Amish

The Amish are a religious Christian sect. While there are different subgroups and factions, the best known group is the conservative Old Order Amish, known for their traditionalist practices, plain living, eschewing of many technologies, and pacifism. Favoring sombre hand made clothing and styles, the women are known for wearing bonnets and the men for their old-fashioned beards. 
The Amish arose from a schism amongst Anabaptists in the 18th century, with adherents migrating from Switzerland and Germany to North America. The largest contingent settled in Pennsylvania and, along with other denominations, collectively became known as Pennsylvania Dutch due to their shared German language. The Old Order Amish however remained distinct by not assimilating into American culture and remaining in their own communities.
Due to their preservation of older farming techniques and craftsmanship methods, Pennsylvania Dutch Country has become a tourist site. In mainstream popular culture, depictions of the Amish are often conflated with either farmers in general or 17th century Puritans and Pilgrims. While the Amish were portrayed in fiction as early as the 1930s, the 1955 Broadway musical Plain and Fancy (with Barbara Cook) brought larger awareness of the Amish. By the 1970s, occasional comedy depictions surfaced, as in the movie The Frisco Kid (with Gene Wilder, where Amish farmers are mistaken for Orthodox Jews) and a 1979 episode of Barney Miller.
The 1985 Harrison Ford movie Witness, centering on an Amish boy who sees a murder, brought further pop culture awareness and led to multiple spoofs of the same premise. It started lingering fictional association between the Amish and the whodunit (e.g multiple novels and a Murder, She Wrote episode), while by the 1990s, joke depictions ranged from Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, a music video for "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Amish Paradise" (complete with Florence Henderson in a bonnet), and the 1994 The Little Rascals movie to Family Guy, The Simpsons, and various raunchy comedies.
==References==
* The script for Sesame Street Episode 3644 calls for Telly Monster to disguise himself with a football outfit, dark sunglasses, "and an Amish beard." The actual facial hair, however, includes a moustache (which the Amish avoid) and looks more like an all purpose old man/prospector beard.
* A script draft for The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland included a line omitted from the final film. Elmo, newly arrived in Grouchland, says the place looks like fun. An outraged Grouch brings out a travel brochure to counter this: "You'll see we were voted one of the world's worst places to visit, right after Pennsylvania Dutch Country."
==Notes==
* The traditional folk song "There's a Hole in the Bucket" (performed many times by the Muppets) has its roots in a German song, and the earliest known North American version has, since 1949, been attributed by multiple sources to the Pennsylvania Dutch. The song itself reflects the farm life and practical reuse associated with the Amish.
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Category:Religious References