Amish Visit

I got a chance to visit the Amish community in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, during a recent stay with my sister. It was a very eye opening experience.

Many Americans view the Amish as backward and technophobic. This is not the case at all. They use modern conveniences and their concerns in life are the same as those of other people. I went on a tour of a house that was modeled on the ones that the Amish use. The Amish do not use electricity because they want to be a people set apart for the Lord. They have come up with very creative ways to get around the use of electricity in modern appliances. They use propane to power their ovens and some of their other appliances. A diesel generator is used pump compressed air to power blenders, automatic milking machines, and other machinery. Kerosene space heaters are used to heat the downstairs, and older style kerosene lanterns are used to provide lighting for the upstairs.

The scariest device that I saw during the tour was a gas-powered iron. It looks like a regular iron but it has a small gas tank at the base. A hot iron that close to a gas source can be quite disastrous, but this is my personal opinion.

The Amish tend to wear plain cloths because they do not want to draw attention to themselves. I believe that this is also based upon their philosophy of simplicity. The men and women do not wear any patterned cloths. All cloths are composed of solid colors. They only form of jewelry that the men are allowed to wear is a pocket watch. The women do not wear any jewelry, including wedding bands.

All decorations in the house must be functional. There is nothing in the house just for the sake of making place looking pretty. There are many calendars in the house because they are the only pictures that you will find in an Amish home.

The community structure is unique. Each community is divided into church districts of approximately twenty-six families each. There are two ministers and one deacon over each district. (Ministers do not receive any formal training. The Amish believe that God will lead the ministers in what they should preach during the service.) A bishop is over two church districts.

The Amish have services every two weeks instead of weekly. There are no church buildings. Services are held in the homes of individual families. Each family in the district is expected to host church at least once a year. An average service goes from 8:00 AM to Noon. People socialize afterwards. Courting couples will attend a service singing hymns later in the evening.

The household that will be hosting the service on a particular week will clear the living room (or “great room” as they call it) on the preceding Wednesday. A wagon will come with the benches and items needed for the service. The room will be converted in a short period of time. The room will have two rows of benches. The men and boys will sit on one side and the women and girls on the other side.

Services are held in High German. (Low German and English are used in daily life.) The only version of the Bible that is used is the one that Martin Luther German translation from Latin.

A person is not considered a full member of the church until they are baptized. Men are usually baptized when they are between 21 and 23 years old. Women are baptized between the ages of 17 and 18 years old.
My sister and I went on a buggy ride. The man who was driving the buggy told us that a lot of Amish trade their buggies in about every two to five years. This sounded funny because it is exactly what many Americans do with their cars. He told us that a new buggy can cost up to $7000.