The Riddle of Amish Culture

by Donald B. Kraybill

  In the close interaction of friends and family, the authentic Amish self becomes known and accepted without cosmetic props. Thus all jewelry (including wedding rings and wrist watches) is taboo, because it reveals a proud heart. Any form of makeup, hair styling, showy dress, commercial clothing, flashy color, or bold fabric that calls undue attention to the self is off-limits in Amish culture. Makeup is proscribed, even in the casket. The rejection of outward adornment is rooted in biblical teaching.26

  Pride, however, pops up in virtually all avenues of Amish life. Traces of it appear in professional landscaping around houses, showy furniture, fancy harnesses, and windshield wipers on carriages. An artist worried that she was becoming too high-minded, or Hochmut, because of her paintings. One farmer described another as “horse proud,” that is, too concerned about the appearance of his horses. Another man noted, “You can easily tell the difference between the horses and carriages of well-to-do businessmen and everyone else.” Unnecessary trappings are considered pretentious signs that individuals are clamoring for self-attention, elevating themselves above others.

  Humility is a barometer of Gelassenheit. The Amish are taught: “If other people praise you, humble yourself. But do not praise yourself or boast, for that is the way of fools who seek vain praise.... In tribulation be patient and humble yourself under the mighty hand of God.”27 Jesus, the meek servant, is the model of true humility. The Amish ritualize the virtue of humility by washing one another’s feet during the fall and spring communion services. According to the command of Christ (John 13:4–7), they teach that stooping to wash the feet of a brother or sister “is a sign of true humiliation.”28 One member, writing to another member facing censure by the church, pleaded, “Humble yourself and stoop low enough so that you can forgive others . . . and make peace with the church.”

  SEPARATION FROM THE WORLD

  Taking their cues from the Bible, the Amish divide the social world into two categories: the straight, narrow way to life and the broad, easy road to destruction. The Amish seek to embody the straight and narrow way of self-denial, while the larger social world represents the broad, easy path of vanity and vice. To the Amish, the term world refers not to the globe but to the entire social system outside Amish society—its people, values, vices, and institutions—in short, to modernity itself. Sectarian groups typically oppose the dominant social order. The Amish contrast church with world, Amish with non-Amish, and “our people” with “outsiders.” A leader put it simply: “If you’re not Amish, you’re English and part of the world.” Even the five-year-old son of an Amish hat maker said: “We sell most of them to our people, but a few of them to the English.” Such a simple division of the social terrain is common even in the modern mind, where capitalism is pitted against socialism, Republican against Democrat, and alien against citizen.

  The values of a worldly system that savors individualism, relativism, and fragmentation threaten the spirit of Gelassenheit. The larger social system serves as a negative reference point for perverted values. Daily press reports of government scandal, drug abuse, violent crime, divorce, war, greed, homosexuality, and child abuse confirm again and again in the Amish mind that the world is teeming with evil. Asked one Amish writer, “If we have to read the sickening details of one more war, rape, robbery, murder, riot or famine, or hear the gory report of one more senseless automobile crash, what shall it profit us if we hear of a thousand more?”29 Just as the fear of aggression intensifies American patriotism, so the fear of an evil world strengthens Amish solidarity.

  This sharp dualism between church and world crystallized in the sixteenth century, when many Anabaptists were tortured and executed. An early Anabaptist theological statement, written in 1527, underscored the deep chasm between the church and the world: “All of those who have fellowship with the dead works of darkness have no part in the light. Thus all who follow the devil and the world, have no part with those who are called out of the world into God.”30

  The split between church and world, imprinted in Amish consciousness by decades of persecution, is legitimated by Scripture. Using biblical imagery, the Amish see the church as “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people . . . who were called out of the darkness” (1 Pet. 2:9).31 The Scripture admonishes them not to “conform to the world” (Rom. 12:2), and to “love not the world or the things of the world” (1 John 2:15). Moreover, “Whosoever . . . will be a friend of the world is an enemy of God” (Jas. 4:4). One Amishman said: “Jesus through his direct plea has commanded us to come out from the world, and be separated, and touch not the unclean things.... In other words, we shall not be conformed to this world, but be transformed.”32

  To the Amish, worldliness denotes a whole host of specific behaviors, objects, and lifestyles. High school, cars, computers, cameras, video recorders, television, films, showy houses, and bicycles, all tagged “worldly,” are censured. However, the term worldly is a slippery one, for its meaning evolves over time. White enamel stoves and bathtubs, for instance, were obvious signs of worldliness in the 1940s. Today modern gas stoves and bathtubs are common in Amish homes. Many children and even some adults wear sneakers, which were once forbidden. The term also provides symbolic boundary markers for the Amish moral order. For example, white commercial cigarettes are forbidden but thin “Winchester” cigars in brown wrappers are acceptable.

