By Mindy Steele
As an Amish Fiction author, I am frequently asked questions about the Amish. I cannot answer all of them, but my time over the years spent with Amish friends and acquaintances has given me much to share with those whom have never spent time in their world. There have been times over the years that I have shared many things with my readers, but as a new year is dawning, I wanted to take the time to share much of this information again for those who might have missed it.
We are captured by their quaint clothes, their simple homes, their buggies and products, and of course, their FOOD. Born to an Appalachian mother and a father of German and Norse-Viking decent, I have eaten many dishes similar to those around me and yet, can’t even grasp some of the discipline an Amish woman has attained over the years. Bringing with them over the centuries dishes of tradition, they evolved much to their surroundings. With preferred cultural taste from Switzerland and Germany, they adapted to English and Native American diets found in their geography. Still, they managed to stay identifiable to other immigrants even from their previous countries. Perhaps it is because of attention given to their gardens and fields. Recipes passed down for generations may have wavered slightly, but only so slightly that waver is barely recognizable.
To go hungry, is to ignore the bounty of the earth.
I know many of you are drawn to their strong faith too, as well as many of the beautiful things they create. But it is their amazing sense of community that has always intrigued me most. They are a community of faith and a people who live much like we English who are Christian do, in a way that honors God. They refuse many modern conveniences purposefully, not aggressively, nurturing a life that is family centered and faith filled. They strive to respect the land God has created, and after years and years of persecution, have become pillars in agriculture. Because of their strong discipline, they are often seen as grim and rigid. Many find them arrogant natured, but they live ordered lives in a way that sometimes restrains expression. The frown on the man down the road is not the same as the old schoolmaster of my childhood, I can assure you.
A little History
The Amish are Christians and can trace their roots back to a time before Protestant Reformation around the 16th century. Many of us who embrace baptism, accepting Jesus as our Savior by being baptized, owe much to these early mavericks of the time. (You’ll find this sentence ironic in a bit) While much of the world was Catholic, baptized at birth for many reasons, census and tax collections being part, a small group of people parted from the established state religion for supporting the written word, that one must voluntarily become a follower of Christ, deliberately and by his own freewill, as an adult of sound mind and reasoning. Baptism had to be a choice. These radicals were labeled Anabaptist, meaning “rebaptism”. As adults they wanted to be re-baptized by choice.
Lead by a former Roman Catholic priest, Menno Simmons, the group became known as Mennonites. They disciplined themselves to believe that if they were faithful to Christ and abided in His word, they would be clearly set apart from all other beliefs. To value love, grant forgiveness, and accept peace over strife, made them targets for a more selfish world. Misunderstood and seen as a threat to the established church and government, many were persecuted and imprisoned. Still today they sing songs written during a time of suffering.
One particular young Mennonite leader felt the people were losing their ground in being steadfast against a changing world and with a collective few, separated from the Mennonites and formed a fellowship we know as the Amish, named after Jacob Amman. They are today considered the more conservative branch of Mennonite. While some sects of Mennonite have adapted to modern conveniences for their livelihoods, or simply because they are still simple changes they don’t feel blemishes their true faith and family, some held fast to a life of such plainness they simply will not permit one hair to be left unattended without repercussion. The Swartzentrubers are such a community. They remain untouched by time and in some cases even refuse help from a modern world and cling only to their faith in healing and surviving.
The Amish moved into Switzerland, which is where many of the early descendants of those I have come to know derived from, and by 1772 they escaped persecution into North America as well as other countries. Being a people no one understood, nor cared to tolerate, they lived in the worst places, under terrible conditions, which made them prolific in agriculture. There wasn’t a piece of ground they didn’t learn how to grow food in. Here they found farmland, areas where they could live close to one another, and climates that allowed them to prosper and raise families more easily.
As all pioneers, there were struggles but their peaceful natures and hard work ethic helped them build communities and get along with the Natives. They mingled with others, formed friendships, and it wasn’t until the Revolutionary War that they once again found their beliefs on trial. This was a time of unity that strengthened their communities. While the rest of the world called them cowards for not willingly taking up arms against others, they became a center of much ridicule and mockery as conscientious objectors and not soldiers.
Their faith remained on following Jesus’ teachings and they withstood being forced into a world that believed in fighting for freedoms by taking life. Their ancestors suffered decades of torture but they stood their ground. (Our definition of coward might not all be the same.) They continued to strive and earn the respect of others in taking up livelihoods that contributed to society. They chose to always help, never hurt, and manage change deliberately and faithfully, as a community.
As a writer, I try to stay as true to fact as possible, but as many of you already have learned; one community is not entirely like the next. Not all Amish have Monday washdays. Because of that, you may read a custom or way of doing things in my book that is different from what another Amish author writes. We are all writing about different communities, so enjoy the differences along the way.
