Amish Wedding Days

Abstract

7lT UESDAY and Thursday are the only wedding days for the Amish people whether they live in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, or Florida. The pages of the Sugarcreek Budget, the weekly newspaper for Amish-Mennonite Communities throughout the Nation, amply attest to the correctness of this statement. A Pennsylvanian, in his own typical style, confirmed this when he stated: Rather unusual weather for the wedding season. Five were held on Tuesday. Many more on Thursday, some said ten, but personally I doubt if there were that many. If there were that many it would be a record number for a single day.l The wedding season for the Amish lasts from early fall until late winter with the moon in the suitable phase and the late winter not extending into a possible leap year. There are many reasons in an agricultural community why weddings are most advantageous in fall and winter.2 Even in European rural regions, Bavaria and along the North Sea coast, as well as in the Scandinavian countries including Iceland, weddings seem restricted for the most part to similar seasons of the year. On the surface, the conditions favorable for the establishment of a new family unit are best estimated after the harvest is brought in. The productivity of the fields and of the whole estate, and the available ready cash are sufficiently known after the fields and the barns are cleared of surplus produce.3 Therefore the young Amish couple may surmise its future prospects from its newly joined efforts. Such considerations are somewhat ephemeral and would base a marriage mainly on economic grounds. There are, obviously, more valid reasons for the fall After the fruits of the summer's labors have been gathered, a time of rest and also a time of feasting are necessary and in order. Diversion from farm chores is now appropriate and allowed in the strict sectarian community. While the Sunday district meeting does give some release to the Amish from the monotony and isolation of the daily routine and satisfies the hunger for social intercourse, that alone is not enough. One might say in fall three other diversions are added, to quote again a contributor to the Budget: Farmers are butchering and attending sales and weddings. Yet, as another scribe wrote, Quite a few are a-butchering this week. Hence not so many weddings a-going. This latter statement might lead one to believe that a-butcherings took precedence over Nevertheless, the close connection between the two is only too apparent because the large number of guests, always between 200 and 300, will consume proportionate amounts in meat, potatoes, bread and cake.4 With the slackening of the work in barn and fields, there comes to the young married people the opportunity to become better acquainted with each other and to adjust to each other. Particularly for the young wife there is now a greater chance to become the mistress over her household; at her own leisure she can learn to manage her kitchen and she can well adapt herself to her husband's own culinary likes and domestic demands. Any shortcomings and mistakes on her