Mennonite

Menno Simons was born in 1492 at Witmarsum in Friesland. In 1515 Simons was ordained to be a Catholic priest he eventually became a pastor but on January 12 1536 but then he quit and became an Anabaptist elder. It was said that Simmons was a natural leader this helped Anabaptism spread. Menno Simmons passed away on January 13 1559 at the age of 44. Simons is usually wrongly thought to be the creator of Anabaptist and Mennonites but really he didn’t, but he was defiantly the most important leader because he really got the sect going by his writings and leadership. Simon’s followers became known as Mennonites it was a nick name giving to them but it was adopted by the Anabaptists as there name overtime. Anabaptists believe that adults should be baptized as believers. The Anabaptist translates to “re-baptizers”.

[pic]- Menno Simmons

Anabaptists began their sect during the Protestant reformation. Mennonites started in Zurich Switzerland. Mennonites were chased over Europe in the early years because they were not accepted because they separated from the Roman Catholic Church. There were many times that the Mennonites could have fought back with violence but Mennonites just kept moving country to country on the run to where they were accepted. This just shows the Mennonites strong belief in non-violence. Just like any sect or religion over time Mennonites began to be accepted to where there was no need for violence. Today Mennonites are all around the world. The population of Mennonites in the world is about 1.6 million in Canada there are 200,000 Mennonites. [pic] ----map of Mennonite communities in Onatrio

Mennonites believe in the simple life. The old order Mennonites are easy to spot because the men wear plain trousers, jackets, and usually a straw hat. The women wear a prayer cap with their hair inside it the cap, and they wear plain dresses. So basically everything Mennonites wear is plain but that is what the Mennonites want. Mennonites use horse drawn buggies not cars. The reason that the old order Mennonites do not use modern day technology is because Mennonites believe strongly in their community’s they believe that with the technology would affect their community by separating them or even tarring community apart or by losing members to outside world. Most Mennonites are relaxed about technology modern day Mennonites believe in the simple life but do believe in technology.

[pic]- Mennonite horse and buggy.

There is usually much confusion of whether a person is Amish or Mennonite. Amish are usually a lot more strict then the Mennonites. The Amish actually separated from the Anabaptists because Jacob Amman felt that the Anabaptist weren’t shunning people should have been shunned for not following the Anabaptist beliefs. The Anabaptists who follow Jacob Amman were called the Amish.

During conscription in Canada many Mennonite people moved to Mexico. Mennonites don’t believe in violence so they did not want to take part in war. To avoid conscription Mennonites moved to Mexico where there was no conscription. Another reason why many Mennonites moved to Mexico was because in the lead up to world war one and during the Manitoba and Saskatchewan