Lancaster, Pennsylvania

November 10, 2009

Lancaster is not far from Philadelphia but they are worlds apart.

During the Protestant Reformation in the 1500's Martin Luther challenged the Roman Church. At the same time, a Reformer named Ulrich Zwingli also advocated a new Christian order. They preached the Bible in the language of the peasants and proclaimed that the grace of God and forgiveness of sins were available freely to all by faith alone. It was a time of great turmoil. A group formed a fellowship they called Brethren. They were nicknamed Anabaptists (rebaptizers). This group was severely persecuted by both the church of Rome and the Reformers. Why? Because they represented a third option: a belief that the church should be a group of voluntary adults, baptized upon confession of faith, and like the early Christian church, separated from the world and the state. They sought a pure church, free from state control and open to adult believers from any religion. The movement spread quickly but the Anabaptist's were killed by the thousands. This persecution led many to withdrawal from the larger society - still shared by many descendants of the movement today. They were later called Mennonites and you can find them in some 50 countries around the world.

In 1693 a group, who felt that the church was losing its purity, broke away and they were called Amish. The debate was about how severe the censure should be, if a member is excommunicated from the fellowship. The Old Order Amish live mainly in the US (22 different states). The fastest growing groups are the Old Order groups. The Old Order Amish have doubled in the last 20 years. Lancaster County is the second largest Amish community (8,000 members in 1995) in the world. Holmes County in Ohio is the largest. The more liberal groups are loosing members.

The first town we came to was Paradise where we stopped at Jackey's Amish Barbecue. The air had a mild cow smell - not a bad smell at all. I ordered tea. They did not serve hot tea! I had Bot Boi - a traditional dish with square noodles, potatoes, chicken, carrots, celery and onion in a stew - quite bland. Jalil had Pit Pork - slowly smoked for 12 hours and mixed with baked beans - very tasty. These dishes were served with chow chow - vegetables pickled in vinegar and sugar - also tasty. For dessert we had Shoofly Pie with cream - brown sugar, molasses, shortening topped with a powder of cinnamon and flour. The name means shooing a away the fly. It is supposed to have been featured in Time magazine.

Near the restaurant there was a wooden stand where you could leave money and take a bag of tomatoes, which we did.

We now drove off the highway onto small roads. This was farm country with large farms painted white. We saw Amish carriages at a house, a group of boys walking along the road dressed in black clothes and white shirts. At another farm a girl in an almost long dress came out from her house to the side of the road. She waved to me. Then we caught up with a horse drawn carriage and we followed it for a while. It seems so unreal to see people who do not used modern technologies. They do not use electricity but use propane and kerosene motors. They use iron wheels without tires on their farm equipment.

We drove through the city of Lancaster. There were lots of townhouses that looked old but we did not stop anywhere. We needed some groceries and were told by the Indian clerk at the Super8 that we had to go to Walmart, as that was the only store in town. This was not the truth, we found out later. I have never shopped at a Walmart as I do not support how they kill all small businesses and how poorly they pay their employees without health insurance and they also treated women differently than men. Do not know if this is still the truth but I read this a long time ago. In the vegetable department I saw some strange, large roots. I asked a woman nearby how you cook them. The friendly woman explained that you boil them with plaintains and other vegetables - a very lenghty process - a Hispanic tradition.

November 11, 2009

We decided that we needed some explanation of the Amish culture so we signed up for a tour. First we toured an Amish home and the guide explained their life and customs. She explained that no electricity was used but propane, batteries and cellphone were OK. The washing machines was run on gasoline. She showed us the different clothes they wear. After the house tour, we all piled into a bus and she took us for a tour of the farm country. We stopped at a bookstore. The books were printed without electricity. Some were school books. The light in the store was a propane light. Next, she stopped at a dairy farm and she showed us how they milk the cows with milking machines. The wife did quilting in the building next door and we saw many examples of her work. The milk prices are so low now that they need to find another source of income. We were allowed to shop but it is difficult to choose when you only have a few minutes to think. This woman had made a shoe garden but I do not know what the point was. It was kind of funny but maybe there was some other meaning. Outside the house was a row of their kind of bicycles - a kickbike. They use these instead of regular bikes so that the children do not go too far from home.

A weird thing was that they built a small building - like an outhouse - near the road away from the house. In it they had an answering machine and a phone!!! Some of their thinking was very strange to us and I did not get good enough explanations.

Our next stop was a canning company. As the Amish live off the land, they do a lot of canning. Here you could sample the different products. We liked the beets so we bought a jar.

The Amish homes are big as they have many children. When the parents get older, they add a smaller section to the house where they will live while the children take over the farming.

The Amish do not accept Social Security and therefore, do not pay Social Security taxes. They take care of their own elderly. They have some sort of health insurance and other people help out, too.

The guide talked about the weddings. As their life is regulated by farming chores, they get married in October or November when there is less to do on the farm. The weddings are held on Tuesday and Thursdays. There are many (250) weddings in the community at the same time as it all have to happen in such a short time. The wedding is held in the bride's home. Some 500 guests go from wedding to wedding. Both lunch and dinner are served. The couple spends the night at the bride's home and the next day they help clean up the mess. I read in the book I bought that the couple will visit the guests on the following weekends and then they will receive wedding gifts. Uncles and aunts get an overnight visit. Not until spring do they set up their own household.

The guide stated that each person is considered an adult at 16 and will make his/her own decision to be baptized and join the church.

The horses they use to pull their carriages are retired race horses.

The next stop was at a winery where we could taste their red, white and fruit wines. The most interesting was the Ice Wine - delicious dessert wine made from grapes that have been left on the vine during the frost. They shrink and dry so it takes a lot of grapes to make a little wine. They wanted $40 for a small bottle. The grapes were grown in the Eire area.

Included in the tour was also a movie about a teenager who had trouble deciding if he wanted to be baptized or go to college. A difficult decision.

Now we were hungry and there was a restaurant on the premises. Don't remember what we ate except brown butter noodles, which was good. The dressing was so good that I asked how they make it. The sweet waitress returned with the whole recipe. At the bottom was written DO NOT SHOW TO ANYBODY.

Hot Bacon Dressing

60 eggs (3 quarts liquid eggs)
2 gallons mayonnaise
1 gallon apple cider
2.5 gallon sugar
8 tablespoons dry mustard (1/2 cup)
l pound margarine

Mix in a double boiler, simmer for 3-4 hours; will thicken
Add 2 pounds cooked bacon - pieces and grease

Next we went to Bird-in-Hand and bought some bread and a small shoofly pie in a bakery. But now it was closing time so we did not have time to check out the other stores except one. The couple had just bought the store and there was electricity used there. We bought a few things. The towns have funny names like Intercourse, Smoketown, Spring Garden.

The Amish also observe December 26 as Second Christmas just like I do!