The Amish: A People Of Preservation (1976)

[Music] 4 and a half centuries ago a group of Swiss citizens determined to apply the teachings of Jesus simply and directly to every aspect of their lives [Music] because they would no longer fight or take an oath and made membership in the church a matter of adult free will they were considered dangerous utopian Heretics many of their leaders were killed off and they were harassed until most of them left the secluded Mountain Farms of their native Switzerland in 1693 the more conservative members became a separate group under the leadership of Jacob Amon his followers were then called Amish and the larger more liberal group [Music] menites while the world about them has raced headlong into revolutionary change the Amish have stubbornly maintained their simple faith and community no one can speak for the old Lord Amish but themselves they have seldom chosen to do so they distrust many words their life is their testimony at the New Holland Pennsylvania horse auction which thrives on their trade they enjoy a free and friendly mingling with their neighbors although their costume keeps them distinct they're ready to do business with people of the world they are involved as buyers and sellers and jockeys normally they will not willingly face the camera because they take the Ten Commandments seriously including the one against making a Graven image or likeness when they talk among themselves they use the language of their forefathers a dialect of Switzerland and Southern Germany they cherish it as the language of their faith in their community in the 20th century they have grown to some 75,000 scattered through 20 States and provinces Harley wagler left his Amish community in Kansas for the University at 19 he tells what it's like to grow up on an Amish farm right from the very start he develops an Amish way of looking at things simply because he doesn't have much opportunity to be exposed to other influences so that you are extremely conscious of your family your home setting even in the toys you play with many of them are homemade or hand me downs from your parents or even grandparents you are very close to Nature I remember I used to spend hours as a child walking out through the trees looking at insects birds animals they fascinated me and it was part of my growing up a one room Schoolhouse is all you need to teach reading writing and arithmetic which will fit students to live in their farming Community when the larger society discarded the 19th century type schools the Amish set up a system in order to preserve them for themselves at recess there's plenty of chance for exercise without expensive worldly sports equipment physical and social enjoyment rather than competitiveness is the point of the game here the father can be confident that his teaching at home is not cancelled out in his children's education as a lay trustee he writes and signs the rules for the school he pays for without State Fund textbooks printed by an Amish Publishing House stress the virtues of humility Duty truthfulness kindness and orderliness teaching about God is often considered too sacred for the school and left to the church and home the Amish were deeply moved by the words of Chief Justice Warren Berger in the landmark Supreme Court decision of 1972 which recognized the legality of the Amish educational way within the American system Justice Berger wrote there can be no assumption that today's majority is right and the Amish and others like them are wrong a way of life that is odd or even erratic but interferes with no rights or interests of others is not to be condemned because it is [Music] different the teacher is usually a young woman with a grade school education who has shown aptitude in learning the Amish teach their children two languages generation after generation it's the parents rather than the state who love their children for Time and Eternity and they feel a solemn obligation to nurture their children through innocence to the point of marriage and entering the adult community of work and Faith between the time when parents yield their control over their children's minds and the time the community takes over the peer group is of extreme importance no Simplicity is prized the Amish do not expect the world to understand this learning or reading as ends in themselves are seen as detrimental since they do not prepare a person with the practical skills and tastes needed for life in an Amish community the Amish have been given the right to substitute for the required high school years training in work at home carefully recorded in a Daily Journal which is reviewed by an instructor by the time am's children are 14 most of them prefer to leave school for practical vocational activities their families need them economically and that gives them a sense of worth clothing like all other aspects of Amish Society is strictly defined by what the Amish call their ordin the orom is the set of rules which the ministers present this is the set of rules you live by having stopped the clock of style centuries ago the Amish make their clothing Express obedience to the ording of the congregation and the suppression of hmut or Pride the opposite of pride is deut or humility deut is it is what you would like to be characterized by because this is godliness they Delight in the natural colors of the