America's Amish communities live a lifestyle that has
changed little since the 18th century; but in other respects,
they are showing other Americans the way forward in the
twenty-first....
The roadsign is, to say the least, unexpected ; driving through a
prosperous rural part of North America, the last thing you expect to
see beside the highway is a yellow diamond roadsign with a horse
and buggy in the middle! Watch out for horses and buggies on the
road? What is this? Do they exercise racehorses here, or what?
You keep an eye open for horses; for two miles you see nothing,
then all of a sudden, look! Coming towards you on the other side of
the road, two black horse-drawn buggies! As they go by, your
surprise turns to disbelief; what's going on? Are they making a
movie about eighteenth century America? The men and the
women in the buggy look like they jumped out of a novel by
Fennimore Cooper.
Then, another mile and things get even stranger; beside a neat-
looking farm-house, there is a whole line of buggies. In the door of
the house, half a dozen men in black coats, and with long beards,
are talking while some women dressed in a curiously ancient
fashion are sitting on a bench. Is this 2020 or 1720 ?
You drive on, wondering what has happened to this part of the
United States of America? Have you driven into a time-warp, and
without realizing it, gone back 300 years, or is it the people you've
just seen who're stuck in a time-warp?
A quick inquiry at the nearest gas station gives you the answer;
you are in Amish country, and the men and women you have just
seen are Amish, part of a strange religious group that settled in
America in the 18th century, and much of whose lifestyle has
changed little since then.
If you had seen the movie "Witness", you would have already
known something about the Amish, how their community is strictly
religious and self-contained, how Amish people do without the
essentials of modern-day life such as electricity and cars, and how
they do not mix with people outside of their own community. It is
virtually unheard of for anyone to become an Amish, who was not
born an Amish. This is about all that most Americans know about
Amish people, unless, that is, they actually live near them and
come across them in daily life. So who are they?
In brief, the Amish are members of an ultra-protestant religious
movement that first came to America from the upper Rhine valley
over three hundred years ago, and have kept their traditions and
lifestyles. They are very law-abiding citizens, and their community
is one in which there is little crime, or at least little reported crime.
Amish families are patriarchal and live strict lives, following the
same code of morals as their ancestors. In a sense, they are
indeed stuck in a time-warp.
Yet the most remarkable things to note about the Amish are not
their quaint lifestyles and their home-made clothes, but the
expansion of their community, its efficiency, its social cohesion,
and their recent adoption of "green" technology, including wind-
power and solar energy. Although they work the land using
traditional horse-drawn machines, and use no chemical fertilizers,
their agriculture is - interestingly - among the most productive in
North America !
While white America is, on the whole, a population that is stable
in numbers, the Amish community is growing faster than virtually
any other community in the USA. In the 40 years from 1950 to
1990, the number of Amish in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the
original and still the largest Amish community in the USA, grew by
exactly 400%, all by natural growth, not through the influx of
immigrants. The Amish do not keep statistics, but it is fairly safe to
assume that the total Amish population of the United States in the
year 1900 was no more than a couple of thousand; today the Old
Order Amish, those who have kept up the strictest traditions of
their religion and society, number over 100,000, spread in
communities across the eastern US and Ontario. The total number
of Amish living in the United States in June 2020 was estimated at
over 344,000... an increase of almost 90% since the start of the
twenty-first century.
Amish, who reject modern medicine and all forms of birth
control, have some of the biggest families in America, with an
average of over six children per family. Few abandon their
community.
Amish teenagers tend to be as normally rebellious as any other
American teens, until they are baptized. Until this happens, they
are not obliged to conform to the strict Amish codes of dress,
hairstyle and behavior, and many make the most of this liberty;
before baptism, Amish teenagers behave much like other
American teens; up to 30% of older unbaptized Amish teens own
cars, and 40% have drivers licences! Amish teens also enjoy
baseball, dancing and even alcohol! Amish baptism takes place
between the ages of 16 and 21, sometimes even later.
The fact that only about 18% of young Amish abandon the
austere way of life of their ancestors is not the only reason why the
community is growing so fast. Other factors include increasing life-
expectancy, and higher standards of living.
As for machines and modernity, Amish families do not live a
primitive life; while they reject the use of mains electricity in the
home, they accept the use of kerosene and efficient wood-
burning stoves that provide plenty of light and heat and comfort in
their homes; and they are certainly not out of touch
with technology. It was estimated that in 2007, 80% of homes in
some Amish communities were using wind or solar power ! In this
respect, far from being stuck in the past, they can be considered
as one of the most advanced communities in the world !
As for leisure, it is not one of their major preoccupations! While
they do not have televisions or radios, they have other social
activities; yet Amish leaders actually fear that the development of
a cult of leisure could rapidly destroy their society.
Contrary to popular belief, the Amish are not cut off from the rest
of America; like any farmers, they need markets for their products
and suppliers for their goods; some work for non-Amish
employers. Many have non-Amish neighbors. They know what is
going on in the rest of the United States, and like many other
Americans, they are alarmed by many modern developments.
This too explains why most young Amish opt to carry on with
the hard-working and strict way of life of their community. Though
Amish life is hard in many ways, it is free of most of the pressures
and problems of the rest of American society. As long as this
lifestyle is not forced into radical change, many of those who have
been brought up in it will continue to see it as an attractive option.
WORDS
Amish is pronounced "ar-mish" - buggy: small carriage - time-
warp: something not in the correct age - do without: do not have
- law-abiding: obeying the law - patriarchal: ruled by older men
- quaint: picturesque - influx: arrival - baptism: Christian
ceremony of initiation - life-expectancy: average age that people
live - purpose: reason - mains electricity: electricity from the
public system - stove: enclosed fire - out of touch: not in contact
- cult: tradition - supplier: a source, person who supplies - opt:
choose
