Amish Country, PA

 

Lancaster City Market building was closed on the day we visited.  Grrr.


We enjoyed the floral and artwork in downtown Lancaster.



Soon we sauntered to the town of "Bird in Hand" not far away to take a tour of a typical Amish home.  The docent who guided us through the home was not Amish and this home was an example of a home not occupied but she did a great job of explaining the Amish culture and answering our questions.


The schoolhouse was similar to the one-room school I attended a few years back.  :>)  The children are educated only through the eighth grade and the teachers are unmarried women starting at 16 years old.  Once they are married, they can no longer teach since their job is now in the home.  At age 16, all the children are allowed (if they desire) to participate in the "English" world in a 2-year process known as "Rumspringa" to see if they desire to leave the Amish life.  They do come home each evening and live with their family.  At 18 years, about 90% return to the Amish life.  At that point, they are baptized.  The 10% who move on can visit with family and can be visited but can no longer stay at home.


Amish-made furniture and clothes were in the home.  However, the master's chair seemed to be from another world!  Here, the man rules the home.  If a woman wants to open a business out of their home, her husband has to "ok" it.  The women are to raise and take care of the family composed of 8 to 13 children.  The Amish community is growing at about 3 % per year in this area and is presently around 40,000 congregants.


Many Amish practitioners work for "English" businesses so are allowed to have cell phones so they can be contacted if necessary.  There were both foot-powered and battery-powered sewing machines in the home.  Batteries can be charged from solar cells since the energy is delivered "naturally" from the gods above.  Power from the grid is not allowed because the "internet" could also be delivered by the power lines.



The farms were pleasing to look at and prosperous.  Labor-saving devices were the norm with this propane-powered forklift being used to load bales on the horse-drawn trailer.



The Amish don't use bicycles because it would allow their users to get away from home too quickly,  Instead, they use a scooter that is fashioned much like a bike



The same argument goes for the automobile.  We came away feeling like it is a fairly arbitrary set of rules to live by.  It does allow men and the local bishop to make all the rules that people live by.  And the rules can change when a new bishop takes over.  They concentrate on family values, hard work, and humility.  One of their beliefs is that technology and science are too much stimulus to the mind and this leads to an unbalanced life.  Could be some truth to that!

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