Sunday, June 30, 2013

The Amish

Pam and I went to a farm auction yesterday.  I was hoping that there would be some implements for Bessie the Tractor, but besides a manure spreader, there wasn't.   But there was a lot of horse related things there.   Not only for riding, but for pulling farm equipment.  As a result, about half the crowd there was Amish.

I'm fascinated by the Amish.  In the 21st century, they live in the 19th century.  They were all dressed similarly.  The men wore straw hats and the married men sported full beards, but no moustaches.  Single men shave until their wedding day.  They wore long sleeve shirts with the sleeves rolled up above their elbows, and vests.  Every man except one wore a vest.  Their pants and vest were blue, and their shirts mostly blue.

Being a bald guy, I'm a big fan of hats.  I've got to get me one of these Amish straw hats.


The women all wore full length dresses that went down just above the ankles.  The dresses has a Vee shaped thing front and back, and all the women wore bonnets.  The dresses were either blue, green, or brown.  The bonnets black or brown.

All of their clothing was hand made.

The children?  All, without exception, were barefoot, but otherwise dressed the same as adults.  All were as cute as a button.  It was Huckleberry Finn come to life.

Parked alongside the road among the cars and trucks were horses and buggies.

No, no photos.  I thought it would be rude and intrusive to photograph these folks.

While all the Amish that I conversed with spoke perfect English, among themselves they speak a form of German.

The Amish do not participate much in modern society.  They don't pay social security taxes or join the military.  They may marry only within their faith, a type of Baptist religion.  They run their own schools and educate their children until the age of 13 or so, at which time they work their farms.

I've always admired people who live their faith.  90% of Amish teenagers are baptised into the church and continue living the Amish lifestyle.  It's estimated that there are about a quarter million Amish, and New York has the fastest growing Amish sects.

While at the auction, which lasted for five hours, at least a dozen Amish wagons passed by, some hauling some kind of farm implements on their way to work a neighbor's field.

The Amish didn't bid on the electric powered routers and table saws, but bought up all of the horse drawn farm equipment, including the manure spreader.

2 comments:

  1. Dave, if you are indeed looking for an Amish straw hat,,check out Lehmans.com.. They supply clothes and many non-electric items used by the Amish.

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    1. Thanks Doc! I ordered a hat from Lehman's last night. They were much less expensive than another online store and the shipping was half. Good deal!

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