The Amish church, a branch of the Mennonites, is a Protestant religious group descended from the 16th-century Anabaptists. The Amish take their name from Jacob Ammann, a Swiss Mennonite bishop who in 1693 broke away from the main body of Mennonites, feeling that they had strayed from the strict austerity of their forebears. Ammann's followers began emigrating to Pennsylvania from Switzerland and Germany about 1710, and by 1787 had established 70 congregations there. The Amish later spread to Ohio, Indiana, and Ontario in Canada. Today they still exist in all these areas (and others), numbering about 40,000.
The Old Order Amish, who form the majority, reject infant baptism, the swearing of oaths, and military service, and live apart from the rest of society in agricultural communities. They worship in private houses, and each congregation is served by a bishop, two ministers, and a deacon (all male). Avoiding modern technology and worldly amusements, they practice simple farming and handicrafts--Amish quilts are notable examples of American Folk Art--and speak a German-English dialect (Pennsylvania Dutch). The horse and buggy is their normal mode of transportation. The Conservative Amish, a smaller sect, differ from the Old Order Amish mainly in their adoption of English and Sunday schools. The Amish are known for their practice of meidung (shunning of those who have violated church law) and for their use of hooks and eyes instead of buttons. Recognizable by their sober yet picturesque appearance--the men with full beards and broad-brimmed hats, the women in bonnets and long skirts--the Amish occupy a distinctive place among traditional religious groups in the United States and Canada.
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