For the Amish, the holiday season is marked by quiet reflection, family gatherings and an unwavering focus on faith, offering a sharp contrast to the commercialized hustle and bustle of mainstream Christmas traditions.
While Dec. 25 is recognized as a special day, it lacks the elaborate decorations, flashing lights, and extensive gift-giving seen in many American homes.
Mark Louden, a professor of German linguistics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an expert on Amish culture, told told WPR’s Shereen Siewert the Amish embrace the holiday with simplicity, rooted in their spiritual convictions.
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“They try to remember the reason for the season and put a lot of emphasis on things that avoid materialism and commercialism,” Louden told Siewert on “Morning Edition.”
A distinctive feature of Amish holiday observances is the celebration of “Second Christmas” on Dec. 26 and, in some communities, “Old Christmas” on Jan. 6, also known as Epiphany. These traditions are a nod to their Germanic and Julian calendar heritage, emphasizing family time, quiet contemplation and shared meals.
These practices, though not universal across all Amish groups, highlight the cultural and regional variations within their community. In this interview, Louden sheds light on these traditions, addressing common misconceptions about Amish life and faith.
The following interview was edited for brevity and clarity.
Shereen Siewert: How does an Amish Christmas celebration compare to that of what you and I might typically see?
Mark Louden: The way that the Amish recognize public holidays, either secular or Christian, really goes back to how they practice their faith. If we think specifically about Christmas, they tend to avoid the fancy decorations and lights. Of course, if you don’t have electricity coming from the grid, that sort of settles the question right there. But in terms of like the kind of commercialism and the sort of hectic mood that infuses a lot of folks’ Christmas celebrations, they tend to keep things a little bit simpler. They try to remember the reason for the season and put a lot of emphasis on things that avoid materialism and commercialism.
SS: Can you explain the significance of second Christmas in Amish culture?
ML: There are actually two Christmas-related holidays, though they are not celebrated necessarily by all Amish as there’s some regional variation there.
Second Christmas is on Dec. 26. I believe it’s Boxing Day in among the Brits and in Canada, and the origin there is basically Germanic central Europe. The somewhat more distinctive alternative practice in addition to the Dec. 25 and 26 is Jan. 6, known as Epiphany, or Three Kings. It is referred to by many Midwestern Amish and observed as “old Christmas,” and it goes back to the so-called Julian Calendar, which was the older Christian calendar in western and eastern Christendom that was observed when the holiday was actually celebrated on that day.
Orthodox churches still celebrate Christmas in that early part of January. In the 16th century, the calendars in Western Europe were shifted to reflect what we know today, where we celebrate Christmas on the Dec. 25.
SS: What kinds of special foods and meals are prepared at this time?
ML: In general, Amish cuisine is very similar to mainstream American cuisine. There are things like turkey and stuffing and dressing that are associated with Thanksgiving as well as Christmas. Much of their diet is consistent with what you would find in the adjacent local American mainstream cultures. On Jan. 1, many Amish families have pork and sauerkraut, which broadly speaking is a central European Germanic tradition.
SS: Tell us a little bit more about the decorations and what kinds of gifts are exchanged.
ML: In Amish community schools, one real highlight of the year is the Christmas program. It happens typically on the last day of the of the fall term. This is something that kids are preparing for with their teachers pretty much the entire fall term. There are plays and skits of some kind, a lot of arts and crafts, and this is something where basically all parents and community members are invited to attend. There may be a small meal or some snacks that are served afterward.
It’s kind of a nice way to celebrate the end of the fall term. A lot of the artwork that the kids are producing will be brought home and put up on a refrigerator or wall or be given as gifts.
Another decoration you find frequently in Amish homes is a collection of greeting cards. Amish people tend to write letters and cards much more frequently than folks in the mainstream. A family could easily send out somewhere from 100 to 150 Christmas cards and get that many in return. Typically, they will string them up in the common area as a form of decoration and as a way to remember all the people in their circle of love.
SS: What are some of the challenges and misunderstandings they face?
ML: There’s a real spectrum of different Amish groups and some conservative groups do little or no overt recognition of Christmas, which may strike their neighbors as the downside of religious conservatism. One thing to keep in mind is that in this country, Christmas was really not celebrated until the 19th century as a public holiday, and that’s a legacy of the Puritan tradition. The Quakers, for example, did not celebrate Christmas. It was all very early conservative Protestant Christians and Protestant adjacent groups, including the Anabaptists, which includes the Amish people.
Christmas was considered a more of a Pagan holiday. There’s no direct biblical reference to Jesus’ birth around Dec. 25, so it really took a while for a lot of American Protestants and Anabaptists to kind of get on board with the holiday. Still to this day, there are many very traditional Amish that kind of avoid overt celebrations of Christmas out of respect for the fact that there is not a very strong biblical basis for the holiday.
SS: You have a poem you wanted to share with us, written by Emma Lapp. Can you read that now?
ML: Certainly. This is a fairly modern poem that was written by an Amish woman in recognition of Christmas. I think it evokes very, very nicely the way that they honor the spirit of Christmas.
This Christmas season let us try to do some golden deeds
to carry someone’s burden to help someone in need.
There are always those who need us as we journey on life’s way
and the friends we win by helping make us richer every day.
So when you see a saddened face as Christmas time draws near,
do your best to lift the load and spread a word of cheer.
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