The Amish people are a group of Christian Protestant Anabaptists (to be baptised when you are an adult), who emigrated from isolated areas in Switzerland, France, Germany and the Netherlands, because they were persecuted. They immigrated in 3 big groups. The first one came to America in 1730, this group settled in eastern Pennsylvania, Lancaster County. The second wave came in 1810-1860 – they settled mostly in the western of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and in Ontario in Canada. The last group immigrated in the late 90s – and built their homes in places where the other Amish communities were. Now there are 24 states in USA where the Amish live. They do also live in Canada, Latin America and South America, but there are no longer Amish communities in Europe. Amish speak Pennsylvania Dutch (a south German dialect) and they are learning English in the schools. The largest minority in the USA are the Amish, there are at least 230.000 people joined in the (Amish) church.
In the church there are 5 different religious orders – Old order Amish, new order Amish, Andy Weaver Amish, Beachy Amish and Swartzentruber Amish. These churches operate independently from each other with difference in how they practice their religion and their daily lives. All aspects of Amish life are dictated by a list of written or verbal rules, known as “ordnung”. This ordnung outlines the basics of the Amish and helps to define what it means to be Amish. FX it describes what kind of clothes you may ware, the length of your hair, farming techniques and if you may use batteries (some ordnungs do not even accept battery powered lights). These rules do also vary from community to community – ordnung to ordnung.
Det er gratis at oprette en konto