33 Facts About The Amish Everyone Should Know

Both communities find it greatly insulting to be mistaken for one another. The Mennonites, pictured on the left, are not as strict as the Amish. Mennonites may wear brighter colors, drive cars, and even live modernly.

Amish communities do not believe in or use contraceptives, which results in large families. It’s also said they aim to have as many children as possible!

Surprisingly, young couples are encouraged to share a bed together prior to marriage. However, both parties are fully clothed and a board is placed between them to prevent contact. The idea is for them to spend the whole night talking instead of doing other things…

While the Amish aren’t opposed to allowing people to take their pictures, they do not take photographs themselves or keep them in their homes.

The Amish community own 20% of America’s puppy mills. Annually, around five million dogs are killed in puppy mills, which equates to 11,000 per day. They are kept in horrible conditions, and some kept in cages their entire lives, especially if they are used for breeding purposes. They can be stacked up to 10 cages high, so that the ones in the bottom row have a 90% chance of developing an eye or ear infection. When the puppies can no longer be bred or be sold as puppies, they are mass murdered. Sometimes they are “debarked” by having a steel pipe shoved down their throat. They do this so they can keep more dogs without anyone knowing just how many puppies they have, which can be hundreds. Since the Amish consider these puppies livestock, they are able to get away with these torturous acts without breaking any laws. And all this is just the beginning of the horrors that can take place in Amish puppy mills. The puppy mill capital of the U.S. is considered Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, a place where puppy mills- and the land- is largely dominated by the Amish.