American Experience: The Amish

http://video.pbs.org/video/220074563

Introduction

      The Amish first came to America in the early 18^th century, due to a vast number of reasons. The main reason was there religion was Anabaptists. At the time they lived in Europe, they were prosecuted and punished for their religious views. Due to the hardship they encountered they left Europe and migrated to The New World. They first settled in Pennsylvania area, this is where they practice their traditional lifestyle based on a agricultural lifestyle. In this documentary by PBS witch is filmed over the course of a year shows you the lifestyle of the Amish people in America. Through out the film it shows how a typical child would grow up in the Amish culture. First, starting off with school and then starting their journey to become baptize and to join the church. Besides the life of the children, it shows the adult side of the story and how they are forces to change their 300-year-old traditions in order to support their families. 

One of many Amish towns in Lancaster.

Geography 

The Amish society wouldn’t be what it is today, without the location where they settled upon. They first came to the Americas, in the 1730’s. Before they settled, the Amish was located all throughout Europe, mainly in Switzerland and Germany. While they were living in Europe they were going through harsh times. They were being prosecuted due to their radical religious beliefs. The Christian church sent out hit men to capture them and burn them. At this point they wanted religious freedom, so they looked out to The New World where they migrated in large numbers to start a new life. When they arrived, they landed in Philadelphia and from there they moved outward to Lancaster. When they began to start their agricultural lifestyle they lucked out. The area they settle on has some of the best soil in the country making the Amish prosperous. The film starts off in Lancaster and then it shows how the Amish communities spreads to La Grange Indiana, Wayne Ohio and St. Lawrence New York where they depend on living off the land and practice the same agricultural lifestyle. 

Demography

When the Amish first arrived to the Americas they enter in to a world with religious freedom and plenty of land. This was the driving force of the Amish to grow their culture and community. In doing so by the 1990 the population was over 124,000, By 2009, it almost double, climbing to over 250,000. Even know the population as dramatically increased it also has a short-term effect because there is only so much land to live on. Since the growth of population, in the documentary they state that more then 75% of the people left the land since they settle down in Pennsylvania. In doing so they settled in different areas trying to start up new communities and to benefit off the land. 

A typical day at work for the Amish people.

Economics

In the Amish culture, the greatest honor for god is to work the land that god gave to you. The Amish society manly revolves around farming and working off there land for god. When it comes to the Amish economics almost all the money is in the land they own. Within the land they grow wheat, corn, you name it they grow it. The Amish are smart business men by they don’t have to pay for labor workers since the family works the land and they don’t have to pay for big machines to transport the good because they cant use technology so they use horses and buggy. The Amish are so prosperous in that a typical Amish farm is worth up to a million dollars. In the documentary they show that all through out the year they are working the land. In the winter they work on the dairy farming. During the spring and summer they are out their everyday rain or shine working their ass off. The one thing that makes us different then the Amish is that they are not lazy, they are strong minded workers. All of this is what makes the Amish rich in not just economically but rich at heart.

The Amish people who change there lifestyle to support their families. 

When driving thought Amish country all you see is the beautiful farm they own. Ones might not realize what it is really like owning a farm in today’s economy. 50 years ago nearly all-Amish people supported themselves by farming. Today farmland in Lancaster County, can cost $15,000 an acre. As the land is getting expensive it is going to be harder to support your family just off the land alone. In the documentary it shows that Amish man today are switching from farming to working factories in order to help support there family and community. Working in factories for Amish men is the biggest change they face sine they came to the Americas. The change is to dramatic from using the technology and working with people who are outside of the church. Even know it is look down upon it has to be done in order to support your family. Today, most Amish support themselves by working in Amish-owned small businesses or non-Amish shops and factories.

Shows how the Amish community always works together.

Politics

Amish are not like many Americans. First of all they don’t even call themselves Americans nor vote or hang up American flags out side there home.  The Amish live among communities. Not just like any other communities in that they don’t follow local politics or laws. Since the Amish have no central church government, each community is its own governing authority. Giving every local church an individual set of rules (Ordnung), which may vary from district to district. Each community administers its own guidelines. These rules are largely unwritten, yet they define in every Amish identity. The rules can vary from what is allow in to the community or what is prohibited.

The ban of automobiles.