  Pliable over time, the term worldly is a convenient way of labeling changes, products, practices, and beliefs that appear threatening to the welfare of the community. The stigma of this label stalls the acceptance of some products and keeps them at arm’s length. However, not all new things are dubbed worldly. For example, battery-operated calculators, synthetic materials, solid-state gasoline engines, hot dogs, rollerblades, plastic toys, and fiberglass have escaped the stamp of worldliness because they pose little threat to the community.

  The Amish fear of worldliness is rooted in a spiritual concern to preserve the purity of the church. The drama between church and world is a battle between good and evil, between the forces of righteousness and those of the devil. It is the ultimate struggle, and to succumb to worldliness is to surrender the community to apostasy. This key unlocks many of the riddles in Amish society. The impulse to separate from the world infuses Amish consciousness, guides personal behavior, and shapes institutional structures. The sectarian suspicion of the world confounds Moderns, who are enchanted by inclusivity, acceptance, diversity, and religious pluralism. If social separation is indeed a by-product of technological progress, the Amish believe they can only preserve their community by separating from the Great Separator, modernity itself.

  THE JOY OF WORK

  In contrast to some Moderns who hate their jobs but love to shop, the Amish enjoy their work and despise conspicuous consumption. Theirs is an economy of production, not consumption. Although mischief, play, and leisure flourish in Amish life, work dominates. Often hard and dirty, it is good and meaningful work that for the most part builds community. Amish work integrates; it binds the individual to the group, the family, and the church. Work is not a personal career but a calling from God, and in this sense, it becomes a redemptive ritual.33

  Housework, shop work, and fieldwork are offerings that contribute to a family’s welfare. Family, community, and work are woven together in the fabric of Amish life. Work is not pitted against the other spheres of life as often happens elsewhere. The rhythms of work are pursued for the sake of community, not just for individual profit and prestige. A great deal of work is done in small groups, where it blends effort and play in a celebration of togetherness. The profits of Amish work typically support family and church, not exotic hobbies and expensive cruises. Children are expected to “help out” soon after they can walk, and some will learn to drive a team of mules by the age of eight. Because of the communal nature of work, labor-saving technology poses a threat to the social order.

  Idleness is deplored as the “devil’s workshop.” If there is any dou
bt that work is a sacred ritual, there can be no doubt that the Amish despise idleness. They are told: “Detest idleness as a pillow of Satan and a cause of all sorts of wickedness, and be diligent in your appointed tasks that you not be found idle. Satan has great power over the idle, to lead them into many sins. King David was idle on the rooftop of his house when he fell into adultery.”34 Idle minds fill up with vulgar thoughts and become dangerous. An Amishman from another settlement grumbled that the Lancaster Amish “don’t even have time to visit” because “they just work, work, work.” An Amish businessman worries that with more people working in shops, there will be too much free time in evenings and weekends, which will lead to mischief.

  An Amishman was vexed by the sloth he saw in a state-funded road crew: “I had the privilege of seeing with my own eyes the total disregard of any work ethic. Eight men and women showed up for the project.... And folks, this was one of the laziest and unmotivated crew of bums you ever saw gathered for a job.” He concluded that it took eight state employees three days to do what three Amishmen could have done in one.35

  Amish work is “hands-on,” practical work. Plowing, milking, sawing, welding, quilting, and canning do not involve the manipulation of abstract symbols and data like work in an information society. The farmer or carpenter sees, touches, and shapes the final product and holds responsibility for it. Manual work breeds a pragmatic mentality that values “practical” things and eschews abstract, “impractical” theories derived from “book learning.” Historically, farm life provided abundant work in the context of family, neighborhood, and church. The strong work ethic that provided enormous energy for farming has fueled the dramatic growth of Amish businesses as well.

  A consistent theme in the Amish opposition to high school was the fear that academic life would teach Amish youth to despise manual work. The goal of Amish schools is “to prepare for usefulness by preparing for eternity” rather than to spoil children with the abstractions of philosophy.36 Quoting a Bible verse (Col. 2:8), the Amish caution: “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ.”37 “Children,” according to one leader, “should grow up to be useful men and women, useful in the community and also useful members of the church of Christ.”38

  Decorative artwork displayed on walls is disdained because it is not useful and because it encourages vanity. Embroidered family registers, calendars, and genealogical charts are more likely to hang on Amish walls. Some Amish write poetry, keep journals, and decorate crafts with pastoral scenes. Art that exalts the individual artist is unwelcome, although a few folk artists have always found expression in Amish society.39

  Practical expressions of art are encouraged in quilting patterns, recipes, flower gardens, artistic lettering in Bibles, toys, dolls, crafts, and furniture designs. The Amish spend an enormous amount of creative energy making crafts for gifts and family needs as well as to sell to neighbors and tourists. Many of the older artistic restraints eroded in the 1990s with the rapid growth of the craft market.40

  An Amish quilt shop displays artistic expression. Electric lights are permissible because the property is owned by a non-Amish person.

