Customer Reviews

Amish Wedding & Other Special Occasions: of the Old Order Communities (People's Place Book)

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This book is the eighth in the People's Place Booklet series on the Amish and other Old Order Anabaptists. This wonderful book covers a group of special occasions (such as weddings, baptisms, choosing a pastor, funerals, and much more!), explaining how they are run and what they mean. But, this is more than a boring recitation of information. Instead, the author weaves fascinating stories, bringing the ceremonies to life through the eyes of fictional participants!

Overall, I found this to be a warmhearted and fascinating look at these people, really bringing their lives and ceremonies right to me. The Amish wedding chapter was great, and I found the Old Order Mennonite baptism to be especially touching. If you are interested in the Amish and other Old Order groups, then I cannot recommend this book to you enough. Get it!

Although this People's Place Book No. 8 focuses on Amish sects, it also includes other Old Order Communities such as the Mennonites, the Old German Baptist Brethren, and the River Brethren (of which the author is a member). There are black and white photographs throughout the text.

My favorite chapter is "A Lancaster Amish Wedding" where the author creates two composite characters, Levi Lapp and Mary Beiler, then takes them through their courtship, marriage, and the early stages of establishing their own household. Many items that are included in a typical American marriage, such as flowers, a veiled bride dressed in white, and the exchange of rings are not part of this Amish wedding. Much of the wedding sermon is taken from the apocryphal Book of Tobit, and the story of how Isaac married Rebecca, and how Jacob married Rachel.

All of the bride's clothing is new, and she usually makes her own dress (in shades of blue or purple). Among older generations, at least, the bride's cap and apron would be put away after her wedding day, to be worn only once more at her funeral.

This book is full of lovingly described details, and not just for the wedding ceremonies of the Amish, Mennonites, and Brethren. It also includes baptisms (the Mennonites pour and the Brethren dunk), the choosing of ministers, funerals, Sunday services, communions, Pentecost and Love feasts, auctions, and other celebrations. The stories are fictional but depict typical happenings in actual communities. There is also a brief history of the plain people and how they emigrated to America and Canada.

The "People's Place" books are published by The People's Place, a museum and heritage center specializing in Amish and Mennonite life, located in the village of Intercourse, Pennsylvania. I've read several of them now, and can highly recommend the whole series.

I RESPECTED ALL THE AMISH PEOPLE AND THEIR SPECIAL OCCASIONS. NOW I UNDERSTAND WHAT THE AMISH PEOPLE DO IN THEIR LIVES. I LEARNED FROM THE MOVIE, "THE SHUNNING", ETC. I LEARNED ABOUT THE REAL TRAGEDY OF THE AMISH GIRLS.

This book is not at all stuffy. It presents its material clearly and accurately, but in a style that is easy and enjoyable to read.