There are many negative stigmas about the Amish culture and how they live their daily lives. Outsiders cannot imagine a world without technology or in a community that instills the fear of being shunned. Others think the way they dress is strange or don't understand why women never cut their hair. Many people don't know the basics of Amish culture or where they trace their roots in the United States. Amish culture extends throughout the United States and has attracted intrigue and criticism from around the world. Intercultural communication theories will help explain Amish heritage and culture and how the Amish compare to a typical American family. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay To fully understand Amish culture, I think we must first understand the roots and foundations behind their culture. Amish roots date back to 16th century Europe. Reformers in Zurich, Switzerland, were outraged at religious authorities baptizing each other. Adult rebaptism was then made a crime punishable by death. Baptism, according to dissenters, was only meaningful for adults who had made a voluntary confession of faith (Kraybill). Because they had already been baptized as infants into the Catholic Church, the radicals were nicknamed Anabaptists, or rebaptizers, by their opponents. Anabaptism, also known as the Radical Reformation, spread to the cantons of Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands. This rapid spread threatened civil and religious authorities. To escape persecution, Dutch Anabaptist leader and former Catholic priest Menno Simons gathered his followers and fled to Switzerland, where the Mennonite group settled. By the end of the 17th century, a group led by Jakob Amman split from the Swiss Mennonite group and was called the Amish in honor of its leader. Attracted by the promise of religious freedom, the Amish began migrating to Pennsylvania in the early 1700s (Elkhart County Convention & Visitors Bureau). The Amish have been able to maintain a distinctive ethnic subculture by successfully resisting acculturation and assimilation. The Amish seek to maintain cultural customs that preserve their identity. They resisted assimilation into American culture by emphasizing separation from the world, rejecting higher education, selectively using technology, and limiting interaction with strangers. The Amish spend their days stressing the importance of humility, obedience and simplicity. They have a religious project called The Ordnung, which establishes expected behavior and regulates private, public and ceremonial behavior. Unwritten in most settlements, the Ordnung is passed down by oral tradition. Ordnung marks expected Amish behavior within their communities (Elder). Ordained Amish leaders update the Ordnung in periodic meetings; however, each bishop interprets it for his local congregation. Therefore, styles of dress and the use of telephones and battery-powered appliances may vary depending on the church district. Once incorporated into the Ordnung and established as tradition, understandings rarely change. As the church faces new issues, leaders identify those that may be harmful to the life of the community. Non-threatening changes such as weed killers and instant coffee can be overlooked and gradually slip into Amish life (Kraybill). While these small variations exist, some things remain the same throughout Amish culture. The women wear capsprayer rings, usually white for married women and black for unmarried women. Married men never cut their beards, but kept their upper lips shaved. This is because mustaches are often associated with the military and are prohibited among the Amish. The Amish are pacifists and tradition dictates that they refrain from any act of violence. They are also conscientious objectors, avoiding any involvement with the military. So no male is allowed to grow a mustache (National Geographic). When Amish meet a non-Amish person, they tend not to initiate greetings but respond to a non-Amish wave by pointing their index finger toward the sky. This gesture towards the sky shows respect towards non-Amish people, while also revealing and representing the strong religious bond and beliefs of the Amish people (Neuliep). Collectively, the Amish follow five basic principles: adult baptism; separation of church and state; excommunication from the Church for those who transgress the moral law; live life according to the teachings of Christ; and refusal to bear arms, take an oath, or hold political office. When it comes to verbal communication, the Amish are trilingual and use phrases that are unusual to strangers. During religious services, the Amish use a dialect of German, called High German. At home and at informal gatherings they speak Low German, sometimes called Pennsylvania Dutch. At school the Amish learn and speak English and use it when interacting with non-Amish people (Neuliep). To enforce church order and discipline, the Amish practice a form of excommunication called “ban” or “shun.” Avoidance prohibits that individual from attending church and, in the most extreme form, from engaging more with community members. In these extreme cases, the shunned member's family is expected to cut off all communication and essentially ignore his existence until the church deems him fit for their community. Language is a fundamental way in which groups distinguish themselves from other groups and therefore maintain their group identity (Nolt). Nonverbal communication in Amish culture is addressed primarily through physical appearance and clothing. The style of hat worn by an Amish man communicates his age and marital status. On the other hand, an Amish woman's prayer cap or covering communicates her marital status. According to Neuliep, girls wear colorful caps before transitioning to a black cap at age nine. Once married, a woman wears a white bonnet. The Amish wear simple clothing to “communicate submission and pride, reinforce the unity of the group, and indicate their desire to be separate from the rest of the contemporary world” (Neuliep). Ribbons, bows, makeup and jewelry are prohibited as they are considered useless. Women are never allowed to wear pants and no Amish clothing can have patterns. Generally, Amish dress colors are limited to black, white, green, blue, and purple. All these examples show that the Amish remain modest and simple, focusing on their religious beliefs instead of modern fashion. This is a form of nonverbal communication that the in-group understands and the out-group can identify. The Amish fall on the collectivism side of the communication apprehension scale. The Amish are a Gemeinde, which translates to “redemptive community.” This means that the Amish depend on their community for their identity. They also believe that a person's self-worth is defined by their role within the community. Individual achievement, personal ambition, power, and worldly acquisitions are not valued in Amish culture. Sharing, community commitment and trade are the core values ​​of.