  The artist is always on the fringe of Amish society and needs to work within its moral boundaries, for example, by not painting faces on images of people. Public art shows that call attention to the artist are generally not allowed because they would cultivate pride. One artist complained: “It’s okay to paint milk cans but not to display your work at art shows.” Artistic impulses in their modern forms are considered worldly, impractical, and self-exalting—a waste of time and money. However, church leaders will sometimes grant artists special freedoms to display their work because of disabilities or economic hardships in their families.

  THE PRACTICE OF THRIFT

  When things become too practical and handy, they border on luxury. A hay baler is practical, but an automatic bale thrower to load bales on wagons is considered “too handy” and thus worldly. Automatic devices generally are considered too handy. Sacrifice is a sign of the yielded self, but luxury signals pride. No longer content to work and sacrifice for the common good, the pleasure seeker is preoccupied with self-fulfillment. The Amish are urged to “suffer affliction with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.”41 Pleasure and self-denial, ease and discipline, and fancy and plain are symbolic oppositions that pinpoint the difference between self-enhancement and Gelassenheit.

  The yielded self does not seek pleasure, buy luxuries, make things too handy, or pay for “looks.” In the Amish economy rags are recycled into carpets, clothing is patched rather than tossed away with every passing fad, and clothing and toys are passed down to younger children. The exaltation of thrift is not a masochistic drive to win divine favor or guarantee eternal life. It is an acceptance that the habit of austerity—developed over the decades—has produced a wholesome life. In short, it works by stifling vanity and spiking productivity.

  One expression of thrift is a strong saving ethic. A financial advisor to the Amish has 750 Amish clients who invest in mutual funds on a monthly basis. The dollars are transferred electronically from their checking accounts to the mutual funds. Some may save as little as twenty-five dollars a month, and others several thousand dollars. Instead of investing in college, young adults often save carefully so they can buy a home or business. One young adult earned $24,000 a year, saved half of it, and in several years bought a small house with virtually no mortgage. Another young man saved $200,000 by the time he was twenty-eight to invest in a farm. A hard work ethic, combined with an impulse to save, an austere lifestyle, and a strong economy, make it possible for some young people to buy property with a very modest mortgage.

  THE VALUE OF TRADITION

  Amish culture tilts toward tradition. In the modern world, where new is best and change equates with progress, the Amish offer a different view. They see tradition as a healthy brake that “slows things down.” A young minister noted:

  We consider tradition as being spiritually helpful. Tradition can blind you if you adhere only to tradition and not the meanings of the tradition, but we really maintain a tradition. I’ve heard one of our members say if you start changing some things, it won’t stop at some things, it will keep on changing and there won’t be an end to it. We have some traditions, that some people question and I sometimes myself question, that are being maintained just because they are a tradition. This can be adverse, but it can also be a benefit. Tradition always looks bad if you’re comparing one month to the next or one year to the next, but when you’re talking fifty years or more, tradition looks more favorable.

  Another Amishman said: “Tradition to us is a sacred trust, and it is part of our religion to uphold and adhere to the ideals of our forefathers.”42

  The spirit of Gelassenheit calls for yielding to tradition. Economic pressure, expansion, curiosity, greed, and youthful innovation foster social change. Although suspect, change is not necessarily all bad. New things are not rejected out of hand by the Amish just because they are new. Innovations are cautiously evaluated to see where they might lead and how they might influence the community. Traditional sentiments, however, regulate everything from clothing to education.

  Modern societies look forward and strategically plan their future. The Amish glance backward and treasure their tradition as a resource for coping with the present. Tradition slows the dangerous wheel of change. Some entrepreneurs are increasingly looking forward as they plan and strategize to find new markets for their products. Despite these forward glances, the Amish have not lost sight of their past and its precious legacy. While Moderns are preoccupied with planning, the Amish hearken to the voice of tradition. Echoes from previous generations and concerns for future ones merge and enlarge their sense of the present.

  A SLOWER PACE

  Perceptions of time vary enormously from culture to culture. Time organizes human consciousness as well as ev
eryday behavior.43 Anyone stepping into Amish society suddenly feels time expand and relax. The batteryoperated clocks on Amish walls seem to run slower. From body language to the speed of transportation, from singing to walking, the stride is slower. Traveling by buggy, plowing with horses, and going to church every other week create a temporal order with a slower, more deliberate rhythm. Time is marked by half-days and seasons, not by thirty-second commercials and fifteen-minute interviews.

  An Amishman described an Amishwoman who had her yard professionally landscaped as “a little on the fast side.” “Fast” families and church districts stretch the boundaries of tradition. The spirit of Gelassenheit is reserved—slow to respond, slow to change, slow to push ahead. An Amishman noted: “Our way of living differs greatly from those living in the fast pace of this world.”44 The Amish separated themselves from the pace of modernity in the mid-twentieth century by not turning their clocks to daylight saving time but following “natural” standard time.45 Although increased interaction with the outside world has led many families involved in business to comply with daylight saving time, other families still follow standard time as a symbolic practice of separation from the world. Church services, of course, usually follow “God’s (standard) time.”