Learn more about the various Amish communities, whose notoriously private lifestyle presents a radical departure from the way teens live in contemporary Britain. Theirs is a world of gas lamps, horses and carts, manual labour and communal hymn-singing.
Swartzentruber
The Swartzentrubers broke off from the Old Amish around 1910 following a dispute over shunning. The Swartzentrubers believed that once someone was shunned they could do nothing to rectify this, whereas the Old Order took a slightly more liberal approach and felt that if people changed church, their shunned status could be removed. This is just one of the reasons that the Swartzentrubers are known as the strictest and most traditional of all the Amish groups.
As well as having strict views on shunning, the Swartzentrubers wear clothing that is noticeably more conservative than any other Amish community for both men and women. They dress in dark and somber colours; women wear full length dresses and married men must cover their ear lobes with their hair and not trim their beards.
Skeptical of technology and the modern world, their homes do not have indoor plumbing or any electricity, which even includes batteries or generators. Swartzentrubers don't use any mechanised technology to help them with their farming, and the buggies they drive are plain, without lights and with wooden wheels. They are the most insular and secretive of all the Amish groups, and all their beliefs are based around the idea of submission to God, to others and to the church.
Old Order
Old Order Amish values are slightly more relaxed than the Swartzentrubers', but their beliefs still stand in stark contrast to the values of modern society. Instead of championing progress or assuming that new necessarily means improved, they too hold tradition and a simple life in high esteem.
It is very important for them that they remain separate from the wider world - so they avoid anything that places them in direct contact with the government. They believe that church members should rely primarily on one another and not on institutions or the larger society for support.
They believe in dressing plainly and modestly, and they reject modern technology. This means that they'll not have any mains electricity in their houses, although some use generators outside their homes to run a few appliances, or in the work place if they see it as necessary. This is known as 'Amish Electricity'.
They're also more relaxed than the Swartzentrubers when it comes to indoor plumbing and cars, so they will allow running water in their homes and allow members of the church to ride in cars, although never to drive them.
New Order
The New Order Amish left the Old Order Amish in the mid-1960s because of their different views on courtship and preaching. The New Order practise a 'hands free courtship', which means that there is no touching of any kind allowed between a couple while they're getting to know each other.
Their more relaxed attitude to preaching in comparison to the Old Order means they are generally seen as being more open to outsiders. They sometimes publish booklets outlining their beliefs and, while they're not missionaries, they're unlike Old Order in that they express an interest in gaining converts from non-Amish backgrounds, and make an effort to accommodate outsiders.
In general the New Order are more progressive and may allow the controlled use of phones, electricity, some farming equipment and more elaborate buggies with rubber rather than wooden wheels.
Old Order Mennonites (non-Amish)
Like the Amish, Mennonites can trace their origins to the 16th century protestant reformation. One leader within that movement was a Dutch reformer named Menno Simons, and the church he led came to be known as the Mennonites. A distinct group led by Jakob Ammann broke away from this church in 1693 after a disagreement over shunning and excommunication, and they came to be known as Amish. This means that one of the fundamental differences between the Mennonites and the Amish is that the Mennonites do not practice shunning or excommunication. The Mennonites still respect and value tradition, and see their church as their primary community, viewing themselves as apart from rather than a part of, larger society. However, their clothing is less plain than the Amish, women are allowed small flowered prints on their dresses and the men are expected to shave. Their attitude to telephones and electricity is much more relaxed than the Amish, so they may use both in their homes, but like all other Amish groups they travel by horse and buggy.
