The Amish do have certain expectations when it comes to men’s facial hair. Men remain clean-shaven until they get married, when they begin growing beards. They shave their upper lips, since mustaches are associated with the military. It’s an association they want to avoid due to their pacifistic lifestyle.

A man’s beard reveals his marital status and his identity, since beards are a personal staple of their faith. Beard-cutting attacks are considered as religious hate crimes punishable with prison time.

The Amish now have to deal with rising prices of farmland and decreased demand for small-scale agriculture, so as controversial as it is, some have gone in to dog farming.

They keep a large numbers of dogs in one location for the sake of breeding and selling puppies. Many people, especially animal rights activists, take issue with the way dogs are treatmed. Living conditions in these puppy mills are cramped and poorly maintained.

This breeding process also causes dogs to contract illnesses which they pass on to their offspring.

The Amish refer to this as a frolic, which is a term for a social event that serves a utilitarian purpose. Hundreds of people attend, with men taking care of manual labor and women providing the meals when a barn had to be built.

These “frolics” were part of the community’s tradition, being one of the strongest pillars of their religion. It’s become less common as they move away from farming.

Amish clothing speaks of their traditions, identities, and values. They prefer clothing to be simple, standard, and practical to promote their beliefs of uniformity, humility, and community.

The men have no pockets, zippers, or belts, even rejecting buttons and collars to avoid resemblance with military uniforms. And they always have a straw hat or a formal black felt hat.

For women, it’s four dresses: “One for wash, one for wear, one for dress, and one for spare.”

The dresses are long and patternless. Single women wear a white apron and cape to church, while married women wear a black apron and cape. They cover their heads with prayer caps.

Biblically motivated views have the Amish living with specific expectations for women. Husbands and wives deal with their own system at home but in public, a woman is expected to defer to her husband.

Women are also prohibited from taking on any position of church leadership.

Their traditional roles are wife and mother, but the young and single do choose to venture out into the work force. They can help with the family’s business, go into teaching, or even waitressing at Amish restaurants. Some choose quilting and sewing for the community.

A horse and buggy symbolizes their commitment to living without technology. The Ordnung specifies buggy design, with the color of the roof indicating which community the owner belongs to.

They are forbidden to drive cars, but riding in them is a different story. They can accept rides, or even hire chauffeurs as needed.

The Ausbund has the words but not the music. The tunes are passed down from generation to generation and can differ between congregations. It was first printed in 1564, dating to an era where persecution and imprisonment for Anabaptists in what is now Germany was common.

In those days, Anabaptists wrote the songs in jail and despite the lack of musical notes, the songs during church can last as long as 30 minutes. The singing is slow, drawn out, and “music for the soul rather than music for the ear.”

Their only musical instrument is the human voice. Playing instruments is about self-expression, hubris, and individuality, something the Amish shun. The harmonica is permitted on occasion.

Amish adults do not dance as it is considered immodest. Young Amish can dance and listen to music during Rumspringa.

Amish communities are open to tourists for financial gain, but signs prohibiting photographs are often posted. The Amish aren’t fond of photography, and usually decline having their picture taken. To them, the practice goes against the biblical teachings of humility and idol worship.

Some do make a distinction between naturalistic images/videos. Being photographed candidly within the environment is different from posed photographs. They can even receive their government identification cards without a picture.

Bundling allows the Amish to develop intimacy minus the physical temptation. The ritual will have a young couple side-by-side in bed, wrapped in blankets, and talking the entire evening. Parents trust their church’s teachings to prevent the teenagers from going too far.

Bundling is not exclusively Amish, since it has roots in the Bible. It is the 21st century so it isn’t often practiced even among the Amish.

Electricity is rejected much like technological advancements since the Amish choose to focus on community rather than the individual. They believe that if one can complete a task alone, it will prevent the community from bonding.

However, the Amish will use technology when it is a necessity. Many communities have a public phone and a computer marketed specifically to them called The Deskmate. It is only used for business transactions, so it has no video, music, or Internet capabilities.

The faces of Amish dolls are left blank. There are no faces, hair, fingers, and toes. They believe that only God creates life, so these human figures may be deemed to be idolatrous.

Not to mention faceless dolls promote uniformity, preventing one doll from looking better than the other. That, according to their practice, prevents vanity.

What makes them different from other religions is that they don’t attempt to boost membership of their religion. The Amish are a closed society, focused on improving life in the community. They do not recruit, but won’t deny people from joining.

But learning Pennsylvania Dutch and giving up technology are not what most people will go for.

The Amish don’t see the point of schooling beyond the 8th grade. All they care about are the essential skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic. Children learn these subjects including English and Pennsylvania Dutch in schools having only one or two rooms.

After the 8th grade, teens will receive training in agriculture, craftsmanship, or another profession from someone in the community. Their religious reasoning is that higher learning has the potential to foster anti-Christian ideas.

Religious services are held in homes rather than churches. Members are divided geographically, so a family in a region can host a church service at their home. Services can last up to three hours, with men and women sitting separately.

The sermons and songs are done in Pennsylvania Dutch and German.

The pastor moves between rooms to preach. They are not formally trained, drawn only by lot from nominations by the congregation. Church is every other Sunday, followed by lunch and a time for socializing.

Their commitment to no violence is so deep-seated that they refuse to serve in the military.The Amish will also refuse to take on any government or police jobs. Their religious views also have the Amish rejecting the court system, viewing litigation as a means of violence and aggression.

Their commitment of baptism have the Amish following church teachings their whole lives. The rules of the Ordnung, as well as their religion’s overt doctrine, are to be observed and if someone fails to do so, and won’t repent of their wrongdoings, that member risks ostracization and excommunication.

When a member is excommunicated, other members practice meidung, or shunning. That means they cut off all communication with the offending member. No one is to eat, sleep, or accept gifts from the shunned individual. Seems harsh but shunned members just need to repent and they’ll be welcomed back openly.

The Amish hold to the belief that baptism is an individual choice. Young members are discouraged from making the decision heedlessly since baptism is a lifelong commitment.

Members of the community are not to be baptized before the age of 16. They make their decision between the ages of 18 and 22.

Rumspringa is a well-known and fascinating tenet of the Amish religion. It can be translated as “running around“, meaning when Amish teens turn 16, they can go out to the world and see if they’ll come back to live with the community.

The teenagers are encouraged to behave morally, but they can break the rules of the Ordnung with cars, modern clothes, drinking, and drugs.

Amish teenagers are not yet baptized so they are not yet official members. They can leave the Amish community following Rumspringa minus the societal repercussions from family and friends.

Teens may experiment with sex, drinking, or drugs but most experiences are mild, with approximately 90% of Amish teens coming back to their communities.

The Ordnung covers all facets of their lives. From the German word for “order,” the Ordnung exists in the minds of those who follow its practices. It is a set of unspoken rules that outlines their way of life.

These include minute details on dress, carriage-design, and hairstyle. Violating these rules can cause a member to be shunned, although they can differ depending on the Amish district.

Each district’s Ordnung has changed over centuries. Church leaders can amend the Ordnung as it is not written down on any document. It is an oral tradition that keeps their precepts alive.

The Bible’s call to “be fruitful and multiply” have the Amish abstaining from birth control. Amish families in the U.S. average 6 or 7 children, with the group’s numbers increasing from around 180,000 in 2000 to about 320,000 in 2017.

Some of these births are sadly plagued with genetic defects. They are a closed society, with Amish and Mennonite people descending from the first 200 families that first settled in America.

A limited gene pool means recessive genes linked to birth defects are frequently present in both the mother and father, allowing those defects to be passed down.