused to agree to the strict interpretation of the Miedung, Amman forced a split, in about 1693, which resulted in the creation of the Amish”(Byers, 2008). Members of the Amish sect migrated to Pennsylvania...
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...History Of Amish Amish history begins in the early 16th century with the Protestant Reformation. There was a widespread dissatisfaction with the traditional policies and intertwined church and government, people were looking for changes. As people started studying the scriptures of the Bible, they began to question the Catholic Church because they believe the teachings were straying away from what is in the Bible. In 1517 a priest named Martin Luther led a protest; he was excommunicated from the Catholic Church and became a leader in the Protestant Reformation. The Lutheran church helped make Protestantism a permanent part of Christianity. In 1525 a landmark took place in Amish history, in Zurich, Switzerland. A group of students and craftsmen petitioned the local church and civil authorities for change. When their appeals were rebuffed, they baptized each other in a secret meeting and the Anabaptist movement was born. Anabaptist means “re-baptize. Menno Simons was an important figure in Amish history, in the mid-1520s he began to question some of the church teachings; he decided that infant baptism was not in the Bible. Simons began to explore Swiss Brethren church. In 1535 Simon’s bother Peter along with a group of people were killed for their beliefs. Simon then cut his ties with the Catholic Church and joined the Swiss Brethren Antibaptist. Simons quickly rose to a leader of the Swiss Brethren Antibapsist. Within a decade of Simons’ baptism into the church, his followers...
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...Analyzing Cultures The amish aren’t like the rest of today’s standard American society. They don’t necessarily adopt the norms of others and they don’t intend to in the near future. This makes them a very unique subculture in today’s world. The documentary we watched in class, The Devil’s Playground, does a really good job of portraying the differences between our culture and the amish culture. For example, the documentary talked about how teenagers would get the opportunity to form a counter culture during rumspringa, at the age of sixteen. This counter culture is cemented in the fact that each and every amish teenager gets the choice of either rejecting their culture or not. They begin to experience things that are foreign to the amish...
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...Amish the Untouched Culture 2 The Amish are considered emerging agriculturalist because they continue to show signs of adapting to their surroundings. Amish culture revolves around agriculture. Farm life is practiced and passed on through ancestry. Farming is extremely important to the Amish culture because it is their primary source of subsistence. It is also a big part of what it means to be part of the Amish culture. Working on the farms helps the Amish community foster unity, family and self-reliance (Knight, 1980). Although the Amish are very skeptical about technology, they have adapted to technology that helps them conduct their daily farming activities. Farming includes raising livestock, cultivating soil, and producing many crops throughout the year. Some Amish order’s carry on a diversified agricultural program. They follow a four-year crop rotation system, typically planting corn for two years, oats for one year, and a hay crop for the fourth year (Schwieder & Schwieder, 2009). In keeping with the philosophy of stewardship, few Amish farmers use commercial fertilizer; instead they use large amounts of manure because they feel this is a superior method and a more natural one. Many Amish orders have this belief about using commercial products on their farm because they believe it to be possibly harmful to the body upon consumption (Weaver- Zercher, 2005). Amish life is rooted in the soil, which creates somewhat of a burden to some Amish families that completely...
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...important to values, beliefs, and behaviors. There are two types of cultural influences. Those cultural influences are labeled as a traditional culture or nontraditional. A traditional culture is influenced by traditions, rules, symbols, and principles. Such influences in a traditional culture are rooted in past influences. Nontraditional cultures are often referred to as modern and are often influential through principles, ideas, and practices (Shiraev & Levy, 2010). To understand the difference between a traditional and nontraditional this paper examines a culture in each classification. The Amish culture consists of values, beliefs, and behaviors that are traditional whereas the American culture is influenced by values, beliefs, and behaviors that are nontraditional. Cultural influences are important to perception and actions taken on a daily basis. Differences Between Values of the Amish and American Culture The main difference between the Amish culture and American culture is individualism. America is steeped in an individualist society. Americans take pride in our churches, our children, and our jobs. Whenever there is an achievement, we are taught to seek pride in that achievement. The Amish work together as a community, and are mainly agricultural. Even in dress the Amish are communal. The status is shown through dress, such as marital status and church commitment (O’Neil, 1997). While American’s are plugged into technology to make life easier, the Amish value hard work...
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...Some background about Mr. and Mrs. Miller; both were raised Amish, they met when they were teens in the Amish community in Central WI. Mrs. Miller, the daughter of the bishop, and Mr. Miller the son of a Farmer. When they married, farming was what they knew and began. They have six children, three boys and three girls. Their farm is pristine and welcoming, it is the home Mrs. Miller was raised. Mrs. Miller moved to Central WI when she was nine, from Ohio. There was a split in the Amish community, because of some differences in the rules of the Church, hence her dad decided it best to leave and begin a new community. She shared about the feeling of living in a glass bowl, how she always felt watched and she could never be good enough because she was the daughter of the Bishop. She didn’t feel her parents put the expectations on her, rather more from the Amish community. This was a sensitive topic for her to discuss. She wanted to talk about it because she has felt judged and criticized by her Amish counter parts, as opposed to the majority culture. She still feels, to an extent, that she and her family are on display…even as an adult. She asked me how I deal with the expectations of others. I shared that I live before an audience of one, and my soul purpose is— in everything I do or say is to bring glory and honor to His name. That is my reminder when I feel weighted down with expectations of others, I am then reminded of my purpose; making everything...
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