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

Meanwhile at Friends' Central School...

American students and French students work together in the French class of Mrs Ostroff-Weinberg:

Deport helping some students.

   Emrys is explaining French grammar

David is asking his partner to repeat some words

            Lucas is teaching a student to read the text                                      

Ashley is listening to her partner reading

                     Leandre is correcting  a student's spelling mistakes

Amish country

The Amish live in different states:  Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana.

On Tuesday , we visited the Amish from Pennsylvania; they live in the countryside in the county of Lancaster.

In this mainly rural area, the landscape is composed of large cultivated stretches of land,

fields, many farms, and old houses.

The landscape reflects the economy. The Amish live partly on tourism, cattle breeding, farming, craft industry and trade.

We could see many farm animals like cows for milk, sheep, even camels! Horses are bred in order to work in the fields (they help to plough, harvest, cultivate crops, carry heavy materials of any  kinds,...) and to draw buggies and carriages.

Petbreeding is done too: Labrador dogs, cats are bred and sold.

They also make and sell a lot of products like bedcovers, cushions or blankets in local shops as well as in downtown Philly to customers, tourists and citydwellers.

For example, one can easily purchase cheese, bread, delicatessen, quilts made in the country of Lancaster in the shops run by Amish people at the Reading Terminal Market in downtown Philly.

It provides the Amish with a substantial income and reflects how diversified the economy in the Amish country is.