Click for larger image. Group Lifestyles Vary Deeply devoted to their religious beliefs, they hold church every other Sunday at a different house in their church district (usually consisting of 25-30 families). The approximately three hour services is followed by lunch and several hours of socializing. In this way, too, they are able to monitor the lifestyle of each family to assure compliance with the rules of the church. Those who do not are confronted. If they refuse to comply, they are shunned until they either do so or are excommunicated from the church. Amish youth usually join the church in their early twenties. They can do so earlier but must do so before they marry. They are not forced to join; however most usually do because of their strong faith in the Amish lifestyle. “Rules of order,” or the Ordnung, are set by the local church district Bishop. The rules which govern the Amish community cover almost every aspect of their lives. They include types of buggy wheels, length of hair for men (the women do not cut their hair), width of hat brims, etc. This explains the variances found between Amish variances. Click for larger image. Some groups allow a more tolerant lifestyle than others. The clothing rules in Indiana are not as strict as those of Holmes County, Ohio. Amish men wear beards based on a biblical passage which states that they should not mar the hair on their face (Leviticus 19:26). Young men are encouraged to grow beards as early as possible but must do

so, unless they are physically incapable, upon marriage. Old Order wear their beards longer while the New Order keep them neatly trimmed. Because the European soldiers who persecuted them had mustaches and used large buttons on their uniforms, the pacifist Amish avoid any resemblance to the military. Amish men neither grow mustaches nor use buttons on their coats. Lifestyle Seemingly Paradoxical A number of paradoxes seemingly exist as the Amish strive to maintain their simple lifestyle in the 21st Century. While horses pull things with wheels, some groups use gasoline engines to power agricultural implements and other equipment. Rubber wheels are replaced with those of steel and the drive shaft, designed for connection to a tractor, is fitted to a small engine by way of a pulley and belt. Click for larger image. Although Amish people cannot own or drive vehicles, they do travel by train or bus and ride in cars and trucks driven by others to visit friends and relatives or to take vacation trips to scenic areas. Neither electrical appliances nor telephones are found in Amish houses. They will use (public or friends’) telephones to make doctor appointments, hire drivers (of vans) to take them for a doctor’s appointment at a distance or to visit friends and relatives beyond a buggies’ range. They are also snow birds. There is a retreat for the elderly members in the Pinecraft area of Sarasota, Florida, where they go usually during the winter. The plain people see no problem with this since most of those who visit Pinecraft are the older, retired people who maintain the same lifestyle as back home. Besides, it allows them the opportunity to visit with others -- one of the basic pleasures enjoyed by the Amish.

Click for larger image. Amish Population Gaining in Numbers What about the future of the Amish? It seems secure. Despite the few who leave the faith each year, their population has been gaining in total number. This is due chiefly to increased longevity common to the general American population and families that average seven children. While most immigrants are assimilated into America’s culture, the Amish remain a religious community forming a subculture almost three hundred years after their arrival. Although the Amish are seemingly a paradox in 21st Century America, they live a lifestyle that allows them to comfortably and peacefully follow their religious beliefs. About Photographing The Amish Care has been taken to provide these photographs for America’s Amish Country, many of which contain pictures of the Amish people, through non-obtrusive photographic means. We believe that it is important to show the Amish as they are, a group of people peacefully living their chosen lifestyle much like any other people, just different, in some of the most scenic country in America. See the Amish Buggy Copyright Information: All text and photography are Copyrighted by Leslie A. Kelly and/or Doyle Yoder. America’s Amish Country was first published in 1992 by America’s Amish Country Publications, Berlin, Ohio. Use herein by Amish.Net has been granted by Leslie A. Kelly and Doyle Yoder. Text and photography may not be copied or used in any website, book or magazine, with the exeption of brief quotations in critical articles or reviews.