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Beards
The other day I was at Walmart looking at radios. Since I'm not Amish any more I can finally buy a radio. Anyway I was standing there looking at a Sony when some children walked by and started laughing at me. I heard them snickering and whispering. One said, "Look at that wierdo, his beard is sick looking."
I was embarrassed so i quickly turned around and tried to hide my beard so no one else would see it. I thought of trying to tuck it beneath my shirt. I wished 40 bears would come running over and eat the children. But none came. So I headed toward the scissors aisle to buy a sharp scissors or knife to cut off my beard right away.
I bought the sharpest scissors I could find and headed out to my car - the same car that caused me to be banned from the Amish Church. On the way home I passed my neighbor Elam, who had left Walmart 35 minutes before me with his buggy. I chuckled as I roared past him.
When I got home I told my wife I was going to cut off my beard. She looked slightly shocked. "Why are you doing such a thing," she asked. I told her I don't think it's necessary to grow a beard and about the children who made fun of me at Walmart.
She bowed her head for a bit. Then she looked up and stroked my black beard, pulled the hair aside, and kissed me on the lips. "Honey, please don't cut off your beard," she begged.
I didn't know what to say so I looked at her for a little while. Then I stroked my beard for awhile, and then I decided I was going to do a little research on the beard before I cut mine off.
The Amish beard is a strange thing. It's long and scraggly. Only hippies have bigger beards than Amish. The Beachys (Amish Mennonites) have smaller beards. Some Beachy men trim their beards so much that you can hardly tell they have a beard. One time I met a Beachy man who had such a strange beard I chuckled. His face was clean shaven everywhere except for a line about 1/2 inch wide going from ear to ear. The beard was so small it looked like he forgot to shave, but I knew he didn't forget to shave because his upper lip was clean shaven.
I don't know why Amish and Beachys use the beard as a sign of their plainness. Hippies aso have big beards, but the thing that's strange about Amish and Mennonites is their banning of the mustache. I've read the Bible in German and I've read it in English (both in the KJV and the NIV) and I can't find 1 mention of a beard without a mustache. So I don't think their reason for having beards and no mustaches comes from the bible.
Reasons why Amish and Amish Mennonite have beards.
The Original Mennonite, Menno Simons had a beard. Here is a picture of him. (not a photo)
So if Simons had a beard, his followers probably did too. When Jacob Amman and his followers split from the Mennonites in the late 1700s, they did so mainly over a disagreement on use of the ban. Some people think they split because Mennonites had mustaches and Amish didn't. (Amish Mennonites then split from the Amish in the early 1900s).
The growth of the beard may have been due to the fact that many Amish and Mennonites were poor and couldn't afford razors. It may also be because in the late 1700s the style among the nobility and other cool people was to have a clean shaven face. Have a look at these two guys. It's hard to believe they were kings.
Frederick the Great, Germany 1780 King George II, Great Britain 1760
As a sign of being different than the cool people, the Amish and Mennonites may well have decided to grow beards.
Beard growth also may have been because they spent all their time preaching, working, and running away from people who were trying to kill them and didn't have time to shave. Or maybe it was because they didn't have mirrors so they always cut themselves so they quit trying. Or maybe their wives liked beards.
What happened to the mustache?
Most Amish and Amish Mennonite men have beards today, but somewhere along the line they lost the mustache. One theory is that When Jacob Amman and his followers split from the Mennonites in the late 1700s, they did so mainly over a disagreement on growth of the mustache. Some people say they split because of the ban, but the mustache theory is a strong one.
Another theory is that the Amish adored Abe Lincoln so much they decided to follow his lead and shave the 'stache.
President Abe Lincoln, 1862. Most famous person ever to have a "Beachy" beard.
Throughout the years some Amish Mennonite Historians have suggested Abe had a connection to the Beachys or Amish, but no evidence has ever been found to back up this assertion.
A more likely theory is that during the 1800s it became cool to have a beard and a mustache. Civil War generals, cowboys, and other cool people had beards and mustaches so the Amish had to change something so they shaved the mustache.
President Grant. 1880s Union General Sherman. 1860s In his younger days he
thought about being Beachy
My favorite theory is that the Amish were now rich enough to buy razors, but still too busy working to shave the whole beard so they just shaved the mustache.
In the early 1900s the Amish Mennonites split off from the Amish because they wanted to drive cars. Or maybe it was because they wanted smaller beards. At that point in time it's unclear if mustaches were banned by either sect, but in the 1930s something happened that officially erased mustaches from the upper lips of all Amish and Mennonites.
A very bad man started tearing up the world and he had a mustache and soon America was at war with him. The Amish and Amish Mennonites didn't believe in fighting so they shaved off their mustaches in support of the war. They and the bad man both spoke German, so by shaving off their mustaches they showed their neighbors that they don't support him in any way.
The bad man was Adolf Hitler and he had an ugly mustache.
In the end, I'm not exatly sure why they lost the mustache, but it was probably because their wives told them too. I'm now finished researching the beard and mustache and I still have my beard and still don't have a mustache. I told my wife I don't think I'm going to cut my beard after all. I think I'll just join the Amish Mennonites and slowly shrink it day by day till it looks like I just forgot to shave. If you want more information on the beard or want to contact me, email me at news@birdinhandnews.com and put Ivan in the subject line.
