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Mennonites — Like The Amish, But Not The Amish!
THE MENNONITES OF PARAGUAY.
A cloud of dust hid the the bus as it disappeared off into the distance. We looked to our right and then to our left.
Up a slight incline about a quarter mile off the road to the left, lay a farm owned by a farming family.
To the right, a half mile away or so, was a small village and the home of a Pastor.
Both sides were Mennonite, but one eschewed almost anything from the 20th century, no cars, tractors, electricity.
The other side used tractors to plough their land and had electricity.
We had always assumed that ALL Mennonites drove about in buggies, the men with dungarees and cowboy hats, the woman in frocks, headscarves and looking serious. But something we learned in the Mennonite colony of Filadelfia, was that like most religions and cultures, certain people and groups adhere to the ‘rules’ more than others.
We visited the mayor of Filadelfia who gave us the names of the two families he said might have rooms for a night or so. We were now deciding on who to visit.
We turned left and started walking up the slope and before long we could see a friendly looking man leaning on his garden gate.
He spoke Platt Deutsch, we spoke English, it didn’t matter as he ushered us into his house and made us feel very welcome.
Family is a central part of the Mennonite culture and as most see children as a blessing directly from God and many don’t believe in family planning the amount of children they have is often larger than the societal average. The family we stayed with had just seven girls.
Like many cultures, the Mennonite society is very patriarchal, where men are seen as the providers of the family and work outside of the home, often in agriculture.
