Amish Definition A·mish [ mish ] To hear the pronunciation, install Silverlight PLURAL NOUN 1. members of U.S. Protestant group: members of a Protestant group who migrated from Europe to North America in the 18th century. The Amish seek to maintain a lifestyle based on the Bible.

Yes, the title of this post is the definition for an Amish person.

Yesterday, my friend Rachel and I went on a mini road trip to visit an Amish community near the Alabama and TN state lines. Let me preface what I’m going to describe by saying that I was a little nervous/scared/and did not know what to expect. (and Rachel had been before with her mom).

Well, we pulled into the store/market area off the highway to purchase our tickets for the wagon ride tour. the wagon was a covered home-made wagon with a horse named Cody pulling me, Rachel, and 2 older women who were taking the tour to look for furniture and get prices. Rachel and I chose to sit up front with the driver…right behind the horse. Not sure if it was the best decision, but it turned out well because the entire buggy ride we asked the poor driver 1 million questions. He was what appeared to be a high-schooler from Lawrenceberg (a very small town in TN). He had the most country accent I have ever heard in my life. And I went to school in Auburn…and this was by far the countriest accent.

We rode around this community for about an hour. The first 15 minutes was spent getting to the actual homes and barns. There are no power lines/cars/light poles. It is just bare land with very simple white houses and sheds and barns and LOTS of cows, horses, and some pigs and chickens. On the mailboxes (which Amish people DO use the US postal service) were hand-written signs listing what the family was selling such as jams/jellies, bread, peanut brittle, tables, chairs, birdhouses, sorghum (which we learned is molasses) etc. A typical sized family is about 12 or 13 children. The Amish people view big families as a blessing from God, and they do not believe in birth control. the first house we pulled up to was selling jams and baskets. We walked up to their “store” shed and an older man came out and 2 little girls were standing on the porch in front of the door waving and smiling. All of the Amish people make their clothes, but they order the fabric from a catalog and have the fabric shipped. They order their shoes and hats. The 2 little girls were wearing long sleeve dresses, aprons, and bonnets. What is funny is that their primary language is German and in school (which they attend school from 7 years old to 14 years old) they learn English, reading, and writing. No science or math. And they don’t go to school past 8th grade, because the Amish believe that at that point, you have learned all the skills you will need to live in the Amish community. and after 8th grade you work, and work, and work. and make baskets, plow fields, milk cows, etc. So all I could think about when I saw the little kids throughout the tour was that was going to be their life. They really had no choice, because you are born into the Amish life, you can’t join it unless you are born into it. and if you are to leave the Amish community for any reason, you are shunned and your family and the entire Amish people will not speak to you. Marriages are practically arranged. We learned that your family sets you up with 3 different people and you go on dates with them (with a younger sibling in tow to monitor the date) and then you can choose among the 3. So it is not incestual, usually the girl or boy is sent off to another community to meet their significant other. It is not common for anyone to leave the Amish lifestyle.

Rachel bought a fried pineapple pie from one of the families. I bought some Amish bread & apple butter- Yum! We continued on the tour asking a million questions. We made several stops at different homes to look at the furniture. The men were hard at work making baskets, tables, chairs, bookshelves. You name the furniture, they had it. We didn’t see very many women. At some homes we stopped at, the women would come to the front screened-in door and just look at us. Something that really amazed me was EVERYTHING was practically hand-made. Their homes were built by the men in their community. The schoolhouses were made in like the 1940’s by them. It was like something off of Little House on the Prairie. I also found it interesting that the Amish rarely leave their community, but if they do, it is to go to Wal-Mart to buy food (cereal, sugar, simple groceries they cannot make) and tupperware, dishes, etc. SO interesting!

It was such a different experience and something I didn’t think I would find so interesting. We weren’t allowed to take pictures within the community, because Amish people believe it is vain and it takes away their soul & they will go to Hell. Rachel & I were able to sneak a few pictures of some of the buildings and one of us on the wagon ride!