There are many negative stigmas surrounding Amish culture and the way they live their everyday lives. Outsiders can't imagine a world without technology or in a community that instills in you the fear of being rejected. Others find their clothing strange or don't understand why women never cut their hair. Many people don't know the basics of Amish culture or where they get their roots from in the United States. Amish culture spans across the United States and has sparked intrigue and criticism from around the world. Theories of intercultural communication will help explain Amish heritage, 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 Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay In order to fully understand Amish culture, I believe we must first understand the roots and foundations of their culture. Amish roots date back to the 16th century in Europe. Reformers in Zurich, Switzerland, were outraged at religious authorities baptizing each other. The rebaptism of adults is then made a crime punishable by death. Baptism, according to dissidents, was meaningful only for adults who had made a voluntary confession of faith (Kraybill). Because they were already baptized as children in 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 established itself. In the late 17th century, a group led by Jakob Amman split from the Swiss Mennonite group and was named Amish in honor of its leader. Lured by the promise of religious freedom, the Amish began migrating to Pennsylvania in the early 1700s (Elkhart County Convention & Visitors Bureau). The Amish have managed to maintain a distinctive ethnic subculture by successfully resisting acculturation and assimilation. The Amish attempt to maintain cultural customs that preserve their identity. They resisted assimilation into American culture by emphasizing separation from the world, rejecting higher education, selective use of technology, and limiting interactions with outsiders. The Amish spend their days emphasizing the importance of humility, obedience and simplicity. They have a religious model called The Ordnung, which sets out expected behavior and regulates private, public, and ceremonial behavior. Unwritten in most localities, the Ordnung is transmitted by oral tradition. The Ordnung marks the behavior expected of the Amish within their communities (Elder). Ordained Amish leaders update the Ordnung at periodic meetings; however, each bishop interprets it for his local congregation. Therefore, clothing styles and use of phones and battery-powered devices may vary by church district. Once anchored in the Ordnung and established as tradition, conceptions rarely change. As new problems confront the Church, leaders identify those that can harm community life. Non-threatening changes such as weed killers and instant coffee may be overlooked and gradually slip into Amish (Kraybill) life. GOODAlthough these small variations exist, some things remain the same throughout Amish culture. Women wear prayer caps, usually white for married women and black for those who are unmarried. Married men never cut or trimmed their beards, but kept a shaved upper lip. 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 in the army. No male is therefore allowed to grow a mustache (National Geographic). When the Amish encounter 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 to the sky shows respect to non-Amish people while revealing and representing the strong religious ties 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 break the moral law; live life in accordance with the teachings of Christ; and refusal to bear arms, take oaths, or hold political office. When it comes to verbal communication, the Amish are trilingual and use expressions uncommon to outsiders. During religious services, the Amish use a German dialect, called High German. At home and in informal gatherings, they speak Low German, sometimes called Pennsylvania Dutch. In 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 engage in a form of excommunication called “banning” or “shunning.” Exclusion prohibits that individual from attending church and, in the most extreme form, from becoming more involved with members of the community. In these extreme cases, the family of the rejected member is expected to cut off all communication and ignore his existence until the Church deems him fit to integrate into its community. Language is a fundamental way for groups to distinguish themselves from other groups and thus maintain their group identity (Nolt). Nonverbal communication in Amish culture is primarily addressed through their 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, young girls wear colorful hats before switching to black hats at the age of nine. Once married, a woman wears a white cap. The Amish wear simple clothing to “communicate submission and pride, reinforce group unity, 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 vain. Women are never allowed to wear pants and no Amish clothing can have any patterns. Generally, Amish clothing colors are limited to black, white, green, blue, and purple. All of these examples show that the Amish remain modest and simple, focusing on their religious beliefs rather than modern fashions. It is a form of nonverbal communication that those inside the group understand and those outside the group can identify. The Amish are on the collectivist 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.