An Amish Winter

by Rhonda Edgerton

A recent drive through Amish country during the first snow of the season got me wondering what winter is like for the Amish. As my husband and I rode comfortably along, with our baby snug in her car seat, we passed black buggies traveling slowly along the hilly country roads that wind among the simple farms and patchwork fields.

What must it be like to be riding in a buggy on such a wintry day? Are the occupants heading to the village stores in search of Christmas presents, as we are? Do the Amish even exchange gifts for Christmas? Just what is winter like for them?

Fortunately, the Amish are not shy about talking about their way of life — for the most part. So I was able to find a couple of local Amish who were more than happy to answer these questions and more.

Keri is a young Amish woman who works as a waitress in one of the many area restaurants featuring Amish-style cooking. She described what a winter buggy ride is like.

“First, everyone makes sure to dress for the weather,” she said. “The women and girls wear long stockings and snow boots. Sweaters and sweatshirts are becoming more and more popular with young boys.”

Thick winter coats made of wool are a must, and everyone wears mittens or gloves made of either leather or wool, she said. “As far as the buggy itself,” she continued, “we close the curtains and pull down the storm front if the weather’s really nasty. We always have the big, thick woolen buggy blankets to wrap around us. And lots of people will take along hot-water bottles or just plastic jugs filled with hot water to keep themselves warm.”

Despite such conditions, Keri said the Amish look forward to buggy rides.

“Friday night is often our big night of going into town,” she said, “and we really look forward to and enjoy the fellowship of the ride together. It is part of the event.”

In some ways, buggies are even better than cars for travel in snow, David Beachy, who grew up Amish but now is Mennonite, said.

“Buggies do better than cars because they rely on the horse,” he said. “Horses can be shod with special kinds of shoes for snow and ice. And, as opposed to cars, horses can go in probably up to almost 3 feet of snow.”

According to Keri, the Amish my husband and I saw heading to town might very well have been on their way to do Christmas shopping.

“Christmas is observed by the Amish, but it is not nearly as commercialized as it is among the English,” she said. “There basically is one day we’ll go out shopping for all our gifts."

Amish children generally get only about three days off from school for Christmas so that the school year can end in time for spring planting.

Beachy said the Amish do not do much decorating for the holidays.

“There aren’t Christmas trees in Amish homes,” he said. “What I remember from growing up in an Amish home is just that we displayed our Christmas cards by taping them around the door frame and we had a centerpiece on the table which consisted of a Bible mounted on a small log covered with pine wreath.”

On Christmas morning, Beachy said, names usually are drawn, with each person giving and receiving only one present, which is opened just after the noon meal.

Beachy also explained that, instead of Christmas, some sects observe a holiday known as “Old Christmas” or “Epiphany” on Jan. 6. There is no working on that day, only fasting.

“There’s another reason for some to observe this holiday instead,” he explained, “and that is economic — everything is on sale if you wait until the January date. As kids, though, we always saw it as our other friends getting their presents first and, of course, that was no fun.”

Some popular winter activities for Amish children are ice skating, sledding and building snowmen.

“I grew up as one of 12 children,” Beachy said, “and we would split up in teams and have great snowball battles.”

When they come in after hours of playing in the cold, Beachy said, Amish children often have a special treat.

“We might have had hot chocolate,” he said, “but there was another one we liked even better, and that was coffee soup. We weren’t allowed, as children, to have plain coffee, but our mothers would break up pieces of bread about the size of a quarter and mix them in with coffee, along with some milk and sugar. This made us feel kind of grown up and special, I guess.” Another winter treat Beachy remembers is snowcream.

“You took a big bowl of clean snow and mixed in some powdered milk, sugar and sweet cream,” he said. “It was kind of like ice cream — which we also ate a lot of — but, somehow, it was more special because it came from the snow.”

Beachy said ping-pong was a popular indoor activity during his youth.

“The main thing is, I never remember us complaining that we were bored,” he said. “We always found something to do.” Keri said Amish women use the long winter evenings to catch up on washing, sewing and quilting, as well as to do a lot of baking.

Amish men have a little more time on their hands during the heart of winter. While they still have their usual chores, they try to catch up on any needed maintenance to farm equipment. Many of them do a lot of hunting for sport and perform woodworking in their shops.

Amish men and women do a lot of reading. This is somewhat restricted to more utilitarian publications than the English usually enjoy, such as Popular Mechanics for the men and cooking or sewing magazines for the women, Beachy said.

“You won’t likely find People or Life magazine on the reading list of most Amish,” Beachy explained. “But they like to read the local newspapers and especially The Budget, the Amish newspaper.”

And, of course, the Bible.