Earth but they very carefully control the use of those colors so that they never become a means by which the individual asserts himself or herself over against the community innocent children are not in as much danger of exploiting color for egotistic purposes but even their dress must declare their identity by her later teens the girl's head is always covered and she always wears an apron symbol not only of humility but Readiness for work on weekday a cchf may be allowed but when meeting the public or on Sundays she wears her cap neatly starched and a Sunday dress which will later serve for weekday use you know it is possible even within the limitations of Amish dress to demonstrate hmood if you stretch the limitations of the ome for example at home we were not to wear pockets on our shirts because you could put nice things in here and these would be visible some of the young people would wear these this was in a sense Rebellion but it was also hmood it was one way of saying look at me look at what I have that you don't have that is hmut and it's very important especially for a married person not to demonstrate this deut is the thing that you must strive for to be humble an Amish home must be simple but it's always substantial and in its strictness often beautiful several generations and sometimes several families live on the same farm when parents turn over the main work of the farm to Sons or sons-in-law they will move into a smaller section of the house called the doy or grandfather's house if there is none one will be built on an amazing amazing composite architecture evolves sometimes end to end sometimes clustered like a crazy quilt roofs and Gables and windows and porches form a pattern that means love for the transgenerational family inside it's just as plain and functional there's enough space in the kitchen for it to serve as a combination living in family room and the atmosphere of an earlier time persists the pressurized Gas Lamp stays on all evening it provides plenty of light to visit or read by the sitting room is for company and a few nice things in it speak for Hospitality More Than Pride a fancy calendar is acceptable because it's old-fashioned consciousness of the family extends back through the generations the word of God in German has the place of respect in the sitting room plenty of chairs provide for long Sunday afternoons of visiting the strictest of the Amish would have no upholstered furniture folding doors can be opened to make a large area for church services at home by Saturday afternoon preparations for a day of worship and visiting are nearly completed the Amish don't go to a church their Church meets in their homes a special wagon transports benches from house to house this home has a carriage shop so chairs are brought out to it from the house they have no altar or holy place in keeping with their understanding of the words of Jesus where two or three of you have gathered in my name there I am in the midst of you here the congregation will sit for a 4our service of singing preaching and praying all ages will attend chairs are supplied in the front rows for Aged members and ministers the preaching will be done by Men Without special training who have been selected for the role of Minister from the congregation by the casting of lots on Sunday morning when the people arrive in church they stop before the church house or the house and turn the wheels to one side so that the ladies can get out of the buggy adult men or the married men will go in together and the young fellows will always always stay and go in just at the very last minute and this is always a very exciting experience because it's usually arranged so that when you come in you have to walk in front of all the other people and then circle around behind and sit on the back bench so this is a very exciting experience especially if you know that the girls out in the kitchen will be watching you as you walk in for their congregational singing the Amish use the Asun or selection the oldest Protestant himm book in continuous use it consists mainly of martyr ballads and spiritual songs written by European anabaptists in the 16th century they sing by oral tradition embellishing the ancient Melodies almost beyond recognition [Music] men are in one room and women in the other and usually the minister stands in the doorway between these two rooms so that he can speak to one group and then the other and while they are preaching they will usually develop a rhythm kind of sing song method of deliv [Music] if our electronic civilization should fall the Amish might be the last to miss it they have never stopped employing the simple sources of energy that make nature seem like a Friend the Wind lifts water to an old railroad tank car upended at a spot on the farm higher than the buildings and gravity takes it back down to the faucet so much of what seems different about the Amish is only they're continuing to practice what everybody used to long after almost everybody else has stopped doing it wind isn't the only free energy the Amish man Taps by damning the stream in his Meadow the farmer stores up enough power to turn a little wheel even when there's no wind it works for the family night and day and even when the neighbors electricity goes off there'll be constant running water for man and beast on this Amish farm the standard color for