Why Don’t Amish Men Have Mustaches?

The Amish community is known for its unique lifestyle that eschews most modern technologies and conveniences. The men can be easily distinguished by their plain clothing, straw hats, and full beards sans mustaches. But why is it that Amish men sport beards but not mustaches? The reasons behind this seemingly odd practice give insight into Amish history, religious interpretations, cultural identity, and desire to adhere to tradition.

Amish Men Don’t Have Mustaches

The Amish are a conservative Christian group that originated in 16th century Europe and migrated to America in search of religious freedom. Numbering about 350,000 in North America, the Amish live in isolated rural settlements and interact minimally with mainstream society.

The Amish are distinguished by their “plain” clothing and restricted use of technology. However, one of the most striking aspects of Amish men’s appearance is their full untrimmed beards and lack of mustaches. This facial hair pattern has deep historical and religious roots for the typically clean-shaven Amish boys and men.

This article will explore why Amish men grow beards but shave off their mustaches after marriage. We will analyze the historical background, religious beliefs, and cultural perspectives that shape this practice. The article also delves into modern views among the Amish on retaining these long-held traditions in today’s world.

Historical Background of the Amish Community

The Amish faith originated in 16th-century Europe, emerging from the Radical Reformation in Switzerland. The early Amish broke away from the followers of reformer Ulrich Zwingli over disagreements about adult baptism and church-state relations.

Persecution for their beliefs drove many Amish emigrants to settle in colonial America in the early 18th century, seeking freedom to practice their faith unhindered. These settlers established the first Amish communities, living an agrarian lifestyle in rural Pennsylvania. Today over half of all Old Order Amish live in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana.

Appearance is extremely important in Amish culture as visual symbol of belonging to their faith community. Plain clothing with muted colors, suspenders, straw hats and bonnets are mandated. These special garments distinguish them as a “separated” people, reminding them of their religious commitments. Uncut beards mark Amish men as followers of their traditions.

“Our beard styles visually convey that we are a people apart.” – Ammon Miller, Old Order Amish leader

Cultural Significance of Beards in the Amish Community

Facial hair holds spiritual meaning for Amish men once they marry and join the church as baptized members. Growing an untrimmed beard signifies maturity and responsibility as head of a household. Moreover, beards represent manliness, humility, and piety rather than vanity or high social status.

The visual marker of a beard aligns with Amish teachings on gender roles and outward signs of obedience. Amish women wear head coverings after marriage reflecting similar ideals. Interestingly, traditional Jewish and Islamic cultures also view growing a beard as demonstrating wisdom and respect for faith and community identity.

For the Amish, removing one’s beard is strictly forbidden and can result in excommunication. It is tantamount to denying one’s vows and leaving behind the ‘bosom of the church’. Amish bishops may only trim dense beards surrounding the mouth to enable clear speech while preaching.

Reasons Why Amish Men Don’t Have Mustaches

While untrimmed beards hold religious importance for Amish men, mustaches are completely prohibited. The main reasons behind this seemingly contradictory practice relate to historical associations, religious interpretations, and upholding ideals of humility.

Historical Associations with Military and Aggression

Mustaches carry negative historical connotations in Anabaptist traditions. 16th-century aristocrats and military leaders fashionably wore waxed mustaches as symbols of high social rank and warfare. Thus, certain Amish and conservative Mennonite groups came to view mustaches as prideful, combative and associated with violence.

These pacifist groups made concerted efforts to distance themselves from military appearance and vanity. Forbidding mustaches reinforced ideals of nonresistance. So while beards represent maturity and responsibility to the Amish, mustaches came to symbolize worldliness and aggression.

Religious Beliefs and Interpretations

In addition to military association, some Amish take a literal interpretation of particular Bible verses to mean God intended men to grow facial hair on the chin but not the upper lip. Key passages include:

“They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard nor make any cuttings in their flesh.” Leviticus 21:5

“You shall not round off the side-growth of your heads nor harm the edges of your beard.” Leviticus 19:27

These and other verses are seen as injunctions to grow full untrimmed beards. But the absence of explicit instructions about mustaches implies God does not intend men to wear them.

Upholding Simplicity and Humility

A driving principle behind Amish lifestyle choices relates to cultivating personal humility and obedience. Adorning oneself with stylish clothing, bold colors or in this case, fanciful mustaches, is seen as attracting undue attention and pride.

