Amish Village
Well, we finally made it to Lancaster, the home of many Amercians, including the Amish People. I had heard a bit about the Amish culture, but driving and seeing them for ourselves was well worth the visit.
We started our tour of the Amish countryside with a visit to an Amish village set up for tourists. Amish people still live there and work the land, but allow tourists to buy things from their shop and take short tours inside the house, farm and schoolhouse.
An Amish family going about their business.
The living room doubles as a prayer room.
The Amish are a very religious people and their living rooms are set up as a prayer room as well. Inside the houses, the rooms are only ever painted 3 possible colours….blue (to symbolise the sky), green (to symbolise the grass) or brown (to symbolise the earth). You’ll notice house with no wires going to them. Anything that may need electricity in their homes (like a lamp, an iron or a fridge) are run on propane gas.
A little Amish boy, David, is 4 yrs old.
Our kids were quite fascinated with the clothes the Amish wore. When the boys turn 6 years of age, they dress like their fathers (suspender belts hold up their trousers as no zippers are used.) Girls at the same age dress like their mothers and must wear prayer hats on their heads most of the time. They start wearing bonnets when they are older. When girls get married, their wedding dress can be lavender, violet or green with a white apron style over it. This is the only time they wear the dress besides their funeral. Once women are married, they wear a lot of black. An Amish man who is not married must be clean shaven, but once he has “tied the knot”, grows a beard (but shaves the moustache).
The Amish women spend their day cooking, cleaning, praying and (if time) quilting. Apparently some Amish communities allow more use of technology than others, so I have found a site that explains their cultural and religious beliefs in more depth. Click here to read more.
Leona, a 2 yr old Amish girl.
Something I found fascinating is that the Amish are not allowed to take photos of themselves or their kids. According to their beliefs, pictures are false and not the truth as we live on a day to day basis.
Leona with her Mum and our kids.
We were allowed to take photos with permisssion, but not video footage. Our kids made friends with the Amish children straight away, and little Leona was very keen to hold baby Akaisha as you can see in the photo. Her mother baked and sold cookies to tourists.
End of Part One……………