June 6, 2003 - St. Clair, MI - 2 (Shipshewana, IN, Amish continued)
Now the Amish buggies are all about the same. Two different sizes. Sedan and Coupe? Solid black (nothing fancy -- don't want to appear "different") and this beautiful white one was for the "English" as the non-Amish are referred to. The Blue Gate restaurant earned our highest praise. The prices were quite reasonable, the menu claimed to be traditional Amish and from what we could learn it pretty much was, and the pie and ice cream was out of this world. This white buggy was parked alongside for the tourists to hire if they so desired. Oh, by the way, in the picture on the left, you can see the Amishman tending to his horse on the right. We really did try to avoid taking their picture out of respect for their beliefs.
There were two buggies for hire, one typical Amish, and the white one. Amishmen were driving both of them. Living "in" the world but not being "of" the world gives some pretty fine lines to cross or not cross as the case may be. The area is divided into church divisions, and each division is headed up by a bishop who is appointed by the people in that district for a lifetime appointment. It's a patriarchal society, and the Bishop is responsible for his people and what they may or may not do. He has deacons and elders who he consults when a sticky issue comes up. No electricity in the home, no phone in the home, no radios or TVs; the women only wear "solids," usually dark-colored clothing, all of which they make themselves. However, a generator may provide power to the winch in the barn, a riding lawnmower may be used, and a communal pay phone may be installed in an "inconvenient" place to be used by neighbors. While not having phones, voice mail is acceptable for some. Particularly those in business who want to make sure their customers can leave messages. They'll speak English without any hint of an accent when talking to us, they use a Swiss-German dialect when talking to each other, and High German (whatever that is) when discussing matters of major importance or in church meetings. They don't have church buildings, rather meeting in someone's home/barn every other Sunday for most the day. Sermons typically last 3 hours with the Bishop leading and being helped by the deacons and elders. A gray wagon will be found full of benches that the people will sit on during the church service, men on one side of the room and women on the other. The wagon is taken to whichever house the services will be held in. English people are not welcome at these services, and unless we understood the language it wouldn't make any difference. English people are invited to weddings and funerals occasionally, and while they don't understand the language during the ceremonies, the food afterward is great we're told. The Sunday that services are not held is considered "Visiting Sunday" when families and extended families get together socially.
Home for us was this Coast to Coast (C2C) park just outside of Howe, IN. About 5 miles south of the MI border. 30 spaces for the C2C people, and some 300+ were owned by individuals. Sort of a getaway place if you will. Nice pool, too cold to test it. No sewer hookups for anybody. That included some of the real nice park model trailers, too. "Blue Boys" (portable tanks) were all over the place, and there was a Honeywagon available for $7. We showered across the street in that brick building, and had plenty of tankage left when we dumped after staying for a week.
The town of Lagrange had seen better days, but evidenced those grander times. That's a detailed painting on the bricks of that building. We had to look carefully to make sure that's what it was. The depth of the painting made it look 3 dimensional.
The Lagrange court house was a grand place with a massive dome at the top which can't be seen, and the crosses from Memorial Day were still out there. As you might guess, most were from WWII, but there were some from Vietnam as well.
Friend John will chide me for lack of detail in the court house pictures, but that's because he has the camera I want to buy from him. But if you look closely, you'll see one of the largest hornet nests I've ever seen. It's up near the peak of the roof, and because of the peeling paint it's hard to pick out. And that yard full of bird feeders belongs to Bill and Doris. And here's another story. As niece Tracy (when she was about 5 yrs old) would say, "Here we go again" referring to Dave's lengthy discourses. Here's one: Since we knew we'd not be able to attend an Amish service, we wanted to attend a Mennonite service, but weren't sure we'd be welcome. While at the Menno-Hof barn, we met Joe Yoder who is the director. We were chatting and he told us we'd be more than welcome at any Mennonite service so off we went on Sunday to the Marion Mennonite Church on Hwy 120 about 6 or 7 miles from "home." Barb was wearing slacks, and while I didn't say anything I was wondering if she'd be the only one.
Many years ago (in the 1500's) there was a group of people who broke away from the accepted church in Europe. They were called Anabaptists because they believed in the baptism of adults rather than infants; Anabaptist means baptized again. Their violent persecutions by Catholics and Protestants was extensive and long lasting; because of the persecutions, they moved around a lot, many ultimately settling in the US. The Hutterites are the oldest of the Anabaptist groups and were organized in 1528 in what is now Czechoslovakia. They're the only true communal society in modern history to achieve permanence and stability, and live mostly in Canada, though some do exist in the US, England, and Japan. The Mennonites became the largest group of Anabaptists, deriving their name from its leader Menno Simons, a Dutch priest; this group drives cars, has a wide variety of occupations, and dresses like everyone else. Under the leadership of Jacob Ammann, the Amish (pronounced Ah-mish) was established in 1693 after splitting from the Mennonites because they thought they were becoming too worldly. Today, the Amish live primarily in the US with the largest group in Ohio, followed by Indiana (the group we saw), then Pennsylvania. The fun thing is that all three groups will ban together to support one another if the need arises. The Mennonite Disaster Relief Society (and I may have the name wrong) gets together somewhere in the world to help when a disaster like a flood or earthquake hits, then Amish and Mennonites and Hutterites will work together as one body.
So, to confuse things further, within the Mennonites, there are liberals and conservatives just like any group of people, and we had no idea what we'd find when we got to church. The first thing I saw was this mature woman with slacks and a brightly colored blouse, carrying her bible into church. Whew! Then her husband got out in his slacks and tennis shoes and we had it made. The service for the Mennonites we'd been told has no musical instruments and the hymns are sung in 4 part harmony. However, here was a nice piano, a couple of guitars, and a sound system all rigged up. More grins. And we were met at the door by a very friendly Doris, and warmly greeted by almost everybody. The church was fairly small, and about 75 people were there. The kids (most of them) left after a while to attend their own services. The music was a combination of the kind of music we're familiar with, and some of the 4 part harmony. Beautiful blend we thought. The sermon was straight out of the Bible and we felt right at home. Afterward we were invited for cake and coffee and Sunday School, and we enjoyed both. And then the surprise. Doris asked if we'd join her family for dinner. She said there'd be a bunch of people because they were celebrating graduations of grandkids and we'd fit right it. So, for the first time since we've been full-timing and visiting who knows how many churches, we went to dinner as guests of a congregant. And I was particularly pleased because I wanted to learn more about their religious beliefs. We'd obviously found one of the more liberal Mennonite churches.
We were in farm country, and this home was no exception. A total of 16 people were well fed during the time we were there. Celebrations and open houses were going on in the community because of graduations, so people came and went, and nobody went hungry. Barb is looking at a scrap book Doris and Bill's family put together for them to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. What a beautiful and well-thought-out album it was too! Something they were obviously very proud of. Doris is on the left close to the camera, and Bill is in the blue and white plaid shirt in the back. Bill is one of 10 boys born of an Amish couple. No girls. What good stories he can tell, too. I didn't nearly get all my questions answered, so we'll have to go back someday.
Doris' "house garden" with 6 rows of potatoes! And was it ever neatly laid out, and totally weed free. That's Snowball sniffing Barb's leg while Doris is explaining the garden. It was a good name for this white and well-rounded dog.