The Amish of Illinois' Heartland
By: Rebecca Mabry
Thursday, January 10, 2008
It's Christmas season, but there are no Christmas trees, no electric-colored lights, no Santa Clauses nor Rudolphs running across the rooftops in this section of Moultrie-Douglas counties known as Amish land.
And though the people of Amish faith do celebrate and treat Christmas as a very special day, the emphasis is not on elegantly wrapped gifts, lavish parties or green-and-red twinkling decor.
The focus is on families – not just the parents and their children, but siblings and their families, grandparents, uncles and aunts, cousins and even neighbors.
They gather together on Christmas Eve in many homes to sing Christmas hymns, pray together and enjoy snacks and treats.
One Amish grandmother, Lorene Herschbarger, said she couldn't afford to buy gifts for all of her 29 grandchildren, so she has sewn matching nightgowns and pajamas for each of them. And the night before Christmas, many of her 13 grown children and their families will come to spend the night, bringing sleeping bags for the group sleep-over.
It makes for an exciting evening with so many siblings and cousins, and the primary entertainment on Christmas Eve is singing, said Annie Ellen Otto, who has seven grown children.
The Ottos will also have lots of cakes and candies and cookies and breads and - of course - prayer. And on Christmas morning, in addition to opening gifts, there's more time for praying and singing.
A ham, turkey or roast and pots of noodles, mashed potatoes and casseroles feeds the family at the big midday meal, and other relatives and neighbors drop in throughout the day.
Traditions like these are taken for granted among the 3,500 or so people of Amish faith who live in the Arthur-Arcola area, but to outsiders who get an opportunity to get to know some of these families, these traditions stand out. And many are enviable.
These kinds of insights into the Amish faith are presented in a new book that is being published by The News-Gazette called "The Amish of Illinois' Heartland." As author, I spent more than a year meeting and talking with men, women and children of the Amish faith all over the settlement. I forged some good relationships and continue to hold tight to a few very close friends.
News-Gazette photographer Vanda Bidwell shot the photos for the book, being careful to use a long lens from a distance to honor their restriction against posing for photographs.
The book is being printed this month and will be released and sold by The News-Gazette, with any luck, in late December or early January. The book attempts to explain the mystery so many of us see in the Amish people, as they have explained it to me.
Please enjoy these excerpts from "The Amish of Illinois' Heartland.