Easter is one of several holidays that the Amish share with the rest of North America. Although it’s considered a holiday, the Amish spend this time reflecting and focusing on their faith.
The Amish don’t work on Good Friday or the rest of the weekend, and regular activities resume on Tuesday.
Many Amish holidays are a solemn celebration of religious events rather than the more westernized reasons we have today.
On Christmas, the Amish devote the day to reflecting on the birth of christ and celebrate a more “festive” Christmas on the Amish's Second Christmas.
The day after Christmas is spent with family and exchanging small gifts, such as faceless Amish dolls or wood bread boxes.
An Amish holiday may be filled with prayer or fasting, but all Amish holidays are a celebration and have a devoted focus on tradition and faith.
What this article covers:
Is Easter an Amish Holiday?
Because the Amish are a Christian group, they celebrate easter as well as Good Friday, they recognize Easter as the day that Jesus was resurrected from the dead. However, like Amish Valentines and Amish Ascension day, the ways they celebrate differ slightly.
Easter is an important holiday in the Amish religion, celebrated in all communities, sometimes in different ways.
Not all Amish communities celebrate holidays the same way, depending on their traditions.
Easter in the Amish culture is a spiritual day filled with activities to celebrate faith and the community.
The celebration begins on Good Friday, the Friday before Easter Sunday, this Good Friday is spent reading scripture, fasting, and praying together with family.
They don’t celebrate easter with an easter bunny, and the Amish don’t believe in Santa Claus for Christmas.
They celebrate the religious aspect of holidays and use the time to introspect and focus on their faith and beliefs.
How Do the Amish Celebrate Easter?
Prayer, scripture reading, and fasting
When the easter weekend begins on Good Friday, families spend the day reading scripture and praying together.
Fasting also occurs on Good Friday as the day is focused on the spiritual aspect of easter.
A special service won't be held on Sunday as many Christian groups do, instead, the Amish church will have a regular service that covers the appropriate scripture for easter.
Much of the easter weekend is spent focusing on scripture with almost no work, except tending to livestock which needs to happen every day.
Other than that, families can be found sitting at home and reflecting over the weekend, some may visit other relatives or members of the community.
By Monday, everyone is too tired to take part in games or other activities and instead takes the day to rest and prepare for work on Tuesday.
Family meals
At the end of each day throughout the easter weekend, which extends to Monday in Amish communities, a family meal is held in the evening to celebrate and reflect on the very religious weekend.
The meal, while not a feast such as those held at thanksgiving or Christmas, is a special meal prepared by the family to bond over this special time.
Amish families often have garden harvest baskets or kitchen storage baskets full of food and crops, as they spend a lot of time sharing meals over such an occasion.
Many dishes incorporate eggs to symbolize life and rebirth over the easter period, as children paint eggs as well.
Amish children are not taught about, nor do they believe in, the easter bunny. The painting of eggs is simply a fun activity along with decorating homemade easter baskets.
Easter Sunday
Easter Sunday is like any other Sunday in terms of the service, a regular service is held on easter Sunday, which is followed by fellowship and socializing in the community.
Good Friday is more celebrated in terms of activity and spiritual aspects, however, Sunday is a day for families to spend time together and reflect over the past few days.
Amish communities can have different easter traditions, while many communities do very little on Easter Sunday and Monday to keep the sabbath day holy.
Some communities will have activities and fellowship to bring the community together on Easter. Most Amish communities, however, choose to spend Saturday and Friday with activities and festivities.
Conclusion
Easter is a traditional holiday for the Amish that’s celebrated, like most of their holidays, in solemn and peaceful celebration of the very religious occasion.
Some communities celebrate certain holidays with more activity or a more serious tone, while others don’t.
The community leaders and traditions determine how the community celebrates certain holidays and the focus put on those holidays.
Amish holidays are always a joy to learn about and experience. With such deep tradition and meaning behind them, many people often try to expose themselves to the Amish way of life.
Recently the Amish community has been growing in the U.S. many people have begun to show interest in Amish communities.
They show interest by learning about the community traditions and beliefs or purchasing authentic products to have a small piece of Amish tradition in their homes.
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