Mennonites

Answer: Since Mennonites follow the teachings of the Christian scriptures, the Bible, they have only one wife, for life.

The Mennonites are a Christian denomination of the Anabaptist (Anabaptists are Christians who believe in delaying baptism until the candidate confesses his or her own faith) who arose from the teachings of Menno Simons ( a Catholic priest at the time of the Reformation around 1526 or 1527). They follow the Bible closely, and apply it to all their daily life. Separation from worldly trends and fashions, if they are seen to be in violation to God's word, is the standard - although there are conservative and more liberal groups within the Mennonites. They do not practice separation to the extent that the related Amish people do, and have strong evangelistic ministries and missions. Conservative Mennonites are sometimes referred to as the 'Plain People' in reference to their simple style of dressing and living.

yes

No, smoking and drinking are not permitted.

Most Mennonites dress in very simple clothing -some with no patterns or bright colors- to avoid drawing attention to themselves in an act of humility and also in obedience to the directions in the Bible ,for example in 1 Peter3:3-4.as a symbolic and usually genuine desire to mark the difference between living for God & the way people naturally want to go - ie,following fashion trends etc.
Not all Mennonites have a particular dress style now,with only the conservative groups still adhering to modest dress styles,which cover the body,as a gesture of respect for others,and as a response to the Biblical principles of covering the body(1 Timothy & many references through both Old & New Testaments.

They speak an abridged version of German. It is called low German, and it tends to be a mix of various languages, but is based on German. Some also speak what they call 'low German,' and this is an older version of actual German.

Conservative Amish and Mennonite women wear an outer bonnet (usually black) in obedience to the Biblical commands given in 1 Tim. 2:9-15, 1 Peter 3:1-6, and Titus 2:3-5 that a Christian woman should be discreet, chaste, modest, sober-minded, in subjection, meek and quiet, and shamefaced. The bonnet fosters the proper sense of godly reserve and shamefacedness, especially in regards to interaction with the opposite sex, that is becoming of a Christian woman.

These women would also wear white cap-style headcovering or "veiling", often made of opaque mesh, under their bonnet, in obedience to the commands given in 1 Corinthians 11:2-16. These commands are that a Christian woman should have long uncut hair, and that it should be modestly covered with a veil that is a sign of her being under the authority of her husband or father.

Addition: Sorry I had to add to this The actual reason is that in the bible it says a woman must worship with her head covered and in the Amish and mennonite faith one should be prepared to pray and worship at anytime. Therefore, their heads are covered all the time.

Because they are a Christian and Bible believing denomination and Christians are usually against slavery.

Not with tourists, because they don't want to be bothered. Otherwise they make eye contact, just like anyone else.

The Mennonites that settled in the US and Canada came in the late 1800s after the US Civil War had ended and as the midwest was being crossed by the new railroad companies. These companies sent representatives to Russia to offer new land in the US and Canada to Mennonites.

These Russian Mennonites farmers were at that time being conscripted into Russian military service against the belief against war. So they left Russia for the new world.

They brought with them the hard winter wheat that they developed in Russia, and proved to be valuable in the US and Canada as well.

Yes they do, however they keep the celebration of such holidays simple. They put emphasis on being with family and serving others. Yes they do, however they keep the celebration of such holidays simple. They put emphasis on being with family and serving others.

Short answer, yes.

For more in-depth info, check Wikipedia, watch a documentary, or find someone of the Amish denomination (this last one may be difficult as they tend to live, more or less, detached from modern technologies...

No, because they do not have any.

They swim in their underwear, but their underwear is very baggy and non exposing.

They also tend to only swim as one gender group, not mixing into coed swimming.

They are also very private and do not like outside English to view them swimming, so their swimming holes can have make shift curtains around them.

They ride horse buggies and ONLY when someone else who isn't Amish is driving they ride in motor boats and cars. Sometimes they use scooters that you push and they ride bikes. (They also walk on foot) Their religion thinks it distracts them from God.

An other reason for limiting transportation is to make it difficult to travel far. This keeps the community together.

First of all "Mennonite" is not a race or ethnicity, it is a religion. The Mennonite religion was started by Menno Simmons a dutch catholic priest. During theanabaptist movement in Europe during the 1500s Menno Simmons broke away from the catholic church and joined the anabaptist movement. His followers were called mennist's which was a slang term and that is where "mennonite" came from. Mennonites are people who follow the mennonite religion. They come from all different backgrounds and ethnicity's. There are asion, African, Mexican, English, russion, "mennonites"etc. Even when it first started the "mennonite" religion had followers from all different peoples not just one specific kind of people.

They came to William penn's colony of Pennsylvania originally beginning in the late 1600's. Pennsylvania, unlike other british colonies, offered religious freedom for all and not just for the original settlers. Pennsylvania was founded by William penn as a quaker colony, but all were welcomed. The Quakers (or" society of friends" or just "friends" as they refer to themselves) came from England.

An English is someone who did not grow up in an Amish family - even if they grew up in China and don't speak English.

If you grew up in an Amish family, speaking Amish as your native language, is Amish, even if they never join the church.

Someone who leaves the church after becoming a church member are shunned, but they never becomes English. They are still Amish.

In most languages, there are words that mean "one of us" and other words that mean "not one of us". Almost always, there is an element of trustworthiness and civilized behavior implicit in the semantics. The N-word is the most reviled word in the language, despite literally just meaning "black." Montenegro is the Black Mountain of what used to be Yugoslavia, and finch feed used to be sold as Niger seed; now it's labelled "Black Thistle". If native Americans had been a little more successful in getting athletic teams to change their names, we might recognize that "Redskin" is equally offensive. After all, pirates and buccaneers are also dishonest, violent and treacherous, the native didn't choose to be inhuman, he was born that way.

But interestingly, the shunned are still considered Amish; they may be backsliders, but they are still recognized as inherently "one of us" and not one of those (pitiful?) English. Whether this is being nice to the shunned, or nasty to the English, is a judgment each of us decides for himself.

what did the mennonit eat

Barn building and celibacy.

NONE

they farmed

I live in the midst of Amish country in the Lancaster, PA area. The farm across the road from us is Amish and we talk to them almost weekly. Also had work done by Amish contractors.

We find them totally non-judgemental and we respect their way of life as do most of us "English" people in this area.

To tourists the Amish or Mennonites may look odd, because they dress different, but the local people don't notice.

Yes they do

Switzerland

No.