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SCHWARTZENTRUBER AMISH ORDNUNG

In 1913 the Swartzentruber Amish formed their own religion and split off the True Old Order Amish to become more ridged and conservative, as they believed the Old Order Amish were too modern.

Today there are at least a dozen different types of Amish churches. Each one believing that they are the only church with the right set of rules. However the rest of the Amish churches will allow their members to switch from one church to another without being excommunicated, the Swartzentruber church will not. The Swartzentruber church does not recognize the rest of the different Amish churches as being true Christians. Therefore they will be excommunicated simply for joining a different segment of the Amish church.

The Swartzentruber Amish Ordnung church is held in the spring and the fall of each year. Only the adults who are members are allowed to listen to the Ordnung. This material is considered very sacred by my culture and anyone who is not a member of the Swartzentruber church is not to have knowledge of this information. In fact all of Amish Deception is considered sacred, according to my culture and should not have been made public.

The clothes the women wear are to be made of all dark colors, such as dark blue, dark green dark red, dark gray and black. The material shall be made of Dacron, broadcloth, rayon or polyester. The seams on the dress shall be narrow, no more than 5/8 of an inch wide. The pleats that are sewed in the back of the dress shall be no more than ¾ inch wide, and shall be ironed but not to the bottom of the dress. The dress length shall reach the shoe tops. The shoes shall cover their ankles. The apron shall have a ¾ inch tie strap around the top section and shall be four inches shorter than the dress. Three pleats shall be sewn to the bottom of the dress and shall be not narrower than ½ inch and no wider than a ¾ inch.

The cape that goes with the dress shall be pinned in the center of the lower back by the apron strap. At that point it shall be a V and gradually brought out as it comes up over the shoulder. The cape shall be cut in two sections as it comes over the shoulder to make it fit better around the neck. The cape is only allowed to cover the very edge of the shoulder. In order to fold the cape around the neck they tie a string around their neck where the cape is neatly folded in. There is one pleat in the back of the middle of the cape and two small pleats on each side. The front of the cape is neatly folded and pinned down below the chest.

I could spend an enormous amount of time on the guidelines for women's clothing, but my goal is only to give you the basics of the Swartzentruber Ordnung, because the reading of the actual Ordnung can very easily take a couple of hours.

The slips the Amish women wear under their dress are made very similar to the outside dress. The only difference is they are four inches shorter and have no sleeves and the colors can be a little bit lighter.

The socks have to be either black or dark blue, they cannot come above their knees nor can they be ankle socks. Nor can they have rubber, elastic, sewed in the top of the socks.

Their shoes have to be black with black laces. The shoe sole cannot be solid or wedged type, it has to have a small heel. No spike heel shoes are allowed, or any other type of high lace up.

They are not allowed to wear any bras. The underwear has to be home made. The colors can be white or any other dark color is acceptable. No rubber is allowed in the underwear. They must close them with buttons. They must not be made to a tight fit.

Their caps are made of either black or white cloth. This cap is also made by strict guidelines. The pleats in the back of the cap have to meet specific guidelines. The bow in the bottom of the back of the cap has to be a ½ wide. There is even a guideline how they tie their cap. The black caps can only be worn at home while you are going to school. Unless they go to church, those who are not married wear black caps. The married must wear white caps all the time. The girls who are no longer going to school also wear white caps at home during the week.

The scarves are also strictly regulated. They must be of dark colors; the seams follow the guidelines of the Ordnung. The Ordnung also strictly regulates the bonnets. The shawls have to be made of certain material. They have to be a certain length and have to be black.

The women's jackets are made shorter than the men's. They must not cover their hips. The gloves during the week they can basically be any color. On Sundays they have to be dark blue, brown or black.

It is against the Ordnung for the women to buy tampons. The rags are usually made out of worn out bed sheets. It is against the Ordnung to use a scissor or a razor any where on their body. They are not allowed to cut their hair, shave their legs or underarms. Nor are they allowed to use any type of birth control.

