Mennonite Church Allows Dancing Now that Everyone Has to Keep Six Feet Apart.
Some Mennonites may choose not to attend movies, or not to have television in their homes because of the violence that is shown. Others don't allow dancing. Smoking and drinking are generally not practiced because of the belief that one's body is God's temple. Practices differ widely from community to community.
Are Amish people allowed to dance? Typically no, the Amish don't dance and don't play musical instruments, either.
Mennonite prohibitions included dancing, television, and movies.
The Mennonite church has adopted a more liberal stance towards technology, with many members utilizing modern conveniences such as electricity and cars. They also allow telephones and televisions in the home, although they're generally opposed to the internet.
During the last 100 years, the church considered the consumption of alcohol to be a sin. But that “marker” is passing away. While a large majority of us—probably 75 percent by now—accepts some use, we honor those for whom the consumption of alcohol continues to be “always wrong.”
Some of the important characteristics of the Mennonite faith are strict pacifism, a plain lifestyle, shunning oaths, and commitment to social justice. The Amish are often mistaken for Mennonites. They are a distinct group that broke away from the Mennonites in the late 17th century.
Mennonites, unlike Mormons, don't wear undergarments designed to confer a special holy feeling.
Some churches (not all necessarily Mennonite) take these passages to heart, and greet one another with a kiss on the cheek, much as anyone else would greet another person with a hug or handshake. This tends to occur in the more conservative Mennonite churches, and was more prevalent in the past.
The Amish also believe marriage should be between a man and a woman. Same-sex relationships are not allowed within the Amish community. Unmarried Amish men and women aren't supposed to have any physical contact with each other. This includes kissing, hugging, and even holding hands.
Amish women, however, have to wear their head coverings at all times. An Amish bonnet or head covering is called kapp (or prayer cover). It is worn and topped with a black Amish bonnet used by women in Amish communities during certain occasions.
The Amish believe that going barefoot keeps them closer to the earth and nature, and therefore keeps them closer to God.
Square dancing, though seldom encouraged among Mennonites, has generally been more acceptable. The young people of some Old Order Mennonite and Amish groups have a history of Sunday evening square dancing (Horst, Heritage).
For the more modern Mennonites, dress is not an issue. The only standard is that women are encouraged to dress modestly, and persons interpret that differently. Women wear slacks and jeans as well as dresses. In the summer, you would find many wearing shorts.
Feminine Hygiene
Female Amish wash their hair and wear it in a bun. As for makeup, Amish women aren't allowed to wear cosmetics or adornments considered worldly. This includes lipstick, mascara, eye shadow, and jewelry.
The 1963 Mennonite Confession of Faith stated that marriage should be a monogamous, heterosexual lifetime commitment. The Christian home should have regular family worship.
The women of the Holdeman Mennonite community in California wear a cape-dress that has a high neckline, loose bodice and fitted waist. The cape of the dress covers the shoulders and bust. Because of religious reasons, no (or only minor) adornment of the dress is allowed.
Amish women swim in a different location from men, but because they tend to wear long dresses, the activity would be better characterized as wading. Some Mennonite women might wear shorts and T-shirts or even one-piece swimsuits because their churches are the most modern of the sects, at least in some ways.
Old Colony Mennonites, like the Old Order Amish, do not officially allow birth control practices.
I think the level of integration with the modern world varies community to community (some Amish communities are more insular than others) but the most conservative of them will probably use the same methods women used for hundreds of years — wrapping themselves with strips of material, or wrapping their shift/ ...
Mennonites do not have any dietary restrictions as exist in some other religious groups. Some conservative Mennonites abstain from alcohol, but other Mennonites do not, with Mennonite distilleries existing as early as the late 16th century.
Divorce has not permitted among the Anabaptists and Mennonites from the earliest times to the mid-20th century except for the cause of adultery, in accordance with the Biblical standard as found in Matthew 19:9, although separation (either legal or privately arranged) was generally allowed.
Their more progressive attitudes toward technology led to tensions and a split from the Old Order Mennonites. Today, they cautiously use cell phones and computers, but not televisions or radios.