Mennonite sightings in Niagara Falls, Ontario

[dormouse]

So my husband and I just came back from our "honeymoon 2 years later" (because we were too poor when we actually got married, we went back to work two days later) in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

As you would expect from such a big tourist destination, we saw people from lots of different cultures, including the various degrees of muslim covering, some public praying, and... these:

I'm pretty sure they are Mennonites, because the women's dresses are colored. We first saw them on the observation deck near the falls, then as they were waiting in line to take the "Yellow Bug" elevator at Skylon Tower. The only word I could overhear without looking like I was eavesdropping was "wonder of God", which is not a specifically fundie thing to say in that area, as the falls are truly a wonder of nature.

Let me know if for some reason I should delete this post or the picture, I will understand.

[Hane]

Some old order Amish women do wear colors; it depends on their church/community.

[maybeizfundie]

Because the men are also wearing noticeably plain clothing and uniform dress I'm guessing they are somewhere around the Beachy Amish/Amish Mennonite point in the spectrum. They don't look quite Old Order to me.

[Guest Anonymous]

Yup, there's a significant Amish/Mennonite population in Southern Ontario. If you headed north a bit, to the KW/St. Jacobs area, the agricultural community there is nearly exclusively Mennonite - mostly descendents of Swiss Mennonite immigrants. I grew up in the area, and have had nothing but good experiences with them, although familial abuse and intermarrying is apparently a problem within their community. Oh, and many of the old order type strongly object to having their picture taken, so I hope you asked their permission before you took it, because they believe that to have a graven image is extremely bad luck. But man, do they ever make some good furniture, and maple syrup, and quilts, and grow beautiful produce and flowers...

[Miss M]

I live near the largest Amish community in Illinois, Arthur, Il to be exact, around here the folks in the picture would be Amish as the Mennonite men in this area just wear regular clothes like any other working man and don't do the beard thing.

I work with one Menno family, the husband and boys dress like normal people, the wife and girls wear the typical dress and head covering.

M.

[Buzzard]

I saw a whole bunch of them at the georgia aquarium in may. I always wondered how they got there without a car.... I guess its ok to have someone else drive you?

[Guest Anonymous]

Our local Mennonite women wear some colors and those little lacey caps on the back of their heads. The men and boys dress pretty normal. They own a 'crash n' dent' grocery locally and the girls that work there wear denim skirts tennis shoes, and various layers of hoodies.

When I worked at the local Veterinary College we had a Mennonite girl as a student. I got to be friends with her. She asked her community if she could go to school to be a Vet. Her community is deeply involved in agriculture and the dairy business, and she wanted to work for them once she graduated. They agreed to her further education, paid for a BS and Masters and DVM. Prior to her working in the Mennonite community her fellowship asked her to go over seas and work in an underdeveloped country building herd health. She did and she didn't owe a dime on her education. I've stayed in touch with her and we lunch a few times a year. An incredible young woman, and yup long skirts while she has her arm up a cows bum!!

[ophelia]

I saw a group of Amish/Mennonite at the Niagara Falls too when we were their in june. We actually already met them on the road when we were stopping for gas. When my little sister, her friends and I went to the bathroom we walked into a huge group of Amish/Mennonite women.. at first I was quite surprised, but than it was really interesting especially for my sister and me and for her friend from Japan since we don't have that kind of religious groups in our countries.

When we arrived at Niagara Falls there was also a group of buddhist monks, a jewish-orthodox family and some muslim families.. I would have loved to take a picture of all these people together since it was so multiculural and multireligious!

[maybeizfundie]

There are so many different Mennonite groups--some of them dress more conservative than some Amish. (Old Order Mennonite vs. Beachy Amish, for instance).

In the "Conservative" sector of Mennonites, it is true that as they move towards more liberality in dress, the men start normalizing faster than the women do, when it comes to clothes. But there are still a number of Mennonite groups that are not Old Order, but still have strict standards for the men as well as the women when it comes to "plain" dressing.

[Eclipse]

There is a large Old Order Mennonite population that lives two hours or so away from Niagara Falls in Ontario in the Waterloo and Wellington regions (where I'm from). Some of those folks do travel. I often ride the bus to Toronto with some Old Order Mennonites when they go to Toronto for medical appointments or to connect with buses going elsewhere.

I went to the African Lion Safari in Cambridge, Ontario this summer and I saw several Old Order Mennonite families who were there together. I couldn't get a covert picture though. I wasn't amused when the men and boys rode the elephants while the women stayed with the younger children.

It is surprising though when you see them where you don't usual expect them!