The Anabaptist Story in a Nutshell

 

Mike at the Primitive Christianity website  put together a clip with the Anabaptist story. If you're interested in a quick overview of this piece of history, this video is a good place to start:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I learned about this from Amish America. Thanks, Erik!

Brennan School - Bag Up Manitoba Winners

Back in September I told you about Bag Up Manitoba, a school program hosted by Take Pride Winnipeg. During the month of October schools sign up to collect plastic bags to be recycled... For a list of all winning schools click here.

Here at brennan School, we're delighted that we are once again in the winner circle. The 20,140 bags we collected won us another park bench! There are now three of these beautiful, sturdy benches at our school. We also got two birdhouse, (made partly with plastic) for participating. I would strongly recommend for any school to take part next year. It's a excellent way to teach children about recycling! And all students from Kindergarten to Grade 12 can take part.

We'll be having a draw for all our students to determine who will win the two birdhouses.

Thank You Take pride Winnipeg and Trex for sponsoring this wonderful program! And thanks to everyone who helped us collect bags!

You're only seeing part of them.

Bible Stories in Hutterisch

For a number of years now Hutterite children have enjoyed Bible stories in our mother tongue. Together with Dick Mueller, Wycliff Bible Translater/Linguist, I helped translate this set of books. The three that you see here have already been published, with two more coming out at some point in the future. I've heard many sweet stories from parents whose children have these books, how much time they spend with the them and the CD that comes with each one. Or older siblings reading to younger ones - all of which make the long hours spend translating very worthwhile!

 Jakobi and me

Right now I am thoroughly delighted watching my darling nephew, Jakobi listening to these stories.  Every night he brings his parents Book 1 in this series, to read to him, other times he follows along in the book, while listening to the CD. Sometimes I have to joy of reading to him as he's snuggled on my lap. His favourite Bible story is Noah and the Ark. One day he was playing on the floor, placing animals in a bowl. When his mom asked what he was doing he replied, "Oah Ochn." (Noah's Ark) He's just starting to talk and some of his beginning consonants are always missing. So you can imagine how many chuckles we have as he's trying to articulate things, which we sometimes have a hard time deciphering.

At snack one day, his mom, Karen gave him a candy with Santa wrapping. He took one look and announced, "Mein, der Oah!" (My, Noah) He's never heard of Santa, but knows Noah quite well. In all the time spent with this book, nobody ever told him that I am the one narrating the stories. So, one evening while listening he exclaims, "Mama, Linda zellt." (Mama, Linda's telling the story.)

A few days ago I was babysitting, I noticed that he was talking to himself, while stacking blocks on the floor. I listened closer and he said, "Huchn Turm. Aufn, aufn, aufn, Hibbi.)" (High tower, up, up, up to heaven.) Just as he'd heard it many times from his book. Not only is he learning Bible stories, but building his Hutterisch vocabulary, with practically the only books he'll be able to do this with!

Jakobi, fast asleep with his favourite book.

A clip of mommy reading, with Jakobi chiming in, click here.

 

 

If there's a Hutterite child in your life, Bible stories in the language they know best would be an ideal and special Christmas gift. The books are available at HB Book Centre.

Sentenced to Alkatraz

During their stay in the Dakotas, Americans barely noticed the Hutterites, that is, until World War I broke out in 1914. But then they were viewed as foreigners because they spoke German and refused to participate in the war. Nor did they contribute any money towards the financing of the war. Of course, this did not go over well with the English-speaking neighbors, who raided the colonies and stole livestock and supplies to help finance the war.

Since it was compulsory, Hutterites sent their young men to military camps, but they didn’t allow them to obey any military commands or wear a uniform. At Camp Funston, the men were beaten and tortured, dragged by their hair, and even chased by motorcycles until they dropped from exhaustion. They were hung by their feet above water so that they nearly drowned.

One famous case of such brutal torture involved Jacob Wipf and three Hofer brothers, Joseph, Michael and David. During the hottest time of the year, they spent four months in a dungeon at Alkatraz where they were severely mistreated. The first twenty-four hours they were given half a glass of water. Because the western wall of the dungeon faced toward the sea, the full force of the often-stormy Pacific constantly beat against it. Therefore, water seeped through the cell walls, making the heat even more oppressive. Without bedding, the brothers slept on the cold cement floor, chained to each other by the ankles.

For nine hours each day, their hands were forcibly raised above their heads and chained crosswise to the iron bars of their cells above the door. This meant that they couldn’t even defend themselves against mosquitoes and other insects.

When they refused to don the military uniform, they were placed in solitary confinement. On Sunday they were brought to the upper level and permitted to walk around the enclosed compound with the other prisoners, one of who exclaimed with tearful eyes, “Is this a way to treat human beings?” The brother’s arms were terribly swollen and they were covered with a ghastly rash.

