Old Colonial Mennonites

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The old colonial Mennonites , sometimes just called old colonists , are a subgroup of the Russian mennonites and thus belong to the free church tradition of the Mennonites that dates back to the Reformation in the early 16th century . Among them are very traditionalist groups that resemble the Mennonites of the old order , for example in the fact that they still drive in a carriage and reject the car. The number of old colonists today is well over 100,000 people, all of whom live on the American double continent, mainly in Central and South America , but also in Canada and the USA.

Surname

An old colonist in the "Colonia Del Norte", Bolivia

The name of the old colonists goes back to the time of the first Mennonite settlements in what was then Russian Ukraine . The first colony was Chortitza in 1789 . It was called the "Old Colony", its inhabitants and those of their daughter colonies were Mennonites or old colonists for short.

history

Russia

After the conditions for the pacifist Mennonites in the Vistula Delta worsened with the incorporation of their settlement areas into the West Prussian province of the Prussian state as a result of the first partition of Poland in 1772, thousands accepted Catherine the Great's invitation in New Russia to settle in what is now Ukraine .

The first colony was Chortitza in 1789 . In 1803, the Molotschna colony followed . Both comprised several village communities in principle of the same ethnic-religious origin. A religious and cultural conservatism soon developed in Chortitza and its daughter colonies, which became the nucleus of the old colonists after the flight of the Russian mennonites to North America after 1874.

North America

The main reason for the emigration of the most conservative Russian-German Mennonites to Canada in 1874 was the introduction of Russian military service . As Christian pacifists, the Russian-German Mennonites were opposed to the introduction of military service and so began the search for new settlement opportunities. The choice finally fell on Canada , where the Russian-German Mennonites were offered large unpopulated land areas in Manitoba for settlement, which were designated as east and west reserves according to their geographic location east and west of the Red River .

In addition, the British-Canadian authorities guaranteed a form of cultural and religious autonomy , which also included freedom from military service. In 1874 around 3,400 conservative Mennonites emigrated to Canada from the area around the Chortitza colony. The smaller part (coming from the Bergthal settlement) settled in the eastern reserve, the larger part (coming directly from Chortitza and the Fürstenland settlement) in the western reserve.

Nonetheless, conflicts arose in Canada too. Not least under the pressure of the Canadian authorities, which gradually dissolved the village self-government , the old colonists now developed as a clearly tangible group, whose conservatism also increasingly differed from the other Mennonites. After riots against German-speaking Canadians during the First World War , aggressive campaigns for war loans and finally the entire school system in the Mennonite settlements to be placed under state control with English as the sole language of instruction, new emigration plans emerged.

The less conservative sections of the Russian mennonites who emigrated to North America after 1874 went mainly to the USA, there mainly to Kansas . In contrast to the Russian-German Mennonites, who were settling in Canada at the same time, the groups in the USA soon began an assimilation process that led to extensive adaptation to the American environment in the course of the 20th century. Very few of these settlers in the USA later joined the conservative groups in Central and South America.

Mexico and Paraguay

After the failure of mediation talks in 1920, a large wave of old colonists emigrated to Mexico after 1921 , most of whom moved there between 1922 and 1925. From 1927 a settlement was established in Paraguay . About half of the old colonists, especially the most conservative, left Canada at that time.

Bolivia, Belize and Argentina

From the middle of the 20th century, many particularly conservative old colonists also settled in Belize and Bolivia . Bolivia in particular has become an important retreat for traditionalist Mennonite communities in the last few decades. In 1986, old colonists from Mexico began to settle in Argentina. In 2015 there were four larger colonies of old colonists in Argentina.

Groupings

Old colonists in the true sense of the word are above all the pure lands, in a broader sense the Bergthaler and Sommerfelder are also counted among the old colonists.

Pure country

The pure countries were formed in 1875 after moving from the Ukraine to Manitoba, Canada, under the leadership of the elder Johann Wiebe (1837-1905). The group settled mainly west of the Red River on the western reserve and was formed directly from emigrants from the first Mennonite colony in the Ukraine Chortitza and its daughter settlement Fürstenland. Because of their origin, the pure lands were soon referred to as old colonists ( coming from the old colony ). The name Reinländer goes back to the place they founded Reinland in Manitoba. After conflicts with the Canadian state, between 1922 and 1926 around two thirds of the pure countries living in Canada emigrated to Mexico, which in fact meant the end of the pure country church in Canada. It was not until 1936 that the pure countries who remained in Canada reorganized as the Old Colony Mennonite Church ( Altkolonier Mennonitengemeinde ).

