The team here at Homestead Structures just wanted to take a moment to wish our customers, visitors, and community a very Happy Easter!
As you may know, we’re an Amish owned business, and the majority of our workers are Amish as well. However, we have several employees from outside of our community (we typically call non-Amish “the English” to differentiate.) With a mix of Amish and English employees, we’re an interesting work family, and it’s a great opportunity for us to learn about each others’ cultures, beliefs, morals and more.
We’d also like to share a little bit more of the Amish experience with our site visitors through this blog and more of an inside look at who we are as a company. Our culture and faith are driving forces behind our commitment to our customers, craftsmanship, and quality work. Let’s start with a look at how the Amish celebrate Easter, which does differ from much of the rest of America.
Celebrating the Resurrection of Our Savior
For most of America, Easter is a celebration split between the religious and the secular. Some celebrate in a strictly secular sense (Easter bunny, egg hunts, etc.), others in the religious sense (Good Friday, sunrise service, the resurrection of Jesus), and combine the traditions of both in their celebration.
While specific traditions can vary depending on the Amish community, our celebration of Easter typically starts the Thursday right before Good Friday. We’ll prepare supper as usual that evening, knowing that after sundown our fasting will begin. While fasting begins after sundown on Thursday, it can go until lunchtime or sundown on Good Friday.
Good Friday is observed as the day of Jesus’ funeral, and is a day of quiet reflection, celebration, and prayer. It includes the reading of Scripture, our prayer books, and the German “Rules of a Godly Life” book,” which is basically a collection of proverbs.
Chores are still taken care of, as Saturday is a normal working day during the Easter holiday.
Since our congregations meet every other Sunday, some years we may have Church service on Easter Sunday, others we may not. If we don’t have a church service, we may visit another church district at the house of a friend or family member, or simply spend Easter Sunday with family, studying the scripture related to the resurrection and celebrating our Lord and Savior.
Easter Monday tends to be the big day for visiting, getting together with family and friends, breaking bread together over a delicious meal, and being thankful for the blessings we’ve been given. As we approach Easter weekend, we hope all of you have a wonderful and blessed Easter, filled with friends, family, and good times together!
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