Fleeing electricity, Mexico Mennonites seek new home

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Agence France-Presse

15 OCT 2018



AFP / HERIKA MARTINEZ
A Mennonite man rides a scooter in a cotton field in the Sabinal community in Mexico's Chihuahua State -- Mennonites do
not use cars or any kind of mechanical mode of transportation


And now, this deeply traditional, tight-knit community is divided between those who want to stay in Sabinal, their far-flung, dusty village, and those who soon will load their wagons, hitch up their horses and move to a new, even more remote home.

"When the power lines arrived, they decided to go," says Sabinal resident Enrique Friesen, 37, who for his part plans to stay, with his wife and eight children.

"They don't want electricity -- just horses. They say electricity is a sin."

The Mennonites of Mexico are the descendants of strictly conservative Protestants whose denominations emerged out of the 16th century Reformation in Europe.

Read more: https://www.afp.com/en/news/3954/fleeing-electricity-mexico-mennonites-seek-new-home-doc-19q8zc1

[violetpastille]

1. The Mexico Mennonites. That's actually the name of my band.

[BigmanPigman]

3. Do you play acoustic instruments?

[violetpastille]

4. Very. Badly.

[dembotoz]

2. Just don't pay the electric bill...the service will disappear quick enough

[weissmam]

5. stupid is as stupid does

[arithia]

13. probably not wise to call these people stupid

given that there are anabaptist DU posters.

Just sayin.

[Kali]

6. not entirely accurate

they will ride busses, trucks, cars. just not drive or own.
eta - hmm maybe Sabinal, as all the Mennonite wagons I have seen in Chihuahua had rubber tires. heck at one point I was looking to buy one.

[cstanleytech]

7. That actually depends on which sect of Mennonite we are discussing as

some have no problem with driving or owning cars.

[DURHAM D]

10. True. Our local Amish/Mennonite don't drive cars

but do go everywhere on their tractors. Also, they pull horse trailers that have been converted to mini-vans and added heating and air conditioning. Most of them have telephones but not in their house. They install them in the barns or one of the out buildings.

Some of the locals complain because they are not paying the use taxes on the gas used in their tractors.

The other thing they do that pisses people off but I think is great is that they all speak German among themselves, kids and adults.

jftr - There is nothing cuter than a field full of young girls in flap dresses playing soccer.

[hunter]

12. Diesel punk Mennonites.

Old-time diesel tractors don't have electrical systems and run without problems on fuel oil that's not subject to highway taxes.

It's also possible to install non-electric air conditioning on these.

Many Amish also use compressed air power tools; the air compressed by these non-electric diesel engines.

Non-electric diesel engines are a big deal in war because they don't have electrical ignition systems that can be detected by radio, which is how some of the finer details of non-electric diesel technology were developed.

If I was the leader of some religion I'd tell people God hates fossil fuels. And of course I'd be a hypocrite because I use fossil fuels directly and in nearly everything I buy, starting with food.

I see a lot of parallels between anti-nuclear power activism and the rejection of electricity by the Amish.

[Kali]

15. interesting about the diesel tractors

it was fun visiting with them in Chihuahua with a group of Germans. They speak old fashioned Low German and most of the group had trouble conversing but it was fun to watch their reactions to German at all from "tourists" - when I travel with my German friend she always greets them in the stores in German, sometimes they are amused, other times it is just shock. Their history is pretty ineresting and of course when people think of Mexico most have no clue of the actual diversity of peoples living there. we USAians tend to think we are unique in that respect and we really are not.

[hunter]

17. My father-in-law's Mexican family were native to what's now the U.S.A. Southwest.

They were Native Americans, Catholic, and Orthodox Christians who were forced into Mexico by the U.S. Army. They'd been here since before the U.S.A. existed, about half of them for thousands of years.

My wife's grandparents returned to the U.S.A. as immigrant farm workers. My wife's dad was born in a farm camp tent within easy walking distance of a small farm my parents once owned. I used to walk our family dogs there.

My own very white family bragged about their own Wild West Frontier history, which stretched all the way back to... drum roll... the mid 1800s.

Okay, yeah, there's some romance to jumping ship in San Francisco, or crossing the North American continent in covered wagons, but there were plenty of people who'd been here long before.

Many in my family were pacifists and religious dissidents, which is how they ended up in the Wild West. The last of them were dodging service in the U.S. Civil War. One of my grandfathers was a Conscientious Objector in World War II.

Most of my ancestors didn't land in the U.S.A. seeking any sort of sacred opportunity, they just didn't want to die in prison or worse, so they hit the ground running from all the bad shit dished out to them as religious dissidents in Europe, and then later U.S.A. East Coast and Southern U.S.A. civilization.

[Kali]

14. I was talking about the Northern Chihuahua Mennonites.

A lot left for South America and the remaining ones have modernized a bit but they were using rubber tires 20 years ago. Good cheese!

[modrepub]

8. Looks Like Old School Mennonite (Amish)

Worked with a Mennonite many years ago. Lots of them ride cars and turn on light switches in their houses. They also don't wear their religion on their sleeves. Though my coworker was a devout Christian man, I didn't really realize how much so until his funeral. Spent 20+ years at his church conducting bible studies and Sunday school. Also taught himself Greek so that he could translate the texts for himself instead of relying on the translated Bible.

RIP Merlin, testis descendit cum Deo

[Kali]

16. I don't understand the differences but not only are Amish and Mennonites different, there are

subdivisions of those as well. I am most familiar with the Mennonites of Northern Chihuahua.

[modrepub]

18. Differences among Amish

It’s up to the local bishop. Some see problems being photographed others don’t care. Seems the Lancaster County Amish are a bit more liberal than their western counterparts. It’s all relative within the order. And the kids can do some very unAmish things before they take their vows to the community

[Cold War Spook]

9. When Florene hit us,

FEMA did nothing. Mennonites came here to help as many people as they could. We are next on their list to gut half of our house, ceilings, walls and flooring. That helps immensely since the insurance companies are paying as little as possible some as little as 25% of what their adjusters say they should.

[DURHAM D]

11. I am so old that...

I remember signs on the road that said

VEHICLES WITH LUGS PROHIBITED