GROWING UP AS AN AMISH

Guder Daag !

Let me introduce myself, my name is Levi Miller and I was born on September 8th 1987 in Lancaster county. My parents had eight children and I came after my five siblings. I was born at home, which is pretty common in our community. The Amish have three options : we could choose the traditional birth method, so the future mother could give birth at home, she could go to a Birth Center or the woman could give birth in a hospital. The families pick the 1st option more often because the environnement is usually, more comfortable than a the hospital. Moreover the cost is more important in a hospital than in a Birth Center or at home.

I had a beautiful childhood with my family and the whole village. I went to the nearest school from 1st to 8th grade, there was an unique class with a teacher, who wasn’t  recognized by the State. I studied English, German, Mathematics, Geography and History. I’m always smilling when I think about all the good times I had with all my friends playing baseball, volleyball, riding our scooters in the countryside or walking on the way from school to home (around 15 000 feet per day for the children). Otherwise I had my chores, I could be asked to watch the animals, to milk the cows, or just to help my dad… My childhood was very pleasant and restful. But I was really looking for something else, something that every Amish child is seeking for.

You might wonder how we get medical treatment right ? You need to know that we use the same physicians as you do. The problem is that it was really expensive, because we don’t have any health insurance, God is ours; but we do participate in taxes for the State, we only use them when we have a big emergency like a heart attack or when you are badly wounded.  

Rumspringa is the time I was waiting for, it started when I turned 16. You may think it is a strange word, you are very right ! It means ‘’running around’’ in Pennsylvanian Dutch.

Granddad was always referring to that period as a vaccine, ‘’inject the desease to be safe’’ he said. My family were very tolerant and gave me a lot more freedom. They wouldn’t punish us for the things we did. You could go to the ‘’English world’’ (every non Amish thing is called English) during that period, and experiment new things. We swapped our regular clothes for English ones, some girls were even starting to wear make-up. We also didn’t have to go to school (because we stopped after 8th grade) so we could hang out with our friends. During this period we also had to choose our husband/wife, the one we are going to spend our whole life with. I remember the first party I ever had, it was taking place at an English boy’s house. My Amish friends were all smoking and I drank my first beer !

It was so fun to discover new things and to finally do those ‘forbidden’ things.

At the age of 23 my Rumspringa was finally over. I really loved this period and it was one of the happiest parts of my life but I realised this wasn’t the life I wanted. I found my soulmate: during our trip to the beach, I met Carrie Fisher a breathtaking woman, we began to be really good friends. Later she became my wife.

I joined the church, promised to be loyal to my community and I commited to adopt the Amish lifestyle for the rest of my  life ; I am a real Amish man now, here for his family and ready to participate in the church.

                    

Ashley, Leandre, Deport, Anna

The Organisation of the Amish Community

Each Amish community is independent and has its own traditions. Communities interact with each other but there isn’t an organization on a regional or national scale. Communites are supervised by a bishop, a preacher and two levels of deacons. Women stay silent during ceremonies, except for singing, Their role in the community is minor but like the men, they could participate in elections. Women only  wear dresses but they are not allowed to wear pants because they follow the Bible’s rules. Women are said to be “subordinate but not inferior”.

In the Amish community, women are housewives; they are in charge of the housekeeping. When they get married, women leave their job to to take care of the children and they become a housewife.

Men work on the farm and the fields to bring some food and money. They must be hard working to keep their lifestyle.Their life is based on their  interpretation of the Bible.

What makes the Amish so special? (customs and lifestyle)

The Amish live in a very specific way.

You are an Amish since your birth until your 16th birthday, at the age of sixteen, you enter a period of your life called ‘running around’ (‘Rumspringa’ in Pennsylvanian Dutch) which means that you can live a “normal life”, like any American teenager.  You can drive a car, dress like you want, spend time downtown in the city and you can also go on dates. This period is meant to help you choose whether you want to stay in the community, or you want to join the ‘English’ (=non-Amish) world which means to leave your family and your community. The ‘running around’ period ends when you decide to stay in the community, and so to be baptised.

The Amish wear a very special outfit. They can have a blue or a white shirt with a vest and wear black pants with suspenders. Man grow a beard without a moustache once they are married. Usually they have a wide-brimmed straw  or felt hat. Women wear long dresses and a white prayer covering, and an apron, also pins and a hairnet to put their hair up; they cut their hair themselves.

What makes the Amish so special is their lifestyle. They don’t use modern technolgy, they travel in horse-drawn buggies, they stop going to school at the age of 15 to work on the farm. They’re Protestant, more particularly Anabaptist, which means they are against baptism during infancy because they believe that it’s an act that you should do when you decide to,  something that you have to do when you’re consenting and they live all together in peace, with a lot of respect side by side with non-Amish people. In fact we were surprised to realise that the Amish community is an open community.

