Thursday, May 9, 2013

Random Bits

 
I'm loving the beautiful spring greens. And Buddy loves spending time outside. Hard to believe they're asking for more snow soon.

 
We went to see Emma and her children over the weekend. While we were there this tree fascinated me with its green flowers. It was the first time I ever saw one like it and am now wondering what kind of tree it is.
 
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I was recently talking with some Amish friends and the subject of Hutterites came up. My friends were saying how they fascinate them, but they simply can't agree with how they allow their teens to go out and try out the world before they decide whether or not they want to become members.
 
I told them that the general public thinks the Amish do that and have even labeled it as rumspringa. They were totally flabbergasted that anyone would think Amish parents would encourage something like that.
 
We both got a chuckle at how all our years of rumspringa we had no idea that there were people having such misconceptions of what that period of time is in an Amish person's life.

8 comments:

  1. Interesting! When we were on vacation in the Lancaster , PA area we had a buggy tour around the community by an Amish young man and he told us about ruanspringa and showed us how most of rhe windows had plain blinds, but the window with fancy curtains belonged to a teenager who was in this ruanspringa (sorry, I forgot how to spell it) stage and I remember thinking that sounds just like the Dutch word "rond springen" which means jumping around. So it's not an Amish custom?

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  2. Rumspringa is an Amish custom. It is a time when teens gather to sing hymns, play volley ball and other games, have skatings, gather to help families with work like raking leaves, making applesauce, cutting firewood. Courtship.

    It lasts from age sixteen until marriage. It is a time of fun and fellowship. But it is NOT a time to decide whether or not to be Amish.

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  3. You got me curious with that tree! Does it look like this to you? There's an elm tree with flowers in the link: http://stanmer365.blogspot.com/2011/04/elm-flowers.html

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  4. Hmmm, I think we just had this conversation not too long ago :) I love your insight, because even for me growing up Mennonite, there are misconceptions.

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  5. Thanks for clarifying about the true meaning of Rumspringa. That is a pretty tree,and I love the picture of your sweet children and the doggie. So glad she found a good home with your family :) Shes very cute! Blessings

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  6. Mary Ann, I think that many of us have these misunderstandings because of books written or shows on tv that are not giving us the truth about the Amish...and/or Hutterites. I don't like those shows...and have seen only a few of them. It never made sense to me that the Amish would encourage the sort of behavior portrayed in those shows, and I'm glad to see that it isn't true!

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  7. Your blossoms really do look like the ones in the link from your blogging friend!

    We have several Amish communities nearby and one of them came to this area from Ohio because of how many Amish families had lost control of their teen aged children. It wasn't a matter of "choosing" to be Amish but more of a "lets do as much as we can before we have to settle down." What they were doing was getting into trouble while the rest of the teens were having good, clean fun. So who gets the TV coverage? The naughty ones, of course!

    Our local families wanted a better life for their kids where there would be fewer worldly distractions. So for them, rumspringa is just as you have described.

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment. I love hearing your thoughts.