American Independence: How The Amish Of Harmony, Minnesota Hold Onto The Past

Updated October 18, 2024 at 5:00 p.m.*

HARMONY — “Do Amish women wear bras?”, “Do they give birth at home?”, “Drink alcohol?”, “Do Amish men have multiple wives?”, “Pay taxes?”, “Do they go to doctors?”, “School?”, “Can they kiss before marriage?”…

With the boundless Minnesota prairie stretching outside the car window, Google spits out dozens of questions for the word “Amish.” Some seem absurd, but they also make me curious. The specific questions all lead in to one central theme of wonderment: Do the Amish really live as if time had stopped in the 19th century? Is their decision to reject modernity an expression of rebellion or an attempt to maintain their identity in a world that is constantly changing?

And, finally, are they more happy than the rest of us? In the town of Harmony, in southern Minnesota, with a population of less than 1,000, the Swartzentruber Amish, one of the subgroups of the most conservative Amish, the Old Order Amish, settled hundreds of years ago.

The Amish came to the United States from Switzerland in the 18th century. As a branch of the Anabaptists, they believed in an uncompromising Christianity based on a literal interpretation of the Holy Scriptures, and the baptism of adults who are able to consciously and voluntarily profess their faith and commit to living according to the teachings of Christ and the principles of the Amish community.

Today, there are nearly 400,000 smaller and more controversial Amish communities in the United States. Their largest groups live in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. The community in and around Harmony numbers about 1,200 people. They reject modern technology – they do not use the Internet, do not have phones, or even refrigerators.

They do not maintain contact with more liberal Amish communities, and practice inbreeding – marriages within their group.

Their modestly furnished homes have no electricity or running water. They do not have cars, and they cannot use tractors or electric lawn mowers to cultivate the land. Their lives flow in a rhythm measured by sunrises and sunsets, daily chores, strict rules and order, or Ordnung, which dictate every aspect of existence.

So much for the theory, because in practice, the life of the community hides far more surprising facts.

Modesty and simplicity

“No photos of faces, please. It’s best not to take out your phones at all, because they don’t like it — it makes them feel uncomfortable,” declares Franz before we set off in his old bus to visit the Amish.

Looking in the mirror is forbidden

Franz is about 70 years old. He has lived in Harmony his whole life. He used to be a local dentist, and now, in retirement, he shows tourists around the Amish village. He is their neighbor and friend. “The Amish don’t pose for photos, for them it is a manifestation of vanity, which is against their principles. For the same reason, their rag dolls for children are faceless,” Franz explains. “The Amish also don’t wear makeup and don’t have mirrors in their homes, which are considered an unnecessary luxury.”

Looking in the mirror is forbidden because the Amish believe that mirrors encourage focusing on appearance and on oneself instead of on the community, and lead to pride, which is contrary to the idea of humility and simple living. The Amish believe that true beauty comes from inner spirituality and deeds, and is not the merit of external appearance.

Franz immediately adds: “However, this does not mean that the Amish are not tempted to look in the mirror from time to time. The maid I employ at home is Amish. And every time she comes to clean, she spends 25 minutes scrubbing the bathroom mirror. It’s a chance for her to look at herself without feeling guilty.”

Franz notes that outsiders erroneously assume that the Amish live in a tight, sealed-off, isolated community.

The Amish came to Harmony in 1974 from Wayne County, Ohio. They left the areas they had inhabited for decades because of overpopulation and rising land prices. In southern Minnesota at that time, you could buy an acre of land for as little as 0. They were also attracted by the good quality soil, plenty of timber and natural water sources. Six families decided to settle in Harmony. Today, a total of 100 Amish families live here.

The Amish homes in Harmony are spread out over a 10-mile area. Why so many? “The Amish are social, and horses can travel about five miles in an hour. “The idea is to allow them to visit without interruption,” Franz says. That’s important, especially since the Amish, for whom religion is central to their lives, don’t have the traditional churches we see in other Christian denominations. Their “church,” consisting of a hymnbook and portable pews, is a community of believers who meet for hours of worship in the homes of members of the community.

Did God ever mention diesel?

The Amish of Harmony also don’t have phones, cars, or electricity, but that doesn’t mean they never use them. As we pass more houses and families working in the fields, Franz explains that the bishop decides which amenities are allowed. He points to a chainsaw that some Amish use in farming, construction, and the wood furniture and decorations they’re famous for: “God forbade electricity, but he didn’t mention oil or gasoline,” he jokes. “The Amish may not be educated, but they’re not stupid.”

We stop at the school. It is a tiny, one-room house, where children from 6 to 14 years of age study. There are 10 such “Amish schools” in Harmony. They are taught by members of the community, mainly women, who must be unmarried.

Amish children learn in school according to the “four R’s” – reading, writing (riting – this is how the Amish spell it), counting (rithmetic – this is how the Amish spell it) and respect (respect). In the higher grades, children also learn practical skills, in accordance with the roles assigned to them by gender. Boys’ education is therefore more focused on technical skills, and girls’ on skills related to running a home and supporting the family. This happens until the age of 14, because at that age Amish education ends.

