Amish folket: kultur, livsstil og historie

I would like to tell you something about the Amish people, about their culture and their life and kids. The Amish people lives in USA, in Pennsylvania and also in Canada in Ontario. The Amish people are one big group that lives together in a one big society. They are all Christians and they follow the bible. They don’t have cars, or cell phones or a refrigerator, they don’t use modern technology like we all do. It’s the way they prefer to live in, they don’t use modern technology because they don’t want to be like every one else. They want to be unique and be separated form all of the other people in the world. The family is the main social unit in Amish cultures, in a typical Amish family is there 7 or 10 kids. The Amish speaks a language called Pennsylvania Dutch and of cause English. The Pennsylvania Dutch is difficult to understand, ever for people that speak Dutch. The Amish people moved to America. In three immigrant waves the first wave came to America in 1730 in Pennsylvania. The second bigger wave came between, 1810 and 1860 and took residence mainly longer out in the western Pennsylvania in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa as well as in Ontario. The Third small wave came in the 19th century, and settled down in the already existing community. The founder of the Amish are, Jakob Ammann is born in 1656 in Switzerland. The head of the Amish family are the father. So if you see an Amish family then it is polite of you to talk with the father first. Amish have a different style, they ware black trousers and a hat for the men. The Woman wares a dress and a bonnet to put on the head. Young men are normally without beard, but will let it grow when they get married. Amish people can only marry Amish people, so if an Amish girl loves a non Amish man then the man has to be Amish to marry her. It is allowed to have a girlfriend or a boyfriend, but if their go on a date then the date is under strictly supervise. U can’t have sex if you are dating you will have to be engaged or married to do that. Weddings are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays in November to early December. The Amish don’t have churches like the other people have. They have service in there basement or in the living room. There kids goes to school like we do, but when they finish 8th grade then there stop and start working at home, because it is forbidden to go on a further education or collage. When Amish kids turn 16 years old, then they have something called rumspringa, which means that they are allowed to do anything like take a drivers licenses, or drive a car and go to party’s and get drunk. And take some drugs and have a cell phone. But some time after that they have to pick. If they want to follow the Amish way or not, if one man joins the Amish way, then he has to give away his, drivers licenses his phone and don’t go to party’s or take drugs. If then he goes out after he have joined. Then he will be shunned, that means that family or friends will not talk to him or help him until he joins the church again.