The Amish economy

On Tuesday we went to the Amish country which is located in Lancaster county. At the Amish Experience Theater, we saw a movie by Brad Igou who is the founder of the Theater This movie tells the story of a young Amish named Jacob who has to make a commitment: leave the community or stay with the Amish.                                                                                                                         

The rural economy in the Amish country is based on different activities:

-farming crops: maize corn.

-craft industry: quilts, leather work, dairy products.

-commerce: Amish shops such as bakery and pasteries (Amish cookies, pie, bretzels, bread  and many other specialties) delicatessen shops (sausages, ham etc.)

-cattle breeding: chicken, cows, oxen, pigs

-Pet breeding and selling: dogs, cats, even camels for milk!!!!
-tourism: visit of an Amish community

Also some Amish people sell craft products in local shops in the countryside and in Philly like the Reading Terminal Market.

There is no friction between Amish families because there is no competition. It’s not a mechanized type of farming. They use horses instead.

by David and Lucas.

The Amish & Religion

The religion that the Amish practice is Christianism. They are members of an anabaptist  Christian denomination which is composed of the Amish and the Mennonites. They want children to decide if they want to get baptised or rather leave the community.

The Amish come from Switzerland where they were persecuted in the 18th century because of their religious beliefs. At first, they fled to European countries such as Germany, France (Alsace),... but quickly the persecution spread and so they decided to move to America, the “New World” where they hoped to be able to worship freely.

‘They believe in the importance of individual Bible study and the necessity of living a life free of sin after adult baptism’. The Amish haven’t got rituals : they believe that God should appear in their daily actions. Thus, they don’t have priests, every man can act as a priest. Religious ceremonies are organised in their own houses, each Amish family normally hosts this celebration once a year, it is called “worship”.

Churches are separated into disctricts, as our Amish friend told us on the 20th of October during our visit in Lancaster County. At the time of his “rumspringa”, he used to go to two different churches depending of his girlfriend’s district.

The person who supervises an Amish community is called a bishop. The different bishops gather twice a year in spring and in fall to make important decisions for the community. They could review some old laws and decide if they should reinforce them or give more liberty to Amish people : for example by allowing some modern equipment into the Amish life. Thus, young Amish people are allowed to carry cell phones before entering the Church.

We wonder in what measure the access of technology could be tolerated in the beliefs of the Amish religion: one Amish person we met told us that he sometimes goes to his non Amish neighbor to see baseball games. Some Amish people would like to introduce electricty or television in their daily life, even if they are really devoted to God and had chosen to live in an Amish community, it seems to be the case of the Amish farmer we talked to.

Marie-Line Younes and Maya Rachail

Our first week-end in Philadelphia

Our week-end began on Friday evening when a lot of people went to the Adele's host’s home. They ate around a fire in the garden; there was a really good atmosphere between hosts and French partners, everybody kept beautiful memories about this evening.

On Saturday evening, American and French partners went to a diner called “Bridget Foy’s”; this diner cooked typical American food like burgers or macaroni with a lot of cheese, everybody enjoyed their food. After, we went on a ghost tour which took place in the city center of Philly. It was very funny but very cold too. This tour was a guided tour and it wasn’t really frightening.

On Sunday morning, everybody went to a brunch at Emrys's partner’s house. We could enjoy a lot of food such as waffles, bagels or fruits, after this brunch every body stayed for a moment to play together. At the beginning of the afternoon, some people went to the city center to do shopping. The others stayed at Emrys’ house but after everybody met at the movie theater to see “The Visit”, a horror movie. Everybody enjoyed the movie but some were very scared.

After it was time to come back home, French and American people  had beautiful memories of this week end.

This is us at the Bridget Foy's restaurant before going to the Ghost Tour.

MY WEEKEND

   
   This weekend, we did a lot of things : personally, on Saturday, I slept until 11:30am and stayed with my partner at home. We then went to the city to see some stores and we ate at Wendy's (an American fast-food restaurant, like McDonalds, but better) before meeting the other exchange students at a restaurant. After the restaurant, which was delicious, we went on the Ghost Tour in Philadelphia. The Ghost tour is actually a tour of the center of Philadelphia in which people are dressed up as witches or scary people, and they tell scary, but real stories about different houses on the tour.  It's a little bit scary at night :) 

     The next day, it was Sunday already, we went to a brunch at 11 am at Emrys' partner's house. The food was really good; there were bagels, pancakes, waffles, orange juice, and a lot of other stuff. After this brunch, we went with Margot and our partners to the King of Prussia mall, which is the second biggest mall in America. We went shopping, we found some stuff and we also discovered some new stores. It was a really nice afternoon. Finally, we ate at Ruby's, which is a diner.

Anna