of or relating to any of the strict Mennonite groups, chiefly in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and

Canada, descended from the followers of Jakob Ammann, a Swiss Mennonite bishop of the 17th
century. And they are called as he Amish people.
Significance Of Aamish Society:
Religious practices:
Two key concepts for understanding Amish practices are their rejection
of Hochmut (pride, arrogance, haughtiness) and believe in Demut (humility)
and Gelassenheit (calmness, composure), often taken as "submission" or "lettingbe".The Amish's willingness to submit to the "Will of Jesus", expressed through
group norms, is at odds with the individualism so central to the wider American
culture. The Amish anti-individualist orientation is the motive for rejecting laborsaving technologies that might make one less dependent on community.
Way of life: Amish lifestyle is regulated by the Ordnung(explained in next topic).
Cuisine: Amish cuisine is noted for its simplicity and traditional qualities. Many
Amish foods are sold at markets including pies, preserves, bread mixes, pickled
produce, desserts and canned goods.
Language:
Most Old Order Amish speak Pennsylvania Dutch, and refer to non-Amish people as
"English", regardless of ethnicity. Some Amish who migrated to the United States in
the 1850s speak a form of Bernese German or a Low Alemannic Alsatian dialect.
Almost all Amish are functionally bilingual in Pennsylvania Dutch and English;
however, domains of usage are sharply separated.
Dress: Symbolic of their faith, Amish clothing styles encourage humility and
separation from the world. The Amish dress in a very simple style, avoiding all but
the most basic ornamentation. Clothing is made at home of plain fabrics and is
primarily dark in color. Men usually dress in a plain, dark colored suit. Women
usually wear a plain colored dress with long sleeves, bonnet and apron. Women
wear a white prayer covering if married; black if single. Brides' gowns are often blue
or purple.
Education: Schools are one-room buildings run by the Amish. Formal education
beyond Grade 8 is discouraged, although many youth are given further instruction
in their homes after graduation.
Technology : The Amish are averse to any technology which they feel weakens the
family structure.
The conveniences that the rest of us take for granted such as electricity, television,
automobiles, telephones and tractors are considered to be a temptation that could
cause vanity, create inequality, or lead the Amish away from their close-knit
community and, as such, are not encouraged or accepted in most orders. Most
Amish cultivate their fields with horse-drawn machinery, live in houses without
electricity, and get around in horse-drawn buggies. It is common for Amish

communities to allow the use of telephones, but not in the home. Instead, several
Amish families will share a telephone in a wooden shanty between farms. Electricity
is sometimes used in certain situations, such as electric fences for cattle, flashing
electric lights on buggies, and heating homes. Windmills are often used as a source
of naturally generated electric power in such instances. It is also not unusual to see
Amish using such 20th-century technologies as inline skates, disposable diapers and
gas barbecue grills, because they are not specifically prohibited by the Ordnung.

Days of Celebration: They celebrate the traditional Christian holy days. They also
observe a Fast Day on October 11.
Marriage: Marriages outside the faith are not allowed. Couples who plan to marry
are "published" in late October. They are married in one of their homes during
November or early December.
Funerals: These are conducted in the home without a eulogy, flower decorations,
or other display. The casket is plain, without adornment. At death, a woman is
usually buried in her bridal dress. A simple tombstone is erected after burial.
The Amish society falls in
societies.

category according to classfication of

The Charter Of Aamish Society:

From the early 1960s to the late 1980s, John A. Hostetler was the worlds premier
scholar of Amish life and wrote extensively about this community before his death
in 2001. His books reflect both his personal experienceHostetler was raised in an
Amish familyand his background as a sociologisthe earned a doctorate from
Penn State University in 1953.
Amish daily life is regulated by the Ordnurig, which is an oral tradition of rules
agreed on by specific church communities.Ordnung is the German word for order,
discipline, rule, arrangement, organization, or system. Each community maintains
its own Ordnurig.
The Ordnung is a set of rules for Amish, because the Amish have no central church
government, each assembly is autonomous and is its own governing authority. The
Ordnung is also known as an ordering of the whole way of life i-e a code of conduct
which the church maintains by tradition rather than by systematic or explicit rules.
Purpose:
The purpose of the Ordnung is to guide Amish behavior into being more Christ-like,
thus defining who they are.The Amish govern their lives by a very specific set of
rules and regulations, which they seek to derive from the Bible. Some of the most
common Ordnung rules are:
separation from the world, hard work, a woman's submission to her husband, mode
of dress, and refusal to buy insurance.The Ordnung has restrictions, i.e. no electrical

power lines, no telephone in the home, and no personal ownership of automobiles.

The Ordnung attempts to prevent pride, envy, vanity, laziness, dishonesty, etc are
for the purpose of guarding a person's character. Therefore, the foundations of the
Amish life are: an unassuming character, the love of friends and family, and respect
for the community.They do not believe in imposing their beliefs upon others.
Types:
Two types of Ordnung must be distinguished.
1. The special conference decisions throughout history, from the 16th century
onward.
2. The contemporary rules defined by each church district. [6][7]
The first are printed rules, the second are generally verbal and are universally
understood by the local members. All rules guide the Amish believer in the
application and practice of godly principles.
The Gelassenheit Principle:
The principle of yieldedness or Gelassenheit, a term used to indicate internal
submission to God, structures much of their society (Cronk 1981).The power of love
can be released only when self-will dies, and Amish communities are based on this
idea of the power of powerlessness. Work is a ritual sign of yieldedness. The
Ordnung is used to produce Gelassenheit, which is to be shown via a yielding of
spirit to the traditions. The Amish glance back into the past and examine their
traditions, treasuring them. The past is always the main resource for coping with the
present.
Levels of piety:
1.
2.
3.
4.

There are several levels of piety in the Ordnung moral code.

Acceptable behavior: Certain practices that are so widely accepted they are
never discussed.
Esteemed behavior: The way that church leaders and their spouses are
expected to behave, but not necessarily the regular church members.
Frowned upon behavior: Things that are discouraged but which are not a test
of membership to the church.
Forbidden behavior: Prohibited by the Ordnung. They can, and do, affect
membership to the church.
Change:
Because each Amish district is a separate church, Ordnung rules will differ from
locale to locale. A districts Ordnung is meant to convey the community's rigid
traditions, so whenever members begin exploring new things which raise concerns,
the local church must decide if such activities should be allowed. Twice a year each
Amish district holds a council meeting led by the bishop. No Ordnung of any
Anabaptist subgroup remained totally unchanged, their Ordnung during the last 150

years so much.The Amish allow for change, but their emphasis centers on tradition.
Voting is the only way that can bring change in the Ordnung.
Examples of Practices Prescribed by the Ordnung:

color and style of clothing

hat styles for men

order of worship service

kneeling for prayer in worship etc.

Examples of Practices Prohibited by the Ordnung:

air transportation

central heating in houses

divorce

electricity from public power lines

entering military service

About Amish Society there are certain things i could not understand. Like their
Ordnung, why is it different for different districts. Secondly, Why they are averse
towards modern technology.

http://www.psupress.org/books/titles/0-271-02686-3.html
http://home.wlu.edu/~lubint/Touchstone/Amish-Foley.htm
file:///C:/Users/kcc/Downloads/Documents/Moore_Amish_Bio_Paper.pdf
http://www.thefullwiki.org/Ordnung
http://pittsburgh.about.com/cs/pennsylvania/a/amish_2.htm
http://www.religioustolerance.org/amish4.htm