Interesting Amish Links

[Renee]

I have noticed some interest in the Amish when reading the threads on this forum. I thought you might like these youtube videos made by David and Fran Yoder. They were part of the Swartzentruber tribe, left, came back, left again and today I believe they are part of a much more conservative Amish group.

Don't worry! Nothing is X-rated! The Amish Woman dressing, for example, shows the different layers of clothing she wears and how they are attached with pins, etc.! Another shows how they make their underwear using buttons because they can't use elastic. Nothin' shady going on here.

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=.../0/9yvdOZEVqVE Swartzentruber Amish dating!!

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=.../2/Pga--wnfWj4 Relating to murder of David
Yoder's niece

Amish men's dress code:

YouTube

YouTube

women's underwear

Swartzentruber Amish woman shows how to put up hair:

YouTube

Amish woman getting dressed: youtube swartzenturber amish

YouTube

Secrets of Swartzentruber Amish

YouTube

Renee

[firegirl969]

Thanks for the links Renee. Interesting videos. I am looking for a couple of copies of the Amish newspaper that they put out. I can't remember the name of it, but years ago someone sent me 2 of them in some ebay stuff I got. I enjoyed the reading. It was funny how some would post when a family in their group would travel somewhere to visit family. Good, interesting, wholesome reading. Some days, I wish that is what would be in our newspaper. The highlights of it seem to be the police record and Soundoff where people call in to complain about whatever. I dropped my subscription.

[Kmac15]

WOW, thanks for the links. I watched them all and learned a lot.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Amish ( I lived among them for 6 years in Lancaster County, PA)..These videos are apparently from one local group/family of Amish and are certainly not representative of "all " Amish or even IMHO, many Amish..
Amish don't have photographs in their homes, or anyplace else..and if I told my friends in Lancaster County about the "dating practices", they'd be both horrified and amused at the same time..

[Gercarson]

Originally Posted by bostonlesley

For those of you unfamiliar with the Amish ( I lived among them for 6 years in Lancaster County, PA)..These videos are apparently from one local group/family of Amish and are certainly not representative of "all " Amish or even IMHO, many Amish..
Amish don't have photographs in their homes, or anyplace else..and if I told my friends in Lancaster County about the "dating practices", they'd be both horrified and amused at the same time..

Amish - Links ... ?? Just doesn't "work" in my mind.

[plowjockey]

The dating guy look like an Elvis impersonator and the dressing guy, looked looked like a corporate CEO.

When did the beards go away? Amishdeception videos?

Is this even real?

[Renee]

Firegirl, the paper is called "The Budget". I bought one after not having seen a copy for several years and it did not include the reports from the different settlements. Maybe they have two different issues now to protect their privacy? Or maybe I got a hold of a special edition or something.

Bostonlesley, I live among the Swartzentruber Amish. Yes, there are many different types of Amish. The Swartzentrubers broke away from the Old Order Amish many years ago as they felt the Old Order was becoming worldly.
I once personally asked the couple that lives next door to me if it was true that they dated in bed. Lizzie put her head down. Her husband answered yes. I just laughed. The reason I inquired is because they asked me if I heard the singing the night before coming from their house. It was their Sunday to host the community for church and that meant that the young people gathered at their home for a "Sing" in the evening. After the Sing the young men often ask the young ladies if they can drive them home. I was joking with them as to how a girl got home if she didn't get a date... did she have to walk or whatever and they laughed and said "no one walks, she'll have a brother or cousin to drive her home". This actually is a practice here among this community.
Now, about the man in the videos. I don't know the guy but I have heard about him. I once read his book. He is an ex-Amishman from the Swartzentruber sect. He left once, came back, left again. He and his wife Fran were actually over the road truck drivers at one time. I believe they joined a more conservative Amish group at some time and might still be involved there. I don't know. His mission seems to be against child abuse in Amish families.
About the Elvis hair... It looks to me that he may have put a wig on (even a fake beard) for his youtube video. Really, I don't know. His hair would be longer if it was cut according to the Swartzentruber ordnung. The man is
sincere, I believe, and just trying to educate people. He has a web site that includes the Swartzentruber Ordnung (rules they live by). They have two services a year to read the Ordnung. They had this service right next door to me this past spring, I believe. Anyway the guys website is Amish Deception.

Editing Here:
With respect for the people who made the videos:
The Yoder's were born and raised Swartzentruber Amish. They have issues with some of the practices among their people, particularly child abuse situations they have witnessed... which I say would explains the name "Amish Deception".
Because the man is an author and vocal about child abuse I would guess that he and his wife might give lectures. They might use a wig and beard to demonstrate points. They surely know all the details about the clothes and practices of their church.
They lived it.


