The Amish

Do you think you could live without internet, videogames, TV?

Read about the AMISH people and find out their way of life.

Imagine a world without telephones or television, without cars or electricity. In this world the women wear long dresses. There is no industry. Everyone works on farms and travels by horse or on foot. Where do you think this world is? Europe in the seventeenth century? In fact, it is Pennsylvania in North America in the 21st Century. It is the world of the Amish people.

The Amish people went to America in the eighteenth century and since then their lifestyle has not changed at all. They don’t even speak English among themselves. They speak German as their ancestors did. The Amish are farmers and they base their life on the Bible. There were no tractors or telephones in the Bible and there are no tractors or telephones in the Amish villages today.

Family life is very important for the Amish. They live in large families and everyone helps with the work. The day starts when the sun rises and ends when the sun sets. The men and boys work in the fields and the women and girls work in the house. When something big is needed, such as a new barn, all the neighbours help to build it. While the men and boys cut, lift and hammer the wood, the women and girls prepare the food and look after the children .

Nobody works on Sundays, because everyone goes to church. But life for the Amish is not all work. They have a lot of village parties. They don’t dance or play musical instruments, but they sing hymns and they have a good time.There is no electricity in the world of the Amish. They don’t use chemicals on their farms. The rules are strict. But there is no crime and no pollution. Nobody is poor and nobody is lonely.

In the 1985 film ,Witness, a young Amish boy is witness to a murder....

References:

Hutchinson, T. Hotline. Oxford University Press.