Bergthaler

The group of Bergthalers goes back to emigrants from the Bergthal settlement in the Ukraine, which was founded in 1836 as a daughter colony of Chortitzas. Unlike the Reinlanders who settled on the Western Reserve, the Bergthalers settled under the leadership of the elder Gerhard Wiebe (1827–1900) in 1874 east of the Red River on the Eastern Reserve. Due to better soil conditions, however, a large part of the Bergthaler also moved to the western reserve in 1880. The group of Bergthalers finally extended over both sides of the Red River.

The Bergthalers east of the Red River retained Gerhard Wiebe as their eldest, while those west of the Red River chose Johann Funk (1836-1917) as their new eldest. The Bergthaler later divided into several groups, such as the Sommerfelder (on the West Reserve), the Chortitzer Church / Chortitzer Mennonite Conference (on the Eastern Reserve) and the Saskatchewan Bergthaler (in Saskatchewan). The Bergthal Church that remained (on the western reserve) dissolved in 1972 as an independent church.

The majority of the Bergthaler east of the Red River under the leadership of Gerhard Wiebes also rejected the reforms of the Bergthaler under Johann Funk around 1890 and finally traded as Chortitzer Church ( Mennonite community of Chortitz ) after the place of residence of Gerhard Wiebes Chortitz . The Chortitzer Church on the Eastern Reserve and the Sommerfelder on the Western Reserve ultimately represented essentially identical positions and worked closely together in many areas. However, after around 1700 members of the Chortitzer Church emigrated to Paraguay in 1948, the group that remained in Canada went through a series of reforms, adopted the English language and today appears as the Chortitzer Mennonite Conference .

Summer fields

The Sommerfelder group came into being after 1890 after the Bergthalers split up into a smaller progressive group led by Johann Funk and a larger conservative group led by Abram Doerksen. The latter named itself after the place of residence of its elder Sommerfeld on the West Reserve Sommerfelder, while the former kept the name Bergthaler. The Bergthalers under Johann Funk began with the support of the British-Canadian government in the 1890s to reform the school system in the Mennonite settlements and also to partially Anglicize it, which was rejected as Americanization by the more conservative Sommerfelds. After the First World War, many summer fields followed the example of the pure country and moved to Mexico. Later large groups of summer fields migrated from Kannada to Paraguay and a few decades later from there and from Mexico to Bolivia. The Saskatchewan Bergthaler communities in Saskatchewan , Canada , which were founded after 1890 by settlers moving further west, can also be added to the group of summer fields .

Many of the Saskatchewan Bergthalers also moved to Paraguay in 1926 and 1948 and later to British Honduras (now Belize ) and Bolivia. Around 1937, the group of evangelistic Rudnerweider Mennonites separated from the Sommerfeld, which has been called Evangelical Mennonite Mission Conference since 1959 . Another group separated from the Sommerfeld in 1958 and appeared as the Reinland Mennonite Church (not to be confused with the actual Reinländer). The summer fields on the western reserve ultimately represented in principle identical positions as the Chortitzers and worked closely with them in many areas.

Ethnicity

In many areas the old colonists are close to the Mennonites of the old order and the Amish . Like them, the old colonists also stand for a deliberately simple lifestyle and mostly work in agriculture. However, while the Mennonites of the old order and the Amish have a southwestern German-Swiss origin and accordingly still largely use Pennsylvania German or an Alsatian and a Bern German dialect as colloquial language, the old colonists have a Dutch-North German origin and accordingly the Plautdietsche , which comes from the Vistula Delta , as colloquial language.

population

The number of old colonists living in North and South America is estimated at around 40 to 45,000 baptized adults, which corresponds to a total population of around 100,000. The majority of them are professionally involved in agriculture. The old colonial population is growing rapidly thanks to high birth rates and a high percentage of young people joining their parents' communities. The population doubles in about 15 to 25 years, depending on the group, with the most traditionalist groups growing the fastest.

Other Mennonite groups, on the other hand, are shrinking - sometimes dramatically - because their number of children is low and they are not successful in passing on their own faith to their own children. The number of members of the former largest Mennonite denomination, the "Mennonite Church" USA, fell from 133,000 shortly before the merger of the church from two other Mennonite confederations in 1998 to 120,381 in 2001. In 2013 there were 97,737 members and in 2016 only 78,892 . Similar, not quite as dramatic, contraction processes can be observed among the native Mennonites in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

Characteristics

While some of the old colonists assimilated to the North American majority society in the course of the 20th century and replaced their own language with English, others remained strongly traditionalist. Despite major differences in terms of lifestyle and religiosity, many old colonists still have a strong tradition-oriented understanding of their own faith and a way of life that is strongly influenced by tradition, which has led to a cultural rift between traditional old colonists and modern Mennonites.

