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Amish是基督教的一个派异，祖先是瑞士德国裔。早在1693年，因反对加入军队和反对暴力而由主教分离出来。十八世纪起，Amish开始移民美国和加拿大。在美国，他们主要定居在宾州，俄亥俄州，印地安那州和马里兰州。
Amish通过宗教信仰和实践保留17世纪欧州乡村的淳朴文化和最简单的生活方式：他们拒绝接受现代文明，一直保持了自己的传统；他们穿着自己的传统服饰,裙子、小围兜,戴着小帽子；也没有汽车,以马车代步；他们没有取暖设备,没有电器,甚至没有现代人的调味品,如糖和盐；以农业种植和手工作坊维持生计。
究竟是什么让Amish country能不受美国文化的冲击而始终保持着这样的生活方式呢？我们不得而知，但请跟随Karen一起走进这个神秘部落吧！
Can you believe as a tourist you cannot openly take photos of where you are or stare at the local riders in the horse and buggy[轻型马车]?
Yes, I learned about this manner in a hard way. On one of my visits to the Amish country in Western Pennsylvania, I was drawn to the multi-colored, handmade quilts hanging outside a white wooden house. A tourist’s instinct was to take a snapshot. I, too, held up my camera, angling the right direction to capture both the plain house and the quilts on the porch[门廊]. As I was about to press the shutter[快门], a female voice pealed from the gap of a half-open door, “No photo please!” I was startled, diverting my gaze from the camera. A thirty-something woman in a milky-blue, plain-cut dress and a white apron[围裙] stood at the door. As I looked at her closely, she immediately shut the door and hid behind the curtained window.All I remember was her unpleasant frown like the one we have when a salesman knocks on our door. Not until I walked away from her property did she pull down the curtain. My heart thumped fast. I had never been treated so coldly when taking photos. Why was the woman so mean to me?
Later I learned that the plainness-pursuing Amish people do not like to be involved with the outside world. I’m sure my sightseeing in their territory is an intrusion, an unwelcomed trespass. I’m an outsider in this self-contained world where men sow on the land, women sew at home.
Before I came to the U.S., I knew of the Amish from a movie called Witness starring Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis. However, my every experience in the Amish country deepens my impression and continuously arouses my curiosity. How can they get away from temptation in an affluent country which offers so many conveniences and choices?
Yet, along with hunger, money sometimes trumps conviction. When I was in Berlin, Ohio, I passed by an open-minded, blue-clad Amish family selling homemade pies, maple syrup[糖浆] and handicrafts at a street stand.After a second thought, I walked back to the stand and attempted to make a purchase from the brown-bearded Amish man. Upon seeing my return, he greeted me with a jocular question, “Having guilty conscience?” I grinned and happily picked up an eight inch strawberry and rhubarb pie and a jar of maple syrup. He humbly received the green notes from me. It was a gratifying deal.
Thinking back, what a contrast of attitude between the Amish businessman and the Amish woman who shunned from my camera? I can’t get enough of the traditional minority in the U.S.
Amish通过宗教信仰和实践保留17世纪欧州乡村的淳朴文化和最简单的生活方式：他们拒绝接受现代文明，一直保持了自己的传统；他们穿着自己的传统服饰,裙子、小围兜,戴着小帽子；也没有汽车,以马车代步；他们没有取暖设备,没有电器,甚至没有现代人的调味品,如糖和盐；以农业种植和手工作坊维持生计。
究竟是什么让Amish country能不受美国文化的冲击而始终保持着这样的生活方式呢？我们不得而知，但请跟随Karen一起走进这个神秘部落吧！
Can you believe as a tourist you cannot openly take photos of where you are or stare at the local riders in the horse and buggy[轻型马车]?
Yes, I learned about this manner in a hard way. On one of my visits to the Amish country in Western Pennsylvania, I was drawn to the multi-colored, handmade quilts hanging outside a white wooden house. A tourist’s instinct was to take a snapshot. I, too, held up my camera, angling the right direction to capture both the plain house and the quilts on the porch[门廊]. As I was about to press the shutter[快门], a female voice pealed from the gap of a half-open door, “No photo please!” I was startled, diverting my gaze from the camera. A thirty-something woman in a milky-blue, plain-cut dress and a white apron[围裙] stood at the door. As I looked at her closely, she immediately shut the door and hid behind the curtained window.All I remember was her unpleasant frown like the one we have when a salesman knocks on our door. Not until I walked away from her property did she pull down the curtain. My heart thumped fast. I had never been treated so coldly when taking photos. Why was the woman so mean to me?
Later I learned that the plainness-pursuing Amish people do not like to be involved with the outside world. I’m sure my sightseeing in their territory is an intrusion, an unwelcomed trespass. I’m an outsider in this self-contained world where men sow on the land, women sew at home.
Before I came to the U.S., I knew of the Amish from a movie called Witness starring Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis. However, my every experience in the Amish country deepens my impression and continuously arouses my curiosity. How can they get away from temptation in an affluent country which offers so many conveniences and choices?
Yet, along with hunger, money sometimes trumps conviction. When I was in Berlin, Ohio, I passed by an open-minded, blue-clad Amish family selling homemade pies, maple syrup[糖浆] and handicrafts at a street stand.After a second thought, I walked back to the stand and attempted to make a purchase from the brown-bearded Amish man. Upon seeing my return, he greeted me with a jocular question, “Having guilty conscience?” I grinned and happily picked up an eight inch strawberry and rhubarb pie and a jar of maple syrup. He humbly received the green notes from me. It was a gratifying deal.
Thinking back, what a contrast of attitude between the Amish businessman and the Amish woman who shunned from my camera? I can’t get enough of the traditional minority in the U.S.