Amish Rakefighting and Christian Violence

[GreatBigAl]

Greetings Brethren

ON a recent trip to an amish community, we tried to gather information on the myth of Amish Rakefighting, which seems to be, as we have gathered, a phenomenon whereby two individuals who may have unreconciliable differences meet after dark , in the light of a bonfire, in the presence of Amish men, and settle their differences by a fight with rakes.....
I know it sounds absurd, or at least that is what I thought when I first heard of it. But after spending a few years researching this "myth" well I understand that there is some underlying truth to it.......

SO these seemingly peaceful amish have this brutal , extreme, almost unbelievable secret, and from what I can tell, it is true.
Now I am not suggesting that this happens often, or regularly, but it does happen, maybe once or twice a year, maybe less, but after finding coronoers reports of amish/mennonites killed by pitchfork wounds, or killed by bloes with hay rakes, well, things start to come together......

My question is, does nayone on this forum know anything about hte amish rakefighting phenomenon and if you are alloowed, can you post it here ?

Thanks

 

[ACADEMIC]

Never heard of it but do find it anthropologically facinating. What are you doing your research for?

 

[~InHisHands~]

And where are you getting this information?

 

[MrJim]

...trying to picture Amos and Elmer smackin' each other with rakes...

Never heard of such a thing. Got any links or hard evidence?

And howdy GreatBigAl!

 

[ZiSunka]

The Amish have many cultural quirks, like the practice of "bed courtship" in which an engaged couple start sharing a bed as soon as they annouce their intention to get married, and "plowing and planting" which is a custom best left untalked about but is intended to insure the continuance of a family line in which the husband is infertile.

Amish culture contains a lot of things that aren't quaint and don't get discussed beyond the community.

 

[~InHisHands~]

I suddenly feel so innocent in here. *Blinks*

 

[ZiSunka]

I suddenly feel so innocent in here. *Blinks*

The Amish have been greatly romanticized, but they are just people with personal and cultural quirks like anyone else.

Some people think that anyone wearing a cape dress or broadfall pants is by nature holier and better than the rest of us, but I can tell you from much experience that they are just ordinary people in strange clothing. They have the same problems, the same worries, the same joys and sorrows. They have many weird ways about them, too.

And they are becoming less and less separatist than they were before. I just got home from the Ohio Farm Science Review and there were dozens of Amish looking at the big tractors and combines, filling out credit applications to buy them and arranging delivery. And they drove up in their mini vans to get there.

I'm talking about German-speaking, plain-dressing, bearded and hatted Amish. Their new affluence is luring them into the world with the rest of us.

 

[~InHisHands~]

Yes, but why?

 

[ZiSunka]

Why what?

 

[~InHisHands~]

Their new affluence is luring them into the world with the rest of us.

Why?

 

[ZiSunka]

Their new affluence is luring them into the world with the rest of us.

Why?

Because it's fun to spend money.

When they were subsistence farmers, they didn't have any money to spend. They grew enough crops to pay their taxes and put food up for the family. There was little left over.

Now they are entrepenuers and heads of companies, they have money to spare and they want to spend it. They are sick of depriving themselves warmth in winter and safe travel, so they buy mini vans. They are sick of looking at the same fields everyday, so they travel. They are tired of sewing on treadle machines to make all their clothing, so they are buying a lot of it.

Constantly depriving yourself of every comfort gets wearisome, and that leads to giving up and going worldly.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

"Constantly depriving yourself of every comfort gets wearisome, and that leads to giving up and going worldly. "

yet, Yahshua said "take up your execution-stake daily [deny yourself daily] , and follow Me".
and "if you want to be perfect, sell everything and give to the oppressed; then come and go with Me where I go."

and
"Their new affluence is luring them into the world with the rest of us.
Why? "

Yahshua said "if you collect worldly treasures, your heart will follow them [instead of Me] "

 

[ZiSunka]

"Constantly depriving yourself of every comfort gets wearisome, and that leads to giving up and going worldly. "

yet, Yahshua said "take up your execution-stake daily [deny yourself daily] , and follow Me".
and "if you want to be perfect, sell everything and give to the oppressed; then come and go with Me where I go."

[/FONT]

There is a difference between depriving yourself of extravagant meals and fine clothing and being deprived of running water and heat in your house. There is a difference between being pampered and having refrigerated food.

The Amish have traditionally deprived themselves of anything invented since the 17th century, including things we consider to be basics, like a clothes washer (many of their women still do wash by hand--it takes three days to do the wash--three 10 hour days, and they risk severe burns from the wood fires and boiling wash kettles), a refrigerator (they eat a lot of marginally spoiled food, trust me!), a heated home (they have only one wood-fired cook-stove in the kitchen, heat never reaches the bedrooms. Sick people are kept in the kitchen where the family gathers which spreads the illness to the whole family), or safe vehicles (there are more than 400 buggy-car accidents a year, about 1/4 of them are fatal). They also don't have their children immunized against common illnesses, see a doctor for prenatal care (in some communities there are midwives, but in others, the women have to help each other give birth without any medical help in case of emergency).

Lot's of Amish are saying to themselves, "Why should we allow ourselves to be put at risk every single day when we can afford to have heat, a refrigerator, a car, a doctor visit."

We're not talking Louis Vuitton bags and Prada shoes, we're talking food that isn't going to make the whole family sick and a vehicle that doesn't fall apart on impact.

Before you judge, get the facts.

 

[MrJim]

There is a difference between depriving yourself of extravagant meals and fine clothing and being deprived of running water and heat in your house. There is a difference between being pampered and having refrigerated food.

The Amish have traditionally deprived themselves of anything invented since the 17th century, including things we consider to be basics, like a clothes washer (many of their women still do wash by hand--it takes three days to do the wash--three 10 hour days, and they risk severe burns from the wood fires and boiling wash kettles), a refrigerator (they eat a lot of marginally spoiled food, trust me!), a heated home (they have only one wood-fired cook-stove in the kitchen, heat never reaches the bedrooms. Sick people are kept in the kitchen where the family gathers which spreads the illness to the whole family), or safe vehicles (there are more than 400 buggy-car accidents a year, about 1/4 of them are fatal). They also don't have their children immunized against common illnesses, see a doctor for prenatal care (in some communities there are midwives, but in others, the women have to help each other give birth without any medical help in case of emergency).

Lot's of Amish are saying to themselves, "Why should we allow ourselves to be put at risk every single day when we can afford to have heat, a refrigerator, a car, a doctor visit."

We're not talking Louis Vuitton bags and Prada shoes, we're talking food that isn't going to make the whole family sick and a vehicle that doesn't fall apart on impact.

Before you judge, get the facts.

Excellent points.

In my job I sometimes drive a rather large cube truck down back roads of Pennsylvania and have come upon buggies trotting down the road. I spoke with my partner in the truck about how this truck, even with a small impact, would kill everyone in that buggy. He made the same point--is it really following God by endangering the family that way? I said yeah, why can't they just get a black car like some of their other brethren and at least be safe.

 

[Ave Maria]

Well the Amish are people just like we are. They fight just like we do.

 

[MrJim]

Well the Amish are people just like we are. They fight just like we do.

amongst themselves I'm sure they do. I understand that the military recruiters have a tough time gettin' them to sign up

 

[oliveplants]

Haha, Menno, but I'm sure she meant the Amish struggle to reach perfection just like every other human.