Mustaches are prohibited along with other visual signals of status, individualism or self-promotion. For Amish men, removing the mustache demonstrates spiritual integrity and conformity to tradition. It reflects virtues of self-denial and upholding community norms over individual preferences.

The Practice of Shaving Among Amish Men

Amish men adhere to exacting beard and mustache grooming practices in line with their Ordnung or oral set of rules.

From Smooth-Faced to Full-Bearded

Young unmarried Amish boys are completely clean-shaven. Around age 16, a young man stops shaving his beard as he prepares for baptism into the church. At this transitional stage with patches of stubble, he is neither smooth-faced nor fully bearded.

After marriage, Amish men allow their beards to grow out fully. Four weeks after the wedding, the new husband shaves off any remaining mustache hair using a razor, shears or battery-powered trimmer. Elders supervise this ritual shaving to coach the next generation of bearded men.

Variations Among Communities

While most groups mandate shaving the mustache, regulations differ somewhat between Amish sects. The most traditional Swartzentruber sect prohibits even battery-powered trimmers. In New Order Amish churches, men may groom mustaches but cannot have long-hanging beards. Despite differences, almost all baptized Amish men will sport full beards and shaved mustaches.

Table: Mustache and Beard Practices Among Amish Groups

This table summarizes general trends in facial hair grooming among the largest Amish affiliations. Regulations are set locally by each district’s Ordnung.

Impact on Identity and Community

Marking transitional life stages through facial hair shapes both individual and communal Amish identity. Joining the bearded fraternity gives young men a strong sense of belonging, responsibility and piety by visibly aligning with ancestors who lived and died by these traditions. These rites of passage strengthen bonds between fathers and sons across generations.

Outsiders often criticize their distinctive garb as old-fashioned. But for the Amish, wearing plain clothes and beards is empowering, unifying and essential in safeguarding a meaningful way of life. Maintaining these visible symbols enables continuity with history and separation from the modern world. Breaking them elicits grave spiritual and social consequences.

Modern Perspectives and Changes

Rising exposure to non-Amish society does impact the enforcement of appearance norms among youth still deciding whether to be baptized into the Amish church. Some adolescents may temporarily rebel by trimming beards or secretly growing mustaches. However, very few bearded husbands shirk regulations once joining the church.

Despite some generational differences, traditions around facial hair remain quite entrenched across Amish society. Elders consider uncut beards and lack of mustaches as core to Amish identity and one of the most vital areas where members must conform. So while certain technologies may be incorporated to aid business interests, grooming practices upholding humility are unlikely to waver.

Tips for Understanding and Respecting Amish Beliefs

Learning More Respectfully

When encountering people from distinctly different cultures it helps to approach them with genuine openness to understand their worldview. Observe first before asking sensitive questions. Reaching out to Cultural Liaisons who represent Amish interests can pave inroads to mutual understanding.

Looking Beyond Outward Appearance

Facial hair dictates can wrongly give the impression that Amish focus extensively on outward appearances. Yet the visual symbols embedded in beards point to deeper spiritual truths valued by the Amish. As with other faith-based attire, the focus is on inward transformation rather than superficial outward looks.

Statistical Insights

• The Amish population has experienced rapid growth in recent decades through large families and over 90% retention of youth-raised Amish. Their numbers doubled from 1991 to 2021 to around 350,000.
• 97% of Amish people living in their church districts continue to wear plain dress and use technology selectively, adhering to traditional Ordnung rules. This includes regulations on appearance and facial hair.
• Ohio has the largest Amish settlement with over 81,000 members, followed by Pennsylvania at 77,000 and Indiana at 56,000 as of 2021.
• Holmes County, Ohio is home to the largest and most conservative Swartzentruber Amish community, around 22,000 people.

Conclusion

In the end, Amish men sport full beards and shun mustaches due to a deeply ingrained mix of historical associations, religious interpretations, humility values, and cultural identity. The practices unite them with tradition and each other while separating them from the outsized value mainstream society places on individualism and fashion. Beards and shaved mustaches symbolize core spiritual ideals rather than mere appearance.

Retaining this centuries-old tradition in the face of modernity represents a symbolic stance – one that continues to hold tremendous meaning for both Amish identity and community. Whether these customs persist among generations to come, they currently allow Amish people to stay grounded in faith, fraternity, and traditional ways of life.