church service

The service is very simple and lasts two to three hours. The sermon is held in Standard German and can last up to an hour. In some cases, older sermons are also read aloud. Usually men and women sit separately from each other. The musical part of the service consists of unanimous parish singing. There is no accompaniment of the service with musical instruments, polyphonic singing or choirs. At sermons, baptisms and the Lord's Supper, the elders appear in many congregations with high, black shaft boots (according to Ephesians 6:15). Church discipline is strictly applied. Misconduct can (according to Matthew 18) lead to a ban and thus practically to an exclusion from the community. This usually also includes a break in social and economic relationships. Traditionalist congregations of the old colonists are not affiliated with any supra-congregational association or joint conferences, but autonomous. They do not conduct any mission or diakonia (apart from neighborhood aid ) and do not take part in cooperation in international Mennonite organizations such as the Mennonite World Conference or the aid organization MCC .

baptism

The Baptism usually takes place between 18 and 20 years. Baptism is preceded by a catechism lesson based on a catechism written in Elbing in 1783 , which has been reissued over and over again. The baptisms themselves take place at Pentecost . Often, baptism precedes marriage.

School system

The school system in the settlements of the traditionalist old colonists is usually limited to eight years of primary school, with the focus on reading, writing and arithmetic. The teachers themselves have no professional training. There are sometimes only seven years of compulsory schooling for boys and only six years for girls , but this varies depending on the community group.

Teenagers

A youth work, as it is carried out by other Mennonites, i.e. with music, sports and the like, is not offered. Despite the remoteness of the colonial settlements, young people - usually before baptism - abuse drugs and alcohol. Aid organizations like the MCC try to influence the old colonists by intervening in such situations, but this is usually rejected, although some aspects of this relief work are appreciated and accepted.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mennonites in Bolivia. Anabaptististory.net, archived from the original on September 24, 2015 ; Retrieved April 13, 2013 .
  2. ↑ Diether Götz Lichdi: The Mennonites in the past and present . Agape, 2004, ISBN 3-88744-402-7 , pp. 321 .
  3. ↑ Alf Redekopp: Reinlander Mennonite Congregation (Manitoba) . In: Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online
  4. ^ Martin W. Friesen, Cornelius J. Dyck, Henry J. Gerbrandt and Leonard Doell: Bergthal Mennonites . In: Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online
  5. ^ HH Hamm and Cornelius J. Marten: Chortitzer Mennonite Conference . In: Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online
  6. ^ Official website of the Chortitzer Mennonite Conference
  7. ^ Johann Wiebe and the conservative Russian-German Mennonism in Canada. Anabaptististory.net, archived from the original on September 24, 2015 ; Retrieved April 13, 2013 .
  8. ↑ Harold S. Bender, Adolf Ens and Jake Peters: Sommerfeld Mennonites . In: Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online
  9. ↑ https://www.emmc.ca/
  10. ^ Official website of the Chortitzer Mennonite Conference
  11. ↑ Diether Götz Lichdi: The Mennonites in the past and present . Agape, 2004, ISBN 3-88744-402-7 , pp. 325 .
  12. ↑ Diether Götz Lichdi: The Mennonites in the past and present . Agape, 2004, ISBN 3-88744-402-7 , pp. 325 .
  13. ↑ Traditional Mennonites in Paraguay. Paraguayan Mennonite Lexicon.Retrieved April 13, 2013 .
  14. ↑ Diether Götz Lichdi: The Mennonites in the past and present . Agape, 2004, ISBN 3-88744-402-7 , pp. 326 .

Web links

literature

  • Huttner, Jakob: Between idiosyncrasy and reality: The old colony Mennonites in the Bolivian Chaco . Berlin 2012.
  • Schartner, Sieghard and Schartner, Sylvia: Bolivia: Refuge of the conservative Mennonites . Asunción 2009.
  • Cañás Bottos, Lorenzo: Old Colony Mennonites in Argentina and Bolivia: Nation Making, Religious Conflict and Imagination of the Future . Leiden et al. 2008.
  • Hedberg, Anna Sofia: Outside the world: Cohesion and Deviation among Old Colony Mennonites in Bolivia . Uppsala 2007.
  • Will, Martina E .: The Old Colony Mennonite Colonization of Chihuahua and the Obregón Administration's Vision for the * Nation , San Diego 1993.
  • Sawatzky, Harry Leonard :: They Sought a Country: Mennonite Colonization in Mexico, with an appendix on Mennonite colonization in British Honduras . Berkeley 1971.
  • Sawatzky, Harry Leonard: They were looking for a home: German-Mennonite colonization in Mexico, 1922–1984 . Marburg, 1986. (This book is not a translation of "They Sought a Country", as the title suggests, but a separate work.)
  • Redekop, Calvin Wall: Old Colony Mennonites: Dilemmas of Ethnic Minority Life , Baltimore 1969.