When morale sank far deeper than sea level, the loss of home and family was particularly painful, because solitary confinement made speaking to each other impossible. Miraculously, they discovered an unexpected source of encouragement and strength – the German songs of faith they knew from back home! Softly one of the men would start a morning or evening hymn. In their cells, the others heard and joined in, each rejoicing to know that the others were still alive – like our forefathers had done centuries before in the dungeons of Europe.

Later they were transferred to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas where they were continually mistreated. It was here that Joseph and Michael Hofer fell very ill and had to be hospitalized. The other two brothers, still in prison, were allowed to send a telegram home to tell the families of Joseph and Michael about their illness. Shortly thereafter, they both died in the hospital at Fort Leavenworth, just before their wives, a minister and another brother arrived.

Maria, Joseph’s wife insisted on seeing her husband, when the officer at the desk told her that he had died two hours previously. Distraught and grief-stricken, she stood before his coffin. Raising the lid, she gasped in horror, “You would insult him by dressing him in death in a military uniform he refused to wear in life.”

David too, was permitted to visit his dying brother, Michael and was later unexpectedly released. By that time the Hutterites had lost faith with the American government and decided to investigate the possibility of immigrating to Canada. Finally, the Hutterite leaders received word from the Canadian government that they were welcome to settle on the prairies. Thus, they emigrated to Canada in 1918. The Schmiedenleut established six colonies in Manitoba, the Dariusleut five in Alberta, and the Lehrerleut also founded four colonies in Alberta.

Meanwhile, Jacob Wipf was kept in solitary confinement for another year. He was finally released on April 12, 1919, long after the Armistice had been signed.

After WWII, some Hutterites returned to South Dakota establish colonies there once more and were able to purchase several of the former colony sites. Today, there are Schmiedenleut in the Dakotas and Minnesota, US and in Manitoba, Canada. The Darius- and Leherleut live in SK and AB Canada and in Montana, Washington, Oregon, US.

We’re deeply grateful for religious freedom in both Canada and the United States, especially when we’re reminded that our forefathers steadfastly fought for and gave their lives for their faith. To God be the glory!

 (My humble thanks to Mark Waldner and Dora Maendel who kindly allowed me to use part of their work for this article.)

 

 

Marty's Colour Adventure - Elma Maendel, Cynthia Stahl (giveaway)

'Marty's Colour Adventure' is a story written in rhyme and is about a mouse scurrying around the kitchen on a Hutterite colony, looking for yummy things to eat. Both the author, Elma Maendel and the illustrator, Cynthia Stahl live on a Hutterite colony and are passionate about quality literature for young children. With this story the focus is on Hutterite children, as there are very few books where Hutterite children can relate in a real way with the characters, culture and language. For 'local colour' some dialect words are used in the text and the children are clearly Hutterite. However, this book can still be enjoyed by any other child. Along with helping to teach colours, children will enjoy get a glimpse of life on a Hutterite colony.

I can't help but add one of my favourite pages. As you can see, there's a dialect word in this rhyme, and its definition is printed at the bottom of the page. (I know, it's a little bit hard to see in the photo, but it's much better in the book.) Each of the Hutterisch words, has the English one right there.

 

 

Needless to say, our children love this book, not only because of it's catchy rhythmically language, whimsical story and delightful illustrations, but also because they see themselves in the story.

 

Have a little one on your Christmas list? Why not give him/her a Hutterite book? You can get this book at Amazon and at the HB Bookcentre, along with the first book in this series, 'Marty's Adventure'. That's right, may as well get both books? Or any other Hutterite book for that matter.

 

If you'd like to win this book, please leave a comment with your email address. For another entry, share this on Facebook, Twitter or your blog. But come back and tell me how you shared it. Winner will be determined with random.org, on Nov.the 23rd. Along with being announced here, the lucky winner will also be notified by email. 

 

Many thanks to Elma Maendel, who kindly provided a book for the giveaway!

 

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Kept you guessing long enough? Thanks for trying! I enjoyed reading your guesses! See if you got it right.

 

My mom is an avid knitter and has been for most of her life. Her slippers, socks and mittens have warmed the feet, hands and hearts of family, friends and strangers in many areas of the world. Creating and giving these practical gifts brings mom as much joy as the person receiving them.

Like every knitter, mom has lots of little left over balls of wool around. Of course, she can’t throw them out, even if a project has left only a golf ball sized sphere. But she has found a nifty, thrifty solution for these yarn bits. Visiting her sister a few years back, she learned a skill that has been passed down for many generations, but which she, surprisingly enough had never picked up. Using mostly leftover wool she makes beautiful pin cushions.

To describe how this is done, is difficult and I’m not an expert with directions, so I’ll have to leave that to your imagination. But I will say, you first need an empty pill container, (Yes, these have to be saved as well.) or any other object with approximately that shape. Some people use a wad of paper or piece of Styrofoam. Then there’s a whole lot of careful winding till you have the desired shape and size, add a pompom and loop and you have a pin cushion that you can’t buy in a store. At least, I’ve never seen one. Would be interesting to know where this method originates from.

