Family is the heart of the community and is a very important social unit in the Amish culture. Amish place great value on time spent together as a family and their connection with each other.
Networks of extended families provide a strong sense of identity in Amish society. The family provides a dense web of social support from cradle to grave. Adult sisters may gather once a month for a “sisters' day,” a frolic that mixes work and fun while harvesting vegetables, cleaning house, or making quilts.
Humility and obedience are twin virtues in Amish culture. A spirit of humility signals respect for others. Members are taught to obey those with authority over them: children their parents, students their teachers, wives their husbands, members their leaders, and younger ministers their bishop.
Farming has traditionally been considered the ideal occupation by Amish. This is due in part to the fact that it allows fathers to be at home working together with their wives and children.
Most Amish families have an average of 7 kids, and most children are given chores starting at the age of 4 or 5.
They Can't Contact the Outside World. Amish children are not allowed to contact the outside world. This includes talking to people who are not Amish, using phones, and watching television. This rule is in place to protect the young people from being influenced by the outside world.
Amish parents consider their children their greatest earthly treasure. Children are welcomed as a blessing from God and large families are the norm.
Divorce is forbidden in the Amish church. To get divorced is to violate a vow made during Amish baptism and is punishable by shunning.
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.
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.
Amish people reject most aspects of modern life. They do not usually use telephones, electricity, radios, televisions, or automobiles. Horses and buggies provide transportation. Many Amish are excellent farmers who do not use power machinery.
Amish men are the decision-makers in their communities. They serve on the school board that governs their one-room schoolhouses, and they decide when barns and homes are built. If you buy items at a stand when both the husband and wife are present, he will likely be the one talking to you.
The population explosion is due to a belief in large families, seen as a blessing from God. The large number of children also provide labor for their farming enterprises. Traditionally, farming of all kinds has been at the center of Amish work life.
Women are to keep their hair long and worn in a single braid or bun that is pinned behind their head. Hair must be kept out of sight, as it's seen as too sensual and can be distracting for men in the community. The reason Amish women don't cut their hair is more than just aesthetic preference.
Handshakes were allowed and used frequently, and on solemn occasions, such as Communion and Baptismal services, the holy kiss was practiced. Mothers are very demonstrative with their babies when they nurse them and sing to them as they soothe them to sleep. But they don't pick up their children to hug and kiss them.
What happens when an Amish husband dies? Remarriage After the Death of a Spouse. Widows and widowers may enter a courtship and remarry, and many Amish people do after losing a loved one. Because the Amish have large families, remarriage results in large extended families.
The Amish bedroom rules contain what is known as bundling. This is the practice of sleeping in the same bed with someone of the opposite sex while fully clothed.
Amish boys and girls start looking for a partner as young as 16 years of age. Many marry in their early 20s. Both must be members of the Amish church and baptized in the faith to marry. The bride to be does not receive a ring, instead the groom might give her something like china or a clock.
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.
The Amish perceive hair as a sacred symbol of devotion to God. Because of this, cutting it is considered a shameful dismissal of this precious token. As you can imagine, Amish women have rather long hair, and more often than not it reaches their waist.
Amish Birth Culture
This aspect of birth is a spiritual experience for families and is typically attended to by a midwife or female family members, as male presence at the time of the birth is generally not accepted. As part of this tradition, Amish women have been wearing birthing gowns for centuries.
In the case of Amish women, this identification of marital status is very simple. The bonnets they wear are how to tell if an Amish woman is married. They all wear traditional bonnets on their heads, but while single women wear black, married women wear white.
After giving birth, Amish mothers breastfeed their babies for as long as possible.