Amish Community in Ireland

homer911

Interesting article on the Amish Community in Dunmore East..

http://dialogueireland.wordpress.com/2014/11/05/did-you-know-ireland-has-an-amish-community-casey-egan-irishcentral-november-052014/

martinedwards

there's a lot of cars in the church car park for an Amish community.......

lazygal

I'm fascinated by the Amish community. I have read a few books about it and there are some very dark sides to the sect. I posted this in another forum but it might be of interest to some here:
http://www.vice.com/read/the-ghost-rapes-of-bolivia-000300-v20n8
Warning-it is quite upsetting.


On the cars things, depending on the rules and norms of the community cars are completely acceptable. Not every Amish community is the horse and buggy only type.

Peregrinus

Not all of the Amish drive horse buggies, you know . . .

If you read the article, it explains the interaction this particular community has with modernity, and the attitude they take to the use of technology.

I note that the outcome of their approach is " best summed up by one of the community’s young girls, who knows who Enda Kenny and Barack Obama are, but thinks the name Kim Kardashian might come from an Irish legend". That looks like a pretty good outcome to me!

branie2

Ever see the film witness, in which Harrison Ford plays a detective who goes undercover in the Amish community?

Berserker

I have always had an interest in the community and have been lucky enough to work and become friends with an ex-Amish woman when I was in NY. After 'rumspringa', she decide to pursue the 'English' (non-Amish) lifestyle. She did not get baptized into the church as an adult, so she is not shunned by her family and community. Her family are new-order Amish, so they are quite traditional. There were some Mennonite families in the area too.

As a result of that friendship, I got to visit her community in Pennsylvania. Lovely people I have to say. Six of us went down and they were really welcoming. In relation to cars, they can accept lifts from people but the cannot own of drive cars themselves. That was the rule where I visited.

I have read loads of books on the topic. 'Rumspringa: To Be or Not to Be Amish' by Tom Shachtman gives a brilliant insight into the 'rumspringa' period. The teens live such sheltered lives that they go crazy when they get freedom but a huge majority end up going back to the church because the cannot adapt to life in the outside world.

And idea what language these people speak, within their community, I mean? Interesting that they have their own centre/church. The ones I visited held church in their own holds; different family each week.

Benny_Cake

Berserker wrote: »

And idea what language these people speak, within their community, I mean? Interesting that they have their own centre/church. The ones I visited held church in their own holds; different family each week.

I'm fascinated by them too, sounds like you had an interesting experience. The language they speak in Pennsylvania is Pennsylvanian Dutch, which is actually a form of 17th century German. Not easy to understand for modern German speakers, lots of obscure agricultural terminology and words which haven't been spoken in Germany for centuries.

There are a huge number of subgroups within the overall Amish/Mennonite community, from extremely conservative traditional Amish communities to extremely liberal Mennonites (the Amish split from the Mennonite church over the practise of shunning, Mennonites don't shun). The community in Waterford are part of a group called the Beachy Amish, who are theologically conservative but take a pragmatic approach to technology - no TV as far as I know but some of them are bloggers!

If anyone is passing it's worth popping into their filling station, Jaybees. It's probably the only place in Ireland that sells fuel, cakes and Christian and pacifist books under the one roof.

Manach

Apart from the Ford film, I've never had that much knowledge on them. In historical texts I've read they are noted as having formed an nearly unique colonial experience perspective. This is due to their speach patterns which were held as an example how their language froze at a certain level and their ability to hold onto their own culture amid more dominant cultures both in the US and South America.
As well, there is a genre of fantasy/scifi novels with Amish elements: "Amish Vampires in Space", being a classic.

Berserker

Benny_Cake wrote: »

I'm fascinated by them too, sounds like you had an interesting experience. The language they speak in Pennsylvania is Pennsylvanian Dutch, which is actually a form of 17th century German. Not easy to understand for modern German speakers, lots of obscure agricultural terminology and words which haven't been spoken in Germany for centuries.

Pennsylvanian Dutch is very interesting alright. You greet an Amish person with 'wie gehts'. That is the only term we used or had to use there. The language is passed on through conversation in the family and community. Very little in terms of written text. I wonder if the people in Wexford speak it.

Benny_Cake

Berserker wrote: »

Pennsylvanian Dutch is very interesting alright. You greet an Amish person with 'wie gehts'. That is the only term we used or had to use there. The language is passed on through conversation in the family and community. Very little in terms of written text. I wonder if the people in Wexford speak it.

Some may use it at home, but it seems unlikely that it is used much. The community seems to have been making attempts at outreach and evangelism to the wider community and it'd be a lot easier to do that in English! The Old-Order Amish seem to be a lot more insular.

There is a website for the Dunmore East church here. Also, the Beachy Amish website has a great FAQ:

http://www.beachyam.org/FAQs.htm

katydid

Benny_Cake wrote: »

If anyone is passing it's worth popping into their filling station, Jaybees. It's probably the only place in Ireland that sells fuel, cakes and Christian and pacifist books under the one roof.

And probably the only petrol station and shop that's closed on Sundays.

katydid

Berserker wrote: »

Pennsylvanian Dutch is very interesting alright. You greet an Amish person with 'wie gehts'. That is the only term we used or had to use there. The language is passed on through conversation in the family and community. Very little in terms of written text. I wonder if the people in Wexford speak it.

It's Waterford, not Wexford.