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ANABAPTIST - HUTTERITE TRADITIONS
Today, Hutterites still live as close to the teachings
of Jesus disciples in the New Testament as possible.
Education of religion starts at home by the parents. At the
age of three the children attend kindergarten from 8 AM
until 3:30 PM they are under supervision of an elderly
sister of the colony. They are fed, have naps and learn
German hymns and prayers. They also learn obedience and
sharing with other children.
At the age of five, they begin their English school taught by a
teacher supplied by the school board. Besides their English School
they also have German School taught by a member of the colony. They
learn to read and write in German. They memorize German hymns and
the teaching of Jesus’ apostles. English education stops at the age
of 15, though not spiritual education. Every Sunday, these children,
now considered young adults, and also the children of school age
attend Sunday school. The young adults also memorize German hymns
and they read the testament. The Sunday morning service is explained
to them and talked about.
Each Hutterite is baptized at age 20 and marries shortly after.
Marriage is not arranged, however, it is not considered acceptable
to marry a non-Hutterite. Divorce is not allowed, for once a couple
is married they stay married and only death can part them. Some
widows and widowers do remarry. |
WORLD RELIGIONS COMPARED
WORLD
RELIGIONS CLIPART
WORLD
RELIGIONS HOME
ANABAPTIST HOME
HUTTERITE HOME |
Hutterite style of dress is simple and all have the same type of
pattern varying in size. They wear dark colors only (no gaudy,
flashy cloths) because they are considered more humble. They have no
radios, TV, cameras or jewelry because they feel this leads them
away from Jesus’ teachings in the New Testament, especially what is
shown on TV. Wearing jewelry is thought to show vanity, which a
Christian shouldn’t have. They wear no wedding bands, though men
wear beards when they are married to help distinguish them from
single men.
Hutterites also do not own cameras because they go against the
second of the Ten Commandments: Thou shall not make unto you any
graven image”.
"When traveling in rural areas of the Canadian Prairies and the
American states of Montana, Washington, the Dakotas, and Minnesota,
you will occasionally come upon small distinctive communities
appearing as clusters of long buildings. These unique communities
are often a short distance from a main highway or road, and usually
no public roads pass through them. They aren't villages in the
typical sense. Unlike Indian reserves where family houses are
scattered, some separated by a few acres, these ordered communities
are made up of several long unit-houses, a school and church, a
large communal kitchen at the heart of the huf (community yard);
laundry, abattoir, electrical building, waterworks building; shops,
garages, numerous long barns, grain storage facilities, and other
buildings. The residential area is usually at the center of the
community and the farm facilities are located on the peripheral"
(Samuel Hofer, The Hutterites: Lives and Images of a Communal
People).
The Hutterites developed a strong sense of their history
in the form of an extensive manuscript library. This literature has
made it possible for their history and teachings to
become better known than most other groups of the Anabaptist
movement. The early Hutterites developed
the new custom of writing down all sermons. Hutterian
literature in print today include two Chronicles of their
history, sermons, and the Hutterite hymnbook.
Ere we would knowingly do injustice
to anybody for a penny's worth,
we would rather suffer to be deprived of a hundred florins.
And ere we would strike our worst enemy with our hand,
let alone with pike, sword, or halberd, as the world does,
we would rather die and have our lives taken from us.
Moreover, we do not possess material arms,
neither pike nor gun, as anybody may well see
and which is known everywhere.
Jacob Hutter, letter to the governor of Moravia
(1535)
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