Cheering Hutterite women & Olympics

[shootingstar]

I was not talking about Old Order Mennonites. Didn't even know there was a sect that called themselves old order Mennonites. The community of mennonites that my Mom was raised in allowed use of mechanized farm machinery, cars, even tvs when they became available.

A generic term that I've been using, but from a Mennonite scholarly source:
http://www.grebel.uwaterloo.ca/mao/a...fonds/VIII.htm

Conrad Grebel College is one of the church colleges that is part of the University of Waterloo, same university that is known incubating high tech innovations in engineering, computers, etc. (This is where Blackberry started...) It is a Mennonite-based church college. I grew up in Kitchener-Waterloo. The history of Waterloo County, post native-Indian settlement, started alot with the Mennonites. That's why alot of the old street names downtown core of both cities, have German names (Erb St., Weber St., Shantz, etc.). I grew up seeing black horse and buggies sometimes in downtown Waterloo and Kitchener. Certainly when one went to the Waterloo Farmers' Market, they went shopping there or some sold their produce there.

I brought my Mennonite friend over to the Mennonite archives /library that was at Conrad Grebel. She was blown over how much historic stuff they had.

She is probably something like what your mom was...but her group does not watch tv. She wears white net cap over her hair bun all the time. She told me that the origin of covering hair was in accordance to Corinthians, but I forget the Biblical section number. I've known her for a long time. Heck, I was honoured to be her first non-family passenger when she bought and drove her first car prior to her marriage.

She and hubby run a "wholesome" (her words) used books bookstore out of their house, meaning books on certain subjects. She and hubby drive out to the Old Order Mennonite homes and sell their used books. Laura Ignalls Wilder books (Little House on the Prairie series) is popular with Old Order Mennonite parents/children in her area.

For the K-W area, I have been told by 2 different sources (well, 15 years ago) there are 10 different sects of Mennonites and Amish. Source was a doctor and schoolteacher who each had Mennonites as part of their client base. Even my good friend doesn't know them all. She's taken me out on car drives in the country in her area and we end up passing by compound living areas where it is neither Mennonite nor Amish but some sort of totally unrecognizable denomination or obscure Christian sect I've never heard of.

Out of respect for her, I have attended several Mennonite church services of her group. The women sit on one side and the men on the other. Only men are allowed to preach or lead the service.

But you know, I realize there are the contemporary Mennonites that dressed like "everyone else" and hence, indistinguishable, and university-educated, etc. Across the street from the house I grew up in, was a Mennonite church. Several of our neighbours went to that church.

Interesting Oak, about the participating mennonite women in dresses, cycling for that distance. That's great. They probably had a great time.