Amish recipes

“If anyone sees his brother in need and fails to give…what evidence is there of God’s love?”
– 1 John 3:17

My husband came home today and told me that we were going to make another big pot of venison chili for him to take to work. He took one for a Valentine’s Day party and it was a big hit! But this chili they are going to sell as a fundraiser for a co-worker whose wife has cancer. I’m telling Stace about it, and she reminded me how this is so much like the Amish. (BTW–the chili recipe is at the end of this post.)

It’s widely known that the Amish take care of themselves. In fact, their sense of community is one of the many things I admire about them. One of the most popular ways that they support each other and their community is through various types of benefits and auctions.

Now they have regular auctions, though mostly for produce. But it seems that most go to benefit a family in need. Perhaps the biggest auction is the Haiti Auction.

According to www.pahaitiauction.com, the purpose of this auction is to “bring relief to the hungry, sick, naked, and homeless of Haiti. The ultimate goal is to bring them to Christ through providing for their physical and spiritual needs. Relief is given throughout the country of Haiti without regard to race, religion, or creed.”

The auction is held throughout the United States in such places as Pennsylvania, Florida, New York, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky. My friends attend this auction in Pennsylvania every summer. This year, I’m hoping to attend as well! The benefit is held in January for the Pinecraft community, but in July for Lancaster. Five or six tents are set up with auctions occurring in each tent throughout the day. Furniture, quilts, tools, crafts, gardening and farm supplies, firewood and more are put up for auction. Food is served in a special tent all day. At exactly 12 noon, an announcement is made over the loud speaker. Everyone stops, prays, then sings a song together. Can you imagine how amazing it sounds to hear hundreds of people singing together?

The highlight of the day is the silent auction. Many unique items are put up for auction, such as a day of labor supplied by a group of Amish youth, a wing supper donated by an Amish couple, and a ton of hay or straw.

Sometimes an auction is organized to help pay for the medical expenses of someone who has been injured or fallen ill. My Amish friend also attended a benefit auction recently that was held to help raise money for a man who had fallen out of a tree and was left paralyzed from the accident. Members of the community donated quilts, wall hangings, tools, pies, and more to be auctioned off. Everyone also brought a covered dish to share. After making a donation, attendees passed through the food line and enjoyed the various pot luck dishes that were donated.

The community also held a benefit for an Amish woman whose husband left her and her children for the English world. This was a different type of event called a “Stop and Shop”. Several vendors (Pampered Chef, Tupperware, 31, Tastefully Simple, etc.) set up shop in someone’s basement. Friends, family, and neighbors stopped by to shop. They bought raffle tickets and purchased lunch and baked goods. Donations were also accepted. All proceeds went to the person in need.

The Clarita School Auction is held every September in the Amish community of Clarita, OK. Items are donated to help support the local Amish school. In fact, the Clarita School Auction is the recipient of the quilts made by the women of my Amish Quilting Circle Series. If you happen to be in OK around this time, you should check it out! Here’s the link for more information. http://www.claritaoklahoma.com/auction.html

I can’t help but wonder how much better our world would be if we took direction from the Amish and reached out to help our neighbors more.

Have you been to an Amish auction? What about a benefit for someone–Amish or English? Comment below and your name will be added to this week’s drawing. The prize up for grabs? A large print edition of Titus Returns. (It’s hard back!)

Be sure to check out the rest of the pictures from previous Amish auctions…

Haiti Benefit Auction 2014 & 2015

And as always, thanks for reading!

This recipe is a jpeg. You can ‘right click’ and save it to your computer. Then you can print from there!

winner-chosen

When people find out that I write books about the Amish, it seems everyone has a question ready to ask. Especially around the holidays. Do the Amish celebrate birthdays? Do they give Christmas cards? Do they stay up late on New Year’s Eve?

As with the English, the Amish traditions vary from settlement to settlement, but for the most part, the Amish celebrate the same holidays we do.