the Amish family buggy in Lancaster county is gray made by his own people it may cost the Amish man $1,500 he resisted electric lights until modern traffic and state laws has made them necessary now his lights flash a constant warning along Country Roads pre-20th Century vehicle ahead as the gap widens between the Amish ways and those of their neighbors place is saved for them in a kind of Amazement that such ways could survive so far into the 20th century and it isn't easy the old Lord man is not yet ready for self-propelled equipment this he fears would set off a chain reaction whereby everybody would follow the principles of efficiency and convenience to the neglect of humility and communal discipline still he doesn't object to the internal combustion engine and places it on H drawn equipment without any concern for his neighbor inability to figure out what seems to be an inconsistency it makes sense to the Amy it simply means that he will not let modern technology run away with his community or his family at its own pace he'll accept some progress but he won't sacrifice to progress all contact with the past and its virtues [Music] what the Amish lose in speed they gain in Fellowship work under the right circumstances is as enjoyable as play shared work is in many cases the Amish man's Recreation [Applause] by resisting technological change or at least slowing it down to controllable speed the Amish also keep their old people from becoming obsolete as fast as the Machinery of their youth is outmoded maintaining simple ways of farming lessens the distance between the generations shared within the family hard work becomes a seasonal ritual you've done it before with your parents and you'll do it again in the same way with your children greater speed and size in their implements might eliminate some labor but the Amish find their happiness and meaning in labor rather than in Escape From it John Fisher a businessman grew up in an Amish home in lanaster County the child learns to work primarily by imitation he learns to respect work because it's close to shameful to be lazy he begins to work as soon as he is physically capable you ask him to gather the eggs as soon as he is able to carry a bucket out into the chicken house he is taught to have responsibility and it's very serious to accept your responsibilities and fulfill them you like play very much too but in order to enjoy play it's good to have some work done so that you feel you deserve play at farm auctions Amish and old order menite boys sometimes play Corner ball a form of dodgeball with a homemade leather covered ball thrown from Four Corners here the menites are throwing and the Amish are in the ring when he's hit he has to leave the ring if the thrower misses he's [Music] out the game will go on most of the day [Music] [Applause] a boy always takes the initiative in asking for a date and in choosing the girl uh he wants to court sometimes this initiative will be somewhat conditioned and even sometimes predetermined by who the parents approve or disapprove of Amish girls lovingly build up a truso as they anticipate marriage they almost never plan for independent careers the girl and the girl's family is still a very steadying influence and if the boy wants to marry the girl he has first got to join the church and he will join the church and he does not question that for a moment [Music] I have a good friend in the old order church and happily married he has a nice Amish wife and two children and they live just as simply as his parents did he said it's much better to be back on the farm because you are closer to God the strength of the Amish community is dramatically visualized after a barn or house burns the Amish man is never alone in his troubles and he is bailed out by people he knows rather than by a commercial insurance policy everybody just automatically gets together there's no word that goes out it's a happening and it happens and uh it always happens the same way [Applause] at a barn raising there is always a foreman the carpenter Foreman is the overall foreman and overseer but you will very seldom hear or notice the carpenter former because he delegates leadership silently and forcefully and really has things very well organized [Music] Barn raising is a time of a lot of fraternizing and fellowshipping with one another they're there because it's a time to get together and do something with the rest of the people [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] when the amish's body is returned to the Earth he has tilled he is surrounded in death as he was in life by his community [Music] [Music] [Music] here man discover what you are learn here what your existence is how swiftly flees your span of life from time into eternity [Music] they are a people who in their respect for the law of God cherish the Earth and keep it who will not sacrifice Community for convenience who have not been caught up in progress who know how to accept limits who believe that order brings unity and contentment a people who have not yet been able to accept fully the first stages of the Industrial Revolution though they live in its latter phase the people who don't discard the past who fear pride and who don't argue with nature who live what they believe people who are in the world but not of it a people of preservation a people of God [Music] [Music] you for