So looked forward to today and our adventure out to Lancaster county and Amish country. The Religion teacher in me was so excited to get up close and personal with a religious group that so few know much about. We were picked up at our hotel and taken to 30th Street station. Doesn't sound like much, but have you seen the movie Witness with Harrison Ford? I know some of my Bethany English teacher friends will remember it well. The murder scene is set in 30th Street Station in Philadelphia... do you know how spooky it is going to the bathroom there? Anyway the station is a grand affair, towering columns and high ceilings and some amazing sculptures. I think it really rivals Grand Central in New York.
The train soon arrived, another Amtrak experience for train buff Chris and we snoozed on the 90 minute journey to Lancaster where the 7 of us who were on the tour were met by two cab drivers and whisked away, through Bird in the Hand to Intercourse... home of the Amish Experience. While this a bit of a tourist place, it was also incredibly informative. We started off by seeing a short film entitled Jacob's choice which details some of the beliefs of the Amish, including the notion of Adult Baptism and life commitment to the Amish church Community. Before making that commitment however the young people around age 16 go through a time called Rumschpringe. This is a time of greater freedom, a time of breaking out before the young person decides to make a commitment to the church. That was the focus of the movie and tracing a fictional Amish family roots. It was very good.
We then did the Amish Homestead tour. While this was a mock up, it was a very believable one. Our guide Jay told us a good deal about the history of the Amish. They were a part of the broader Anabaptist movement that was part of Reformation Europe. This denomination of Christianity, focused in Switzerland and Germany, were adamant that Baptism could only be undertaken after a personal lifelong commitment to Jesus and the community. Originally part of the Mennonites, the Amish became a separate sect in the late 1600's in Switzerland as they were followers of he interpretation of Joseph Amman. The Amish were persecuted in Europe by Protestants and Catholics too and eventually fled to North America where a large group settled in Pennsylvania as part of William Penn's "Religious Experiment" of religious tolerance. The Lancaster Amish are the descendants of these early settlers and they number about 30,000 today. They are in many ways a closed community. They shun the use of many modern things such as electricity, because it could bring in the bad influence of television, and the use of motorised transport because it takes people too far from home. Their main form of transport is the horse and cart and these can be seen on the roads all over Lancaster county. They also have a push scooter with Bicycle tyres.
Apart from learning all the things about the Amish from Jay, we also learned about their schooling and family life. Amish attend Amish one room schools, where classes in German, English, Mathematics, History and Health are taught. Years 1-8 are taught all in the same one room classroom by a teacher who also only has an 8th grade education. When I questioned how the Pennsylvania State Education could allow that to occur and be acceptable, I was told that in the States, only teachers in Public School need to be accredited to teach: in private schools, even Catholic schools they do not... So my teacher friends. Think of the brightest child in your year 8 class. Put her in front of a class of 20 or 30 children every day where she has to teach all the English Maths and German etc that she knows. Of course she will not have to teach Science because there are too many conflicts with a fairly fundamentalist interpretation of things like the creation story. Blows my mind really.
We then went into the house and learned more about every day life. Propane gas is used to power appliances like water heaters, washing machines, refrigerators and stoves. Only recently have 6 volt battery lamps started to replace the more dangerous kerosine lamps and most of the produce that is eaten is grown on the property. We learned all about the very strict dress code, about the colour white for not married women and black for married women, the bizarre use of sewing pins to hold the clothing on and the fact that every women's dress is made from the same pattern. Jay then went back to some of the dimensions of religious practice. Amish services are held in the home. Each community is divided geographically and up to 30-40 families make a parish. These families will attend one of the homes in the parish on the Sunday for worship and they will stay for lunch afterwards. In order to be able to accommodate all the visitors a special covered wagon exists in each parish. It is taken by horse to the family who is hosting the worship. It contains benches for people to sit on, a whole lot of cutlery for lunch and sets of the Amish prayer books. It gets parked outside the house for worship and that is how people know where to go. We also learned about the election of the leaders: the bishops and the elders of each parish. People are nominated and then if there is an oversupply of nominees, each nominee will be given a bible but one or two of the bibles will have a particular verse written on paper in them... whoever gets the paper has the job.... Holy Spirit intervention by snail mail? Still it is interesting, and again there is no formal training for ministry, people are elected based on their capacity.
In the afternoon, after a Family Style lunch, it was off to see the countryside and to learn more about the Amish and visit a family on their farm. The Lancaster countryside is beautiful. It is verdant green and there are touches of gold as the corn and tobacco crops are coming to harvest time. Everywhere properties are decorated with the symbols of the harvest festival and many properties are selling huge pumpkins to use as decorations. It is such a big thing here in America. We arrived at the farm to discover, not only agricultural produce, but a woodworking cottage industry with magnificent pieces and then a store with quilts and a large number of quilted goods as well as home made cheeses and jams. These people are truly industrious. In the store the young Amish boy who served us was very interested in our accent and wanted to find out about us. It was such a great experience and as Chris posted on Facebook... to meet is to know.
Jay returned us to Lancaster Station where we had quite a wait for the train back to Philadelphia so we chatted with our new American and Thai friends from our tour. Then back to Philly and a drop off at the hotel door. We decided Ruby Tuesday would be a great venue for dinner and so headed down a couple of blocks for a lovely meal. Home to pack... Tomorrow I think I'll go to Boston!
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