After all, holidays are important to the Englishers. It only stands to reason that they are important to the Amish as well.

amish-holidays-meme I’ve asked my Amish friends about New Year’s Eve and most stay up and watch the clock tick over to a new year. They like to eat pork and sauerkraut (recipe below) on New Year’s Day and enjoy time with family and friends. However, for a great deal of the Amish especially for those working in rural settings, work continues as normal. Livestock isn’t concerned with human holidays and must be milked and fed regardless. (Just a note here–most of my Amish friends work for English companies and no longer farm for a living.)

Everyone loves Valentine’s Day. Couples make special plans, youth groups organize fun activities, and Amish school children make Valentines to give each other. There are special lunches to celebrate and cards are exchanged. And though we would like to believe that the commercialism of store-bought valentine cards, candies, and roses have not taken hold in the Amish culture, this isn’t the case for every district. A lot of this is determined by how integrated the Amish are into the English community around them.

Naturally, Easter is a big holiday for the Amish. And since the Amish hold their church services every other Sunday, it is possible for Easter to fall on an ‘off’ Sunday. Amish families can either attend a service in another district or observe Easter at home. Amish children color Easter eggs and even have egg hunts.

Surrounding Easter is Ascension Day, the thirty-ninth day after Easter Sunday. The day celebrates Christ’s ascension into heaven. The Amish also celebrate Good Friday and Easter Monday. Both days are usually filled with quiet reflection.

In addition, the Amish celebrate Pentecost. It’s the fiftieth day after Easter and is the celebrated day when the Holy Spirit appeared to the apostles. Some consider this the birthday of the church. Easter can also be a big time for school programs if they aren’t held at Christmas.

The Fourth of July is not normally observed by the Amish. They have nothing against it per se and some even set off fireworks. Though it seems more for fun than true celebration as the English do.

St. Michael’s Day is observed on October 11th. If you live near an Amish community, you may be surprised to find less traffic on the roads and a great many (if not all) of the Amish businesses closed for the day. The Amish observe this day with rest and fasting and preparing for the upcoming communion service.

This holiday was a new one for me. Most probably because it’s a Catholic holiday, though it is not celebrated on the same day for all who observe it. So why do the Amish celebrate a Catholic holiday? Most likely tradition. In the old days, a great many Amish were tenant farmers. They paid a certain percentage of their profits to the land owners on specific days. October 11 just happened to be one of the ‘quarter days’ (or payment days) and somehow managed to work its way into Amish tradition.

Halloween is not celebrated by the Amish for obvious reasons. However, many Amish decorate with pumpkins, though they do not carve them.

The Amish celebrate Thanksgiving much the same way English do with a big meal and visiting family. However, Thanksgiving falls in the middle of the Amish wedding season and can sometimes take a backseat to a wedding celebration. Traditionally the Amish get married on a Tuesday or Thursday. It’s not uncommon to have a wedding or even more than one to attend on Thanksgiving Day.

Christmas traditions between the Amish and the English are as kin as they are different. The Amish do not put up a Christmas tree, though they decorate in other ways—like with Nativity scenes and candles. They exchange gifts, though my Amish friend’s family draws names to keep things as simple as possible.

The Amish school children host a Christmas program. They participate in skits, Bible readings, and even sing a few Christmas carols.

For the most part, Christmas is quiet and reflective. The day after Christmas, or Second Christmas, is filled with visiting friends and neighbors. Second Christmas came about as an extension of Christmas Day itself. The Amish have such large families that it’s impossible to visit everyone they would like on one day.

The tradition of Old Christmas is still followed in many districts. This day (at one time the actual day Christmas was celebrated) is another day of reflection and visitation by families. Old Christmas falls on January 6th. Note: none of my Amish friends in Pennsylvania celebrate Old Christmas.

So as you can see, the traditions of the Amish are rooted in the past as well as looking toward the future. But as a devout society, the traditions of the Amish are bound in faith and caring.

What are your favorite holiday traditions and how do they compare to the Amish?

I hope you’ll leave me a comment and let me know you visited! Everyone who comments will be put in a drawing to win a signed copy of Titus Returns. My latest Wells Landing book!

And as always, thanks for reading!