A Mennonite lady was at the gas station today, in her bonnet and calico prairie dress, filling up her pristine silver mini Cooper with racing stripes. No fair! Want.
Seriously, that is like my dream car. Why can’t she trade it to me? I will buy her a donkey cart or something.
Yep, Mennonites get to drive and do all sorts of modern stuff. Some groups are more restrictive than Amish, but even some Amish people (well, men) drive trucks. Around my hometown, you could recognize an Amish truck because there wouldn’t be anything shiny on it.
When I go home there are still “horse and buggy” parking areas outside the local groceries and such. I didn’t realize this was a super-cool tourist attraction until we had friends from out of town who went gaga over the whole thing. It was just sort of the norm when I grew up.
This. There is no one “Mennonite” or “Amish” denomination. Some Mennonite and Amish churches do forbid cars. Many do not. Most of them encourage people to try to live a simple life and not drive a BMW just because you can afford it.
The Mennonites in Paraguay are extremely technologically advanced and economically well-developed, living in very modern towns and farms, and speaking only German… Best way to get through the Chaco is to hitchhike with them in their new pickup trucks.
For all you know, she won the Mini or was given the Mini by a non-Mennon relative. It is a practical vehicle for many, even if the paint job is racy. Or perhaps the Mini is on loan to her. Or, she indulged herself in a “want” item she could afford. Mennonites are as human as the rest of us.
I’m actually of Mennonite extraction myself. What most non-Mennonites don’t know is that there are two largely separate sub-groups. Way back during the Reformation Mennonite groups formed both in the Low Countries/North Germany and in Switzerland/South Germany. The Swiss group largely stayed put until many migrated to Pennsylvania and Ontario. Many from this group eschew technology in a similar fashion to the Amish, albeit to various degrees. The Dutch group migrated early on to areas around Danzig (Gdansk) where some nobles were more interested in their expertise in draining swampland than in whether they were heretics, then later after their pacifism didn’t mix well with Prussian conscription laws migrated again to the Ukraine, and then still later to western Canada and the American Midwest/Great Plains. The Paraguayan Mennonites would be largely from the latter group, coming both from North America (because they didn’t want their children schooled in English, largely) and from the Ukraine as refugees following WWII. The Dutch/North German group has never much been into the eschewing technology thing.
My Mini in the US was liveried up like that. My one in the UK is just BRC because putting the flag on top of the newer ones kills any resale value it might have.
It’s funny that the Minis are cool novelty cars in the States (I’ve found out that mine, which my brother sold on for me, is now being driven by a teenybopper called Brytanny, as that’s what the new novelty licence plate reads), but over here it’s associated with hair dressers and middle aged lady estate agents.
I’m a frumpy old lady, so I guess I qualify.
Someone who works at one of the near by pubs has her Mini tricked out to look like Hello Kitty.
Not all if them wear bonnets, either. I worked with a more modern Mennonite woman and she could tell me what type of Mennonite or Amish a woman was by the size and placement of her bonnet/hair cover and by the apron and type of closures on her clothes. It was fascinating.
My friend often wore casual clothes (even pants), hose, heels, makeup, etc. But I could always tell when she was upset because she would look at her most Menonite…plain dress, flat shoes, hair in a bun.
I once did a candle sale party for a group of her friends. It was interesting, probably 30 Mennonite women attended and every single one spent between $24 and $25. Fun group and awesome snacks!
Sam’s right. Had it been a blue Mini I would more suspect the owner of being Mennonite. If you ever drive past the Mennonite worship center on Rte 54 near Danville PA you will see most of the blue cars sold in the Wyoming Valley during the last five years.
Most of the rest of the posts are pretty much on track (and it is nice to see the Reverend Billy quoted) but there is extra confusion these days as a lot of basically fundamentalist Christians are adopting “Amish/Mennonite” fashion. Some areas of Central PA you will see that sort of garb being used daily by people who belong to everything from the local corner church to mainstream Roman Catholic and Baptist congregations. I’ve seen some of it in Indiana as well. How far the trend is going to go would be interesting to study.
I was grocery shopping today and walked right by a (presumably) mother and teenaged daughter wearing that getup. I was watching a video podcast of Meet the Press and the way the girl (who started out with her back mostly turned to me) craned her neck and gaped at my iTouch was priceless.