Amish families are large. They believe in the injunction in the Book of Genesis to “be fruitful and multiply”, and families of 6 to 8 children are typical (with some communities averaging even 8 or 9 children per family).
Most Amish families have an average of 7 kids, and most children are given chores starting at the age of 4 or 5. For the most part, Amish boys work alongside their fathers doing outside chores, while the girls stay inside doing housework with mom.
The Pennsylvania Amish community in Lancaster County is the oldest and largest Amish community in the United States, numbering about 30,000. The population has more than doubled in size in the past 20 years.
Amish place great value on time spent together as a family and their connection with each other. They run family businesses together, eat meals together, attend church services, barn-raisings, and other community events together. It's not unusual for an Amish family to have seven to ten children.
Amish Birth Culture
Members of this faith-based community typically practice home births, which are performed without modern medical interventions such as epidurals or pain relief medications.
Amish Marriage. Marriage between Amish and outsiders is rare. That's because it's not allowed by Amish Law. However, should an outsider decide to convert to the Amish faith and get baptized, they'll be accepted as a member of the Amish community.
In the Amish community, things like pregnancy are very sacred and secret. People's privacy is important, and intimate details are often not shared with other members of the community until it is more than obvious.
Many Amish women get pregnant between the ages of twenty to twenty-two. This is because Amish culture encourages dating early, from sixteen. Amish couples start having children immediately after marriage as they perceive children as gifts from God. An Amish team's average number of children ranges from seven to eight.
Amish men work as farmers, shop owners, craftsmen, and laborers; women work as housewives and gardeners, with some having small, home-based businesses. Fathers are considered heads of the household, while mothers play the primary nur- turant role with children.
A family leaves behind the trappings of the 21st century to lead a simple, self-sufficient and pious life in rural Tasmania.
There's no prohibition on alcohol in most communities, but certain strict Old Order communities aren't in favor of it. You'll never see Amish men going outside of the community to bars and other such establishments. If they do drink, they do so at home or in the community, at a social gathering.
Including other forms of manual labor–lifting, chopping, sowing, planting–the Amish are six times as active as a random sample of people from 12 countries. One result of this is that only about 4% of Amish people are obese, compared with 36.5% of the overall U.S. population.
Not only do the Amish not actively practice polygamy, they certainly don't believe in it. They view polygamy as adultery. Although the various Amish settlements may interpret certain rules slightly differently, there is no deviation from this law. The Amish believe in traditional marriage between one man and one woman.
But they don't pick up their children to hug and kiss them. There are no rules against such demonstrations of love… it is just not done. Another interesting fact about affections, is that the Amish don't have a way of saying “I love you” in their language.
In summer, conservative Amish tend to bathe at least twice weekly to eliminate dirt and sweat. The women may bathe more frequently and keep the home clean as well. New Order Amish may bathe more frequently than the Swatzentruber order, taking advantage of running water for showers or baths.
Birth control and abortion are forbidden by religious doctrine, even when pregnancy is life threatening. The Amish church has no rule against immunization, but only 16-26% of Amish children have received immunizations against the common childhood diseases.
Pennsylvania Dutch is the language used by the Amish population here in Lancaster County. It is considered to be their first and native language. The Amish learn to read, write and speak in English, allowing them to communicate with the 'outside world'.
Shunning — also known as avoidance —is a rare happening in the Amish community. While outsiders might view it as punishment, the Amish consider it an act of love to help those who have strayed from their beliefs.
After giving birth, Amish mothers breastfeed their babies for as long as possible. It's believed that this helps strengthen the bond between mother and child, which is important in this close-knit culture. It also gives them the nutrients they need to grow strong and healthy.
Amish bonnets serve as an identifier of civil status for women. Unmarried Amish girls wear black bonnets while married women wear white ones. So, people can easily distinguish their relationship status by the color of their bonnets.
In addition, members of the Amish community are allowed to remarry after their spouse passes. Widows sometimes garner financial assistance from their families or the church and may even find work outside of the home, according to Amish America.
“In the Amish faith a man's beard and a women's hair are sacred religious symbols,” Bridget M. Brennan, an assistant U.S. attorney, said in her opening statement. “The beard and the hair are symbols of Amish righteousness, religious symbols that God is present in their lives.”
As part of their Ordnung, Old Order Amish forbid owning automobiles; tapping electricity from public utility lines; owning televisions, radios, or personal computers; attending high school or college; joining the military; and initiating divorce. All Amish groups expect men and women to wear prescribed clothing.
Scientists are making strides in understanding sudden infant death syndrome, the mysterious condition that kills more than 2,000 U.S. infants every year. A recent study, which identified a gene for a SIDS-like condition among the Amish, is one of several pointing to a genetic link to the disorder.