4/09/07
I was embarrassed so i quickly turned around and tried to hide my beard so no one else would see it. I thought of trying to tuck it beneath my shirt. I wished 40 bears would come running over and eat the children. But none came. So I headed toward the scissors aisle to buy a sharp scissors or knife to cut off my beard right away.
I bought the sharpest scissors I could find and headed out to my car - the same car that caused me to be banned from the Amish Church. On the way home I passed my neighbor Elam, who had left Walmart 35 minutes before me with his buggy. I chuckled as I roared past him.
When I got home I told my wife I was going to cut off my beard. She looked slightly shocked. "Why are you doing such a thing," she asked. I told her I don't think it's necessary to grow a beard and about the children who made fun of me at Walmart.
She bowed her head for a bit. Then she looked up and stroked my black beard, pulled the hair aside, and kissed me on the lips. "Honey, please don't cut off your beard," she begged.
I didn't know what to say so I looked at her for a little while. Then I stroked my beard for awhile, and then I decided I was going to do a little research on the beard before I cut mine off.
The Amish beard is a strange thing. It's long and scraggly. Only hippies have bigger beards than Amish. The Beachys (Amish Mennonites) have smaller beards. Some Beachy men trim their beards so much that you can hardly tell they have a beard. One time I met a Beachy man who had such a strange beard I chuckled. His face was clean shaven everywhere except for a line about 1/2 inch wide going from ear to ear. The beard was so small it looked like he forgot to shave, but I knew he didn't forget to shave because his upper lip was clean shaven.
I don't know why Amish and Beachys use the beard as a sign of their plainness. Hippies aso have big beards, but the thing that's strange about Amish and Mennonites is their banning of the mustache. I've read the Bible in German and I've read it in English (both in the KJV and the NIV) and I can't find 1 mention of a beard without a mustache. So I don't think their reason for having beards and no mustaches comes from the bible.
Reasons why Amish and Amish Mennonite have beards.
The Original Mennonite, Menno Simons had a beard. Here is a picture of him. (not a photo)
So if Simons had a beard, his followers probably did too. When Jacob Amman and his followers split from the Mennonites in the late 1700s, they did so mainly over a disagreement on use of the ban. Some people think they split because Mennonites had mustaches and Amish didn't. (Amish Mennonites then split from the Amish in the early 1900s).
The growth of the beard may have been due to the fact that many Amish and Mennonites were poor and couldn't afford razors. It may also be because in the late 1700s the style among the nobility and other cool people was to have a clean shaven face. Have a look at these two guys. It's hard to believe they were kings.
Frederick the Great, Germany 1780 King George II, Great Britain 1760
As a sign of being different than the cool people, the Amish and Mennonites may well have decided to grow beards.
Beard growth also may have been because they spent all their time preaching, working, and running away from people who were trying to kill them and didn't have time to shave. Or maybe it was because they didn't have mirrors so they always cut themselves so they quit trying. Or maybe their wives liked beards.
What happened to the mustache?
Most Amish and Amish Mennonite men have beards today, but somewhere along the line they lost the mustache. One theory is that When Jacob Amman and his followers split from the Mennonites in the late 1700s, they did so mainly over a disagreement on growth of the mustache. Some people say they split because of the ban, but the mustache theory is a strong one.
Another theory is that the Amish adored Abe Lincoln so much they decided to follow his lead and shave the 'stache.
President Abe Lincoln, 1862. Most famous person ever to have a "Beachy" beard.Throughout the years some Amish Mennonite Historians have suggested Abe had a connection to the Beachys or Amish, but no evidence has ever been found to back up this assertion.
A more likely theory is that during the 1800s it became cool to have a beard and a mustache. Civil War generals, cowboys, and other cool people had beards and mustaches so the Amish had to change something so they shaved the mustache.
President Grant. 1880s Union General Sherman. 1860s In his younger days he
thought about being Beachy
My favorite theory is that the Amish were now rich enough to buy razors, but still too busy working to shave the whole beard so they just shaved the mustache.
In the early 1900s the Amish Mennonites split off from the Amish because they wanted to drive cars. Or maybe it was because they wanted smaller beards. At that point in time it's unclear if mustaches were banned by either sect, but in the 1930s something happened that officially erased mustaches from the upper lips of all Amish and Mennonites.
A very bad man started tearing up the world and he had a mustache and soon America was at war with him. The Amish and Amish Mennonites didn't believe in fighting so they shaved off their mustaches in support of the war. They and the bad man both spoke German, so by shaving off their mustaches they showed their neighbors that they don't support him in any way.
The bad man was Adolf Hitler and he had an ugly mustache.In the end, I'm not exatly sure why they lost the mustache, but it was probably because their wives told them too. I'm now finished researching the beard and mustache and I still have my beard and still don't have a mustache. I told my wife I don't think I'm going to cut my beard after all. I think I'll just join the Amish Mennonites and slowly shrink it day by day till it looks like I just forgot to shave. If you want more information on the beard or want to contact me, email me at news@birdinhandnews.com and put Ivan in the subject line.
4/09/07