The furniture in the house is also regulated by very ridged guidelines. According to the Ordnung they must follow all specific measurements. It has to be stained in a dark color. You cannot use anything to try to bring the grains out on the wood to make it look fancier. No fancy trim is allowed. It must look very plain.

According to the Ordnung the inside of the house the walls must be painted white. The Ordnung also specifies how wide your window facing or how wide your door casings can be, and what color they are allowed to paint them. In most Swartzentruber Amish homes the woodwork downstairs is painted a dark gray and the upstairs woodwork is painted a dark blue. The Ordnung also stated that they are only allowed to hang dark blue or black curtains over their windows. The Ordnung only allow plain silverware. They are also supposed to buy all their dishes as pain as possible. A flower here or there on the plate is acceptable. But no “Love You Mom” or “Love You Dad” coffee mugs are acceptable.

The bed sheets, pillowcases and the comforter have to meet the Ordnung guidelines. In other words everything they own has to meet their guidelines.

The married women are also to be obedient to their husband.

The Ordnung for the men is somewhat easier. Their pants and shirts have to be of dark colors, and the type of cloth is also regulated, which is usually of blue or black. They also have to meet the strict guidelines of the Ordnung. Their pants have to have button on the front no zippers are allowed. Two small pleats are in the back of the pants. The belt on top of the pants must be 1¼ inch in width. They are not allowed to have any collars on their shirts and only two buttons in the front of their shirts.

Their vest has to reach the pants, and they use hooks and eyes to close them. The jackets shall cover a couple inches of the pants, they also close them with hooks and eyes and have no collar.

The hat has to be either a black felt or straw hat. The brim of the boy's hat is 3 ½ inches wide. The band that goes around the hat is ¾ inch wide. The straw hats are only to be worn in the summer months and the felt hat in the winter months. Exception to this Ordnung is if you are a teenager you may wear a black felt hat every Sunday. The married men's brim on their hat must be four inches wide, and the band on their hat is ¾ inch wide. The Bishops and the Preachers' brims on their hats are 4½ inches wide. Men are allowed to wear any color of store bought gloves during the week. On Sundays the color of the gloves shall either be dark blue, brown or black.

The men are allowed to smoke tobacco, such as cigars and pipes. They are not allowed to have fancy smoke pipe, just a regular pipe. The cigars have to be a regular size such as Swisher Sweets. Cigarettes are against the Ordnung. Chewing tobacco is allowed such as Mail Pouch, Beechnut and Redman. Rubbing snuff or dipping Copenhagen is against the Ordnung.

It's against the Ordnung for the men to wear underwear, or have any type of pajamas. Their socks have to be of the dark colors such as gray, blue or black. The color gray can only be worn during the week. Two-piece store bought long johns are acceptable, if you remove the rubber from the pants and replace it with buttons. The shirt also has to be altered with two buttons placed in front of the shirt, the same way as the outside shirt.

Their hair cuts must be at least an inch above the eyebrows on the forehead, once you have past the eyebrows approximately by an inch you are to stop and make a straight corner downwards. This is to ensure that their ears stay covered at all times. Then they cut the hair in the front just below the earlobe and go straight back. The Ordnung clearly states that your ears must be covered at all times and the haircut must be straight. The men are not allowed to use any type of aftershave lotion or deodorant.

The women are not allowed to wear any makeup, nail polish or fragrance of any kind. The women are also not allowed to smoke or chew any type of tobacco.

The flashlights that the men or women are allowed to have can be no larger than two cells. The brand is usually Sportsman or Eveready.

The Ordnung on sex between married couples is as follows: It is against the Ordnung to have sex on fasting holidays, which include, January 6th , also known as Old Christmas, Good Friday, the Sunday between the Ordnung and the communion service in the spring and in the fall, the end of August after they harvest all their crops, and Thanksgiving. On fasting days members of the church are not permitted to eat breakfast. They are to spend the forenoon together with their family in their house by reading of scripture. In the afternoon, after lunch has been served they are allowed to go visit.

