The history of the amish essay

The Amish is a religious group, which lives in settlements in 22 states and Ontario, Canada. The Amish stress humility, family, community, and separation from the world.

Get Full Essay Get access to this section to get all help you need with your essay and educational issues. Get Access Amish Rumspringa Essay Sample The modern society is characterized by rapid technological advancement accompanied by changes in behavior of people across the world, especially youth.

This makes it very hard for traditional societies to thrive hence perpetuation of conventional cultures is at stake.

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For one North American community known as the Amish however, modernization has been met with resistance as the society continues to practice its traditional culture, especially the Rumspringa, a rite of passage that initiates youth into adulthood.

Having had a sufficient experience of life outside church boundaries, the fear of being shunned by the society and a sense of responsibility regarding continuity of the Amish culture makes most Amish youth return home and to the Amish church after the Rumspringa period is over.

Rumspringa period begins as soon as boys and girls reach sixteen years of age and it goes on for about five to ten more years.

It is a time when girls and boys have complete freedom from their parents and the entire community. The two groups have to put up with the outrageously immoral characters displayed by some youth in the Rumspringa age such as girls smoking cigarettes and even consuming alcohol.

It is common for the youth to converse in the loudest of voices with members of the opposite sex. Such conversations are usually characterized by flirtatious words and sexy hints at each other.

Eventually, these groups of youth end up in dances and thereafter, indulge in sex. Most common is the indulgence in first time use of modern fast cars, rock and rap music. One leading reason as to why most of the youth revert back to normal Amish lifestyle, settle and decide to join the church after the occasion is over, is the experience they have during Rumspringa.

Rumspringa lasts for at least five years within which boys and girls have an ample time to do all the worldly things that they so much desire. The period marks a transition between childhood and adulthood hence whatever youth do during Rumspringa is completely up to them hence after they have had enough of it, they settle down and join the church.

From the mode of dressing to boundless freedom from the entire society, youth engage in all activities that they had ever thought of such that when the season comes to an end, they will have matured to become all round people. During Rumspringa, the dressing mode changes tremendously and most youth use cell phones publicly for the first time in their life.

The manner of speaking, walking and other behavior tends to resemble that of the English people. Youth who never know how such drugs feel like, have a chance to try out for the first time.

This marks the turning point in the lives of many youth who even after Rumspringa ends, begin to officially and publicly consume such drugs in large amounts. Watching movies is the most common practice.

Amish - Who Are the Amish? - Essay

Many parties are held on weekends in deserted and semi-deserted locations and are attended by a large percentage of Amish youth in their teenage years.

During Rumspringa, youth feel less obliged to explain their behaviors to parents. They may spend many hours away from their homes without permission from their parents and upon coming back home, most of them do not bother to explain what they were doing, where they were and with whom.

Rumspringa is however, not all about indulgence of youth in activities that are wayward or weird.

Pennsylvania Amish History & Beliefs | Story of the Plain Amish in Pennsylvania

Most of them engage in activities and things that they had never taken part before; not all of them do drugs, partying, dancing, sex and other culturally unwarranted activities. The biggest percentage of Amish youth usually take part in activities that grant them full freedom for the first time in their lives but they do so within socially and morally accepted boundaries of the family and the church.

The church is very important to the youth during the Rumspringa as it marks their spiritual transformation from youth to adults both socially and spiritually.

Majority of the youth usually take part in Sunday singings and a variety of sports ranging from volleyball and swimming to ice skating.

Picnics accompanied by outdoor parties are common especially during weekends.

Activities that most groups of youth engage in remain socially and spiritually upright as they bound the youth to the church thereafter Kraybill et al Upon successful completion of the Rumspringa period, most youth regardless of what they engaged in, usually settle down, marry and join the church fully.

The fear of being shunned is also a contributory factor in the high number of youth who come back home after Rumspringa. An Amish youth who chooses to stay away from the family and church after Rumspringa festival is over, is usually shunned by the community, an aspect that stimulates fear and isolation which most people will not like to face since most youth opt to comply with what the society states: When an Amish youth refuses to join the church after Rumspringa, there are higher chances of interacting closely with the media.

The media is never welcome in the Amish society since Amish elders consider it as a means of exposing and negatively portraying their culture and religious practices which ought to be preserved as it has been since the sixteenth century. Members of the Amish community who make the decision of freely speaking to the news media are perceived to receive a frown of God apart from the guilt that their own conscience will subject them to and the anger they will face from the church.

This combination makes it hard for an Amish to welcome a news reporter when he or she approaches them, as they do not want to be interviewed; only to face the wrath of the community and supposedly, that of God Umble and Weaver-Zercher Elders of the church are an authority in the Amish society.The history of the Amish church began with a schism in Switzerland within a group of Swiss and Alsatian Anabaptists in led by Jakob Ammann.

Those who followed Ammann became known as Amish. In the second half of the 19th century, the Amish divided into Old Order Amish and Amish Mennonites.

The latter mostly assimilated into . Amish History The Plain People trace their origin back to the Protestant Reformation in Europe, where there was an emphasis on returning to the purity of the New Testament church.

One group of reformers rejected the popular concept of infant baptism, and became known as Anabaptists. The History of the Amish The Amish, who are also called “The Plain People” or Old Order Amish, originated in Switzerland in approximately They originated from a movement called the Anabaptist movement.

Jacom Amman was the leader. This happened . Essay on The History of the Amish - The History of the Amish The Amish, who are also called “The Plain People” or Old Order Amish, originated in Switzerland in approximately They originated from a movement called . Below is an essay on "History of Amish" from Anti Essays, your source for research papers, essays, and term paper examples.

James Kost There are many important dimensions of culture but one important one is dimension of culture is the extent of individualism or collectivism exhibited/5(1).

The History of the Amish Essay Words | 18 Pages. The History of the Amish The Amish, who are also called “The Plain People” or Old Order Amish, originated in Switzerland in approximately