 

What do you think this Object is?

We're going to have a little fun with this one, before I post the story that goes with it. I've heard a few interesting answers over the years and am eager to hear more. I've known what this is all my life and find it interesting what others, who've never seen anything like this, come up with.
Your turn, what do you think it is?

 

Reflections of Hutterites who Visited Amana (guest bloggers)

Was happy to hear that quite a few people enjoyed the Amana posts! Thanks for the feedback! Today, I'm happy to welcome fellow Hutterites, Jesse Hofer and Kenny Wollmann as guest bloggers. They visited Amana a few years ago and kindly agreed to share their reflections.

Hutterites Visit Amana - August 19-20, 2010

The Chronicle of the Hutterian Brethren relates that Hutterites and the people of Amana share a warm connection. In the early years of the Hutterites’ North American experience, the kindness of the Amana residents enabled the financially challenged Hutterites to purchase land and get established in a foreign land. The Chronicle concludes by commenting that, since then, “Hutterites visit the Amana people at every opportunity.”

When the opportunity presented itself in August of 2009, a group of Hutterite educators—including most of the members of the Hutterian Brethren Education Committee—visited the Amana villages in southern Iowa. The group attended a planning meeting in Minnesota before making the trip south to tour the villages.

Conscious of their own history and experience as a communal society, Hutterites are very interested in what they can learn from the Amana story. Our group was particularly interested in learning more about why Amana abandoned the practice of community of goods.



Michael Hofer, working in metal shop

When we arrived at Amana, Peter Hoehnle and his infant son, Jonathan, greeted us in front of the General Store. Listening to Peter relate the colourful characters and stories that shaped Amana, we quickly recognized the strong similarities to our own experiences, obviously due to our common Germanic heritage and communal life-style.

Part of the group of 22 was Rev. Arnold Hofer from Acadia Community, Carberry, Manitoba. Arnold is great nephew to Michael Hofer, a former Hutterite from Bon Homme, South Dakota. Michael became a resident of Amana after visiting to receive treatment for an eye condition. He stayed, worked in the blacksmith shop and eventually married one of the locals, Anna Marie Stuck. It was a touching experience to visit the metal shop where Michael served the community as a blacksmith.

The visit provided another generation of Hutterites the occasion to honour the Amana people for their generous assistance in the past. We were reminded of the richness that communal life can have—a fact we can easily lose sight of when we are too busy living life. Like the Amana of old, we are encouraged to “Bleib treu!”


Thank you, Jesse and Kenny! It's obvious you had a wonderful time soaking up Amana hospitality. Hopefully one day I will have the opportunity to visit there as well. Until then, I dream!

This is the Mouse that Inspired a Post

Dear Mousey,

I know you don't follow my blog, at least I don't know that you do. Never saw a pipsqueak@mousemail.com  on my mailing list either. In any case, maybe somehow you will see this.

I know winter is coming, cold, snow, not much yummy stuff to eat. And Manitoba winters can be especially brutal. I understand and in some weird way, my heart goes out to you. But not enough that I'd want to house a mouse in my classroom. Not a good idea for a number of reasons. (You don't have to deny that you're trying to get comfortable here, because some of my students saw your mousey self with their own eyes scurrying out of sight, just this morning.)

I know you think that our reading cushions would make a good bed, but sorry, we're not sharing. And just so you know, those cushions are carted around daily, so that would scare you a bit. You should also know there are boys in this room everyday, whowould have no problem making sure you never come here again. Nobody here likes mice, least of all, me. Only in story books, are your family and friends deemed incredibly cute.Unfortunately for you, that's where the affection ends! My sister actually has a published book where a mouse is the main character. But, even she has no desire to adopt you as a class pet. Sorry. O, computer mice are ok, too, because they don't stink, steal and chew things up.

Here then is our fair warning: We're very serious when we say this is a 'no mouse' zone. So, unless you see the inside of a trap in your not so distant future, you better think of another winter residence. Oh, and don't even think about one of the houses, a similar fate awaits you there. Maybe a better option would be a shed or barn, even though I never saw a welcome sign for mice there either. That's why they have cats around. No matter, just kindly pack your little bag and be gone.

I know, things look rather bleak. But that's the sad truth of life as a mouse. Nothing I can do to change it.

Squeak to you,

Linda - who you never saw yet and trust me, you don't want to.

PS, Thanks for the inspiration for this post!

(There really is a mouse here, still free, but not for long, I hope. May as well have some fun with it. I guess one never knows where inspiration will come from.)

Nov. 4, 2012
I'm happy to report my mouse is no more. But who's to say that she/he hasn't left some family members behind who still insist on living here, despite the fact that they could very well fall into the same trap as Mouse #1?