They are not allowed to have sex while their wife is on her menstrual cycle. The only purpose for sex is to multiply. Oral sex is considered the act of an animal, it is against the Ordnung. When the wife becomes pregnant and it comes near time to give birth to her unborn child the husband is to stay close by the house in case she should need him. Sex between a husband and a wife should only be for reproduction purposes. Any type of birth control is against the Ordnung. That includes withdrawal to avoid pregnancy.

The Ordnung states that a husband and wife are to bring their children up by harsh discipline. The Ordnung states the woman's place is in the house cooking, cleaning, canning, making clothes, and helping her husband raise their children. The Ordnung states the man's place is out in the barn and fields providing for his family.

The hardware that is on their horse harnesses, such as buckles and other metal parts cannot be nickel plated, if they are, they are to be painted black. The entire color of the harness is to be black.

They may not use a chain saw, drive a tractor, bulldozer, riding lawn mower, push lawn mower that is motor operated, drive a motor vehicle of any kind or operate any motor driven boat. They may also not operate any type of portable electrical tools. They may own stationary motors to do their thrashing, grind feed, run the sawmill, run shop tools or run the washing machine. Electrical starters are only allowed on the motors that they use to do their thrashing, run their sawmills and grind feeds. The rest of the motors have to start by pulling a rope or a crank. None of their tools can be operated by air or electric. The only exception to this rule is if thy own a furniture shop. They may own an air compressor and may only use this compressor to spray the final finishes on the furniture. It is against the Ordnung to own a factory belt sander. If they own a belt sander it has to be homemade.

The may not have any type of battery lights on their buggies or drum brakes. Nor are they allowed to have a triangle on the back of their buggies that indicates slow moving vehicle. It is against the Ordnung to have the buggy axle bowed up. They have to be either straight or bowed down. The buckboard has to be 17 ½ inches tall. The back of the seat cannot be over 7 ½ inches in width. The buggy length and width has to meet their stiff guidelines. The back buggy wheels have to be larger than the front. The fiberglass buggy whip has to be of dark colors. The buggy blankets have to be of dark colors.

It is against the Ordnung to press charges or to file a complaint against any of their members with the local legal system, no matter how serious the issue is.

The Bishop is the leader of the church and he has the final say. The two preachers in his church are his first servants who will take turns with the Bishop to preach in the church. The Deacon is the Bishop's second servant, who will not preach in church except read scripture out of the New Testament.

Should any complaint come against a member, the Bishop is the one who will send two of his servants to investigate, either two of his preachers or one preacher and a deacon. They will bring their findings to the Bishop and the Bishop will have the final say what punishment should be applied to the member who has fallen in violation to the Ordnung. If the allegations against the member are serious enough, yet they do not have direct evidence to pass judgment they hold preacher meetings until either the member confesses, or in some cases where they are confident that he or she is guilty than they will pass judgment whether he or she confesses to the violations or not.

If the violation is serious enough the member will be give the opportunity to excommunicate him or herself from church, which means he automatically become shunned from the flock.

This usually means they are only excommunicated for six weeks, should no other complaints come against them. Should they decide to fight the Bishop and the preachers ruling they will then take it up with the church, and if the church agrees with the Bishops and the preachers' findings they will then be forcefully excommunicated from the church. The Bishops, Preacher and Deacon will say in their Ordnung that the members are free to speak on these issues when ask. But most of the time it is unwise to go against the Bishop and his servants, as they are apt to find the member in violation of the Ordnung.

The Bishop, his two servants, and the deacon think they are special and God has called them, that in most cases their authority shouldn't be challenged.

This is the basic Swartzentruber Amish Ordnung. I realize I have left a lot of the Ordnung out, but a lot of it I have covered in Amish Deception. The Ordnung is not about scripture out of the New Testament or the salvation of your soul, but it is about control. This is what the Swartzentruber Amish Religion is based on. Any infraction of these rules is seriously punished.