Dan Order Amish

Lots of Windmills to pump water in Amish country

In my continuing explorations of the Amish, we will discus the Dan Amish.  The Dan Amish are between the Swartzentrubers and Old Order as far as rules go.  How would you know the difference? The Dan Amish look like the old order in appearance.  They will use knits in their clothing and their homes are very similar in appearance to the old order.

Horses grazing on Dan order farm

 The Dan Amish do put cloth diapers or pampers on their babies, but they keep dresses on their little ones, whether they be boys or girls until they  are potty trained.  They have indoor plumbing.  Their houses are lovely with many wall decorations and nature pictures.  The biggest thing, in my opinion, is that they are not allowed to have a refrigerator.  They have ice boxes or just a cold room pantry with windows open for cooling purposes.  This makes food storage much more challenging!

Amish hang clothes out all year long, no matter what the weather!

  The men have the same haircuts as the old order, not the pageboys of the Swartzentrubers.  All 3 groups have untrimmed beards.  The women have slightly different style of cap that they wear.  You would be hard pressed most of the time to tell Dan Amish from the Old order Amish from the appearance of the older children or adults.  The Dan Amish do have books other than their German Bibles and prayer books.  You will find children's books, like landmarks, Little House and other books like I would have in my library.

Dan Amish school yard.

The out buildings of the Dan Amish are white not red like the Swartzies.  All the groups other than the new order are not allowed to have paved driveways.  They are all gravel, maybe.  Plenty of deep ruts for English drivers to get stuck in.  I have had to have my van pulled out of some of their muddy lanes by their teams of horses.  The Dan Amish do not use battery powered appliances.  They use only the gas lights.  The Dan do not use bicycles either.  Many of them still use wood stoves to cook on in the kitchen.  Some are starting to use natural gas.

Dan Amish do use the red safety triangle on the back of their buggies, like the Old Order.  This makes them so much easier to see at night!  However, like the Swartzentrubers they are not allowed to use glass on the front of their buggies.  This makes for a very cold ride in the winter.

The different amish groups have their own rules and differ from place to place.  The individual church rules are made by the ruling bishops. Their have been many Amish church splits through the years on whether porch swings should be allowed or not.  They are human just like everybody else.