Mennonites in Belize

    Dressers, cupboards, beds, shutters, doors, cribs, tables and much more. Furniture made by Old Colony and Old Order Mennonites is much sought after by many in Belize due to their quality-vs-price competetiveness. The modern colonies of Spanish Lookout and Blue Creek are no longer into furniture-making as a prosperous business due to the over-whelming and rather fierce competition by the Mestizos in the villages surrounding them. Many appliance stores, hotels and resorts throughout Belize keep their own full-time carpenters rather than continually purchasing furniture. Even then, wooden items built in Shipyard and Little Belize are prized because of their durability and craftmanship at lower prices than most non-Mennonite carpenters. From what someone told me, partly why they can maintain a lower cost is because they spend very little on personal items. A lot of their food is grown or made at home, clothing is made at home from a standard cut, no high-end personal luxuries

 Interestingly, my most viewed subjects are the headcovering and the Holdeman Mennonites. Third on the list is the subject of the Old Colony Mennonites. At the moment I'm working on articles that briefly describe the history of each Mennonite group in Belize. Old Colony, Kleine Gemeinde, Beachy, etc. Because all the articles online mention only the Plautdietsch   Mennonites, I thought it would be fair to do a brief summary on the history of each group, mainly their arrival in Belize and what distinguishes each group.

  This article refers to the Plautdietsch Mennonites of Blue Creek, Spanish Lookout, Shipyard and Little Belize    We hear and read of how the Mennonites have built strong businesses, have prospered, have strengthened the economy, etc. But what we don't read or hear is the fact that for the last 3 decades or so, Mestizos (aka "spanish people") have gained strength in the labor force of the modern communities of Spanish Lookout and Blue Creek, especially Spanish Lookout. Western Dairies, Quality Poultry Products, Farmer's Trading Center and other well-known businesses are made up of an estimated 80% Mestizo employees. And not just common jobs; many have ascended the ladder to distinguished positions. The famous prefab "Mennonite" houses built by Linda Vista and Plett's Home Builder are built by Mestizos from surrounding villages. The trees are being cut down by non-Mennonites, a mixture of Mestizos, Creoles and Maya. The men tramping in the mud and

    Above is the  testimony of an ex-Holdeman Mennonite. Some of my future articles will be of ex-Mennonites who left their home churches and the reason why they left them. Old Colony, Beachy Amish, Old Order, etc. throughout Belize there are many who have left their traditional churches either voluntarily or were forced to.

  Menoniten Gemeinde Rosenort is a conservative church in Spanish Lookout which is made up mostly of ex-Kleine Gemeinde and ex-Old Colony Mennonites. They formed a few years ago and since then have been steadily growing. Their dress code and worship service is not traditional but is still very conservative (e.g. the ladies wear modest shirts, long skirts and no jewelery) as compared to other modern churches in Spanish Lookout. I was invited for evening services and enjoyed it very much, especially the sermon. Here is a  video of the choir singing. Services are all in Plautdietsch but English and Spanish translations are available. This video is not mine I'm just providing a link so you get a glimpse of this church.

  Below is a variety of church buildings of  some of the Mennonite branches in Belize. Mennonite churches not pictured here are the Old Order as well as Conservative and other Amish-Mennonite congregations.                       Kleine Gemeinde Sometimes during weddings and funerals at KG churches, men and women are allowed to sit together. Beachy  Holdeman Again, men and women are allowed to sit together on special occasions. Old Colony In the following churches below, mixed seating is allowed EMMC Shipyard Blue Creek Spanish Lookout Other Churches Fountain of Life, Spanish Lookout                     Amazing Grace, Spanish Lookout

                        The following is a look at a typical Sunday morning service in a Holdeman Mennonite church. The above  video is a sample of congregational 4-part acapella singing.   9AM. The moderator i.e. charge d'affaires, opens the service with a few words of welcome and announces 3 congregational songs, chosen by random members and non-members. The song leader takes over until the last song is finished and the moderator announces the opening sermon.   9:15AM.  A lay member brings the short introductory sermon, then everyone kneels in prayer, facing forward.   9:30AM  The moderator dismisses everyone to their respective Sunday school classes (do you know who got the idea of Sunday school classes? I don't). Toddlers stay in with their parents while those above 3 sit with both preschoolers and first-graders, the older ones in a separate group, the young teens in another group, etc., each group with its own teacher and set of study books suited to their age.

                     "Spanish Lookout is a progressive Mennonite community in western Belize." This is the most common phrase used to describe Spanish Lookout by many non-Mennonite Belizeans and foreigners. However, some visit here, see the Kleine Gemeinde ladies with their long dresses and black headcoverings, and go back thinking that all the ladies here dress like that. Others see Old Colony Mennonites from Shipyard walking around and take pictures "of the Mennonites in Spanish Lookout". Still others see horses and buggies from the ultra-conservative Mennonites of Lower Barton Creek traveling on Center Road and write an article with pictures of the "very traditional Mennonites of Spanish Lookout".   But Spanish Lookout is none of that. It is a self-governing Plautdietsch Mennonite colony which is made up of 2 main branches of faith and continues to modernize every year by leaps and bounds. There is the non-conservative, "modern"

  The following is a narrative from Mr. Cornelius H. Friesen, a cheerful, very friendly gentleman from Upper Barton Creek. It has been slightly edited.   "My Dad, who's name is also Cornelius, moved his family from Spanish Lookout to Upper Barton Creek in June, 1969. I was 4 years old back then. About 8 or 9 other families moved together with us. According to my Dad, they left Spanish Lookout because they felt the Kleine Gemeinde were becoming too worldly. Instead of spending more time in spiritual things they were investing more and more in their businesses and neglecting God.   At that time several Old Order Mennonites families from the US had just migrated to Belize and settled in Pilgrimage Valley. Then a year later some of them together with Heinrich Friesen from Spanish Lookout bought land in Upper Barton Creek. So my Dad decided to join their way of simple lifestyle. We hadn't lived there long until my Dad started growing a beard and mustache because he believed t

  It's interesting and fascinating watching older girls deftly braid their hair, then turn around and do their