Renee

[doc623]

The 'Amish' newspaper is "The Budget".
It has local and national sections/editions.
There are correspondents/scribes that send info weekly from their respective areas - world wide - and is published weekly.
You may subscribe to the paper. I think the Budget has a web site.
Would you like a copy?

Originally Posted by doc623

The 'Amish' newspaper is "The Budget".
It has local and national sections/editions.
There are correspondents/scribes that send info weekly from their respective areas - world wide - and is published weekly.
You may subscribe to the paper. I think the Budget has a web site.
Would you like a copy?

There are two newspapers which serve the Amish population..one is, indeed, the "Budget" and then there's "Botschaft"..? sp,

[firegirl969]

Thanks for the name of the newspaper, The Budget. That was it! doc, I PM'ed you. Blessings, firegirl

[sgl42]

re: amish dating -- google "bundling". it was apparently a common practice in colonial american and not limited to the amish then, but petered out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundling_(tradition)
http://family.jrank.org/pages/186/Bundling.html
http://www.horseshoe.cc/pennadutch/c...s/bundling.htm
http://www.fortklock.com/bundling.htm

i originally discovered the term from some movie i was watching, but i don't remember which one. (seems like it was a historical fiction drama of the colonial period). the mother was sewing the daughter into the "bundling bag" to keep the daughter chaste while courting boy was bundling overnight with her, and the father says to his wife with smile, "i hope you sew better than your mother did!"

--sgl

[BamaSpek]

Originally Posted by sgl42

"i hope you sew better than your mother did!"

--sgl

[salmonslayer]

It was interesting and the guy clearly stated in one video that he didnt have his wig and beard on but him in the video of the dating made me think of the movie Kingpin.

[Renee]

"Bundling" is alive among the Swartzentrubers. They adhere more to the old ways than the other Amish types. I have no regrets living in the area of their settlement -- except that their buggies are hard to see at dusk and later. I worrry when we have guests driving in who are not familiar with watching for buggies. They have kerosene lanterns and three strips of reflective tape on the rear end of the buggy. No "slow moving triangle". They refuse to use them. Renee

[MullersLaneFarm]

Originally Posted by sgl42

i originally discovered the term from some movie i was watching, but i don't remember which one. (seems like it was a historical fiction drama of the colonial period). the mother was sewing the daughter into the "bundling bag" to keep the daughter chaste while courting boy was bundling overnight with her, and the father says to his wife with smile, "i hope you sew better than your mother did!"

--sgl

The Patriot

[just_sawing]

In Tennessee my grandmother has told stories that included bundling for dating. Realize that when the house was heated by a fire place if a couple wanted privatcy to lay on a bed with a quilt over the girl then the boy lays down on the quilt and another is placed on him. Safe and secure but more private than at the fire place.

[Renee]

If anyone is interested there are lengthy excerpts of Yoder's book here:
http://www.amishdeception.com/BookIntro.htm

And a complete (swartzentruber) Ordnung:
http://www.amishdeception.com/Ordnung.htm

Renee

[Mrs. Homesteader]

Originally Posted by Renee

"Bundling" is alive among the Swartzentrubers. They adhere more to the old ways than the other Amish types. I have no regrets living in the area of their settlement -- except that their buggies are hard to see at dusk and later. I worrry when we have guests driving in who are not familiar with watching for buggies. They have kerosene lanterns and three strips of reflective tape on the rear end of the buggy. No "slow moving triangle". They refuse to use them. Renee

We too live among the Swartzentrubers. Ours do not even have the reflective tape on thier buggies. It is eery to come up on them in the dark. They are truly the most primitive of all the Amish. We bought our last house from an Old Order Amish man. I was telling him about another Amish house we had looked at. He almost spat and said, those are Swartzentrubers... they are low Amish. It was almost like someone else might talk about white trash.

[Renee]

Marci, there seems to be a “holier than thou” rivalry between the groups. I have heard of the Swartzentrubers referring to the higher Amish as “Buggy people”. In other words merely using a horse and buggy doesn’t make you Amish. They are more spiritual because they shun the modern ways of the higher Amish.
On the other hand I’ve heard that the old Order types refer to the Swartzentrubers in an unflattering way, as you have experienced. I guess there is a Dutch phrase for a “rolling road apple” used as well as Noodlers and Noodle rollers . I have read they are referred to as lumpy beards (?) because their long beards get soiled when they milk the cows. Hillbilly Amish is another phrase.
It seems common among all cultures for people to want to feel more important than or better than others. Sad.
Renee

[mammabooh]

The Swartzentrubers are what are around here. When we went to Lancaster, PA quite a few years ago, we were shocked by the brightly-colored clothes and fancy buggies that the Amish had there.