 Examples of Practices Prescribed by the Ordnung:

▪                color and style of clothing

▪                hat styles for men

▪                order of worship service

▪                kneeling for prayer in worship

▪                marriage within the church

▪                use of horses for fieldwork

▪                use of Pennsylvania German

▪                steel wheels on machinery

Examples of Practices Prohibited by the Ordnung:

▪                air transportation

▪                central heating in houses

▪                divorce

▪                electricity from public power lines

▪                entering military service

▪                filing a lawsuit

▪                jewelry, including wedding rings and wrist watches

▪                joining worldly (public) organizations

▪                owning computers, televisions, radios

▪                owning and operating an automobile

▪                pipeline milking equipment

▪                using tractors for fieldwork

▪                wall-to-wall carpeting

Amish people in court over the ruling over schooling laws.   

            Since they don’t follow the local law though out history the government wanted them to change like the rest of the country. As a community they stuck to there faith and their 300-year-old traditions instead. An example from the film the state of Pennsylvania made a law that children have to stay in school for 12 years but the Amish parents worried that more education would make their children too individualistic, lose their values and want to move away. Thus the state was suing them and giving them sentence them to jail. They fought back making the argument that it is our religious freedom and saying working for the family is more important than attending school in the Amish culture. In 1972, after two decades of prosecution The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the rights of Amish parents allowing them only stay In school for 8 years.

            Another example from the film, is in northern New York State, the Amish are currently resisting building codes that require the installation of smoke detectors. To Amish, relying on manmade technology is not putting your faith in God. They say if a fire comes, sweeps through the house and something terrible happens, the child that they will be in a better place with God. By not obeying by the law they are being targeted to change there tradition but in the end they wont. 

Family is the core of the Amish culture.

Culture

The Amish culture starts from their religion that is Anabaptists, a radical form of Christianity. With in there religion there is there community that has up to 30 families all part of the community church.  In the film it shows every Sunday the community all gets together to go to church. In the Amish community there is no church building, instead each family takes turn hosting Sundays mass in their barns or in their homes. Each mass in spoken in German and is memorized all my memory there is no reading of a text allowed during service.

An Amish one room schoolhouse. 

        Besides religion a main part of their culture is how they raise the children of the community. It all starts off with going to school for 8 years. The school is not like any normal school. Each community has a one-room schoolhouse where there kids are taught. A normal day for a child in school starts off at 6am when the girls cooks breakfast for the family.  After the meal the family has daily bible reading before the kids go off to school. When in school they mainly learn how to read and write and they learn some basic math skills.

An Amish teen durring Rumspringa.

            Once out of school at the age of 16 Amish teens enter a period called Rumspringa witch means to run around. During this time of there life they are allow the special rite of passage .For the first time in their lives they are allowed to leave their families and hang out with their friends on the weekend. Between parental and church authority, the teens get to dress like a teen. Each teen gets to explore their true identity within the tribe. Some teens leave for the wider world. This gives the teen the change to find a wife and mainly settle down and get married. At the end of there late teens each choose to be baptized. Once baptized they join the church and start there life as an adult Amish. Within the film they show the Amish teens at a town festival socializing with other people from the county. Also they interview some of the teens. In one interview with a teenage girl she was talking about how her and most of the girls want to settle down and start a family. With the teenage boys it is different in that they like the different lifestyle. 90% of Amish teens at the end of Rumspringa do end up joining the church. 

Shows the family at work.

            Once part of the church you main goal for god is to work the land given to you.  They say that Jesus was a servant for mankind so the more you become more like a servant the happier you would be in life. The Amish people live life as a community not as an individual. From this point on you will become part of a family and with land to tent and children to raise up to become strong Amish men and women. 

Conclusion

From watching the PBS American Experience documentary on the Amish made me experience what life would be like if i was brought up in the Amish community. It put me in to the shoes of the amish kid waking up at 6am to eat breakfast and then bible reading. Also the film made me feel what it is like to be part of the Amish church. As a child in the community the greatest achievement is to get baptized and to join the church. This video on the Amish made me think? From analyzing there culture, politics, and economy the Amish lifestyle is nothing like any American life. There traditions are based on strong religious values and the unwritten law of Ordnung and their agriculture lifestyle. The American people look down on them since they are completely different then us in many ways but when you stop and think that are just like you and me. We both are raised from families with unwritten laws. Even know ours are not as radical and called Ordnung. We know our as social norms. When it come to work, the Amish works on the family land. As us Americans we have chores to do around the house. In the end we have a little bit of Amish in us but not as radical.