Further education — believe Old Order Amish — could lead to excessive individuality and distract from working on the farm and living in the community.

The same is true of telephones or cars. In this case, however, says Franz, there are some exceptions. The Amish do not have them, but they can use them in several cases — for example, when an accident occurs and someone needs to be taken to a doctor, or to call for help, or in business situations. That, Franz quips, allows them to pull up dozens of situations.

A milk question

Because the cooperation of the most conservative Amish with the “English,” as they call everyone outside their community, is flourishing in Harmony today. And it began to tighten when the law… concerning milk pasteurization was tightened in the United States more than 20 years ago.

Although the Amish managed to avoid being subjected to many American regulations, such as compulsory schooling, the law regarding food safety proved to be unyielding. When new standards for milk pasteurization came into force at the beginning of the 21st century, the Amish who produced it in the traditional way, without the use of modern technology, and could no longer sell it on a large scale, had to expand into other activities.

Today, in Harmony, they bake cakes, produce and sell, among other things, wooden tables, chairs, wardrobes, beds, decorations, blankets, bedding, carpets. I browse at handicrafts in other shops, I eat traditional “Amish blueberry pie”, but my attention is drawn most of all to a small shop run by the two “M sisters.”

Barefoot feminists

On the porch, I am greeted by rocking chairs and colorful flowers made of wood. Inside, scented candles, preserves, hand-decorated tablecloths and aprons, wicker boxes. The shop is run by two sisters, the only Amish feminists in Harmony.

“They live alone because they don’t want to have husbands to serve and they don’t want to have children,” Franz explains.

Today, the average Amish family in Harmony has at least seven children. The largest: 19. Although the community comes together when it’s time for building a house or fixing a barn, when violence occurs, women are left to their own devices. Yes, this does indeed also take place in this community known for its pacifism, where men don’t even wear mustaches because it has olden-day military connotations.

“Unfortunately, there were cases here where a husband hit his wife,” Franz notes. “We suspected it, although she never complained. What can a woman do when a man has power over her, and she has 10 children and no chance of escape?”

Typically, he explains, in the Amish community, a woman is respected, but it”s the man who has the power. It is he – the father or husband – who collects the money, while the woman works, the man even has priority to wear shoes and decides whether the woman can wear them too.

Is this one of the reasons why the M. sisters do not have husbands? Or maybe they cannot have children? – I try to ask about medical treatments and using healthcare services when one of the sisters enters the store to serve us. She smiles shyly as I watch her walk through the store in her bare feet, then sits down and quickly counts our purchases on a piece of paper in a column.

She greets Franz, who later explains to me the perversity of “Amish feminism”: “The M. sisters do not have husbands or children, but they have a strong attachment to the traditions they learned at home,” he says.

Complete submission

And he emphasizes that the chances of finding spouses outside of their own community are close to zero for the Amish. Unless they decide to leave the community. They can do so at any time, and officially they are given time to decide when they are between 16 and 18 years old. Then they go through their probation period, the so-called “rumspringa“. They can then discover the world outside the community, travel, experiment, sometimes even drive a car, dress in non-Amish clothing, and fall in love.

If they decide to stay among the Amish after that, they are baptized. If not, they leave the community. Franz says that only a few Amish decide to leave, only about 15%. “Compared to how many Catholics leave the Church, that’s really not many,” he says.

He explains, however, what leaving the Amish community looks like: you cut off contact with family and friends, you are completely excluded, you can never return. You are left without money and a roof over your head. You have to cope on your own.

Being baptized means complete submission to the prevailing order. Marriage, although in theory it is not arranged, does not leave much choice in a small community. Especially if the family is looking for the most distant kinship possible to avoid genetic diseases. And these do appear in the Amish, including dwarfism, leukemia and metabolic diseases. Dental diseases also appear, but it is difficult to say unequivocally whether they are the result of genetics or lack of hygiene.

There is no point in imposing anything on them.

Indeed Franz has an anecdote from the time when the Amish were just moving to Harmony and he himself was working as a dentist: “I invited them for visits to have a dental check-up, because I wanted to convince them not to extract their teeth or put on dentures, but to take preventive care of their teeth,” he recalls.

The vast majority of Amish still decide to have their teeth extracted, with many in Harmony losing them before their thirties. The Amish believe that if a tooth hurts, it must be extracted. Franz tried to change their attitude to dental care, but over time he gave up.

“I understood that there is no point in imposing anything on them,” he explains. “Until they themselves decide that they need something, I will not change them. There is no point in judging them, wondering what is good for them, telling them what will make them feel better. I understood that I should respect their decision, even if I do not understand it.”

*Originally published September 30, 2024, this article was updated October 16, 2024 with additional information about the U.S. presidential election.