Amish Scenes

After the farm and house tour, we took a drive through Amish country. We saw many buggies headed home from church. Their church services are very interesting. The services are held in homes on a rotating basis. They have a large trailer filled with wooden pews. If it is your turn to have church, you take the trailer home, remove all your furniture, and set up the pews. The women sit on one side, the men on the other. After church they all stay for dinner. The food is very simple and would have been prepared the day before.

Also, they select their bishop by drawing lots. Everyone nominates someone to be the bishop. Those men come to the church for the selection process. They are given a hymnal, and in one of those books is a slip of paper. If you get the book with the slip of paper, you become the bishop FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. You recieve no pay or compensation.

This community of Amish is the 2nd largest in the US. However, it is the oldest, original group. They are called the Old Order. The Amish formed when they broke from the Mennonites because they felt the Mennonites were becoming too worldly. This group distinguishes their homes by placing dark, pull-down shades in the windows. No curtains. Other groups may have another type of window covering. They use that system to let each other know that they are a fellow Amish family. They also add on to their homes to provide space for aging family members. They do pay taxes, but don't pay or collect Social Security. They don't believe in insurance, but will take up a collection twice a year for the poor fund. If someone needs an expensive treatment they will use that money. They use natural remedies first, if that doesn't work they will go to a doctor, but usually choose a homeopath or chiropractor.

Their social needs are met through work. They call a group project a "frolic". So they have a quilting frolic or a barn-raising frolic. They can build a barn in one day.

We came across two buggies at once. The buggy on the right had a young man chasing after it. We didn't know if there wasn't room in the buggy, or if he had misbehaved at church and had to run home! For their transportation they can use horse, buggy, roller blades, or a no-pedal bicycle. They use it like a scooter. They can ride in someone else's car if they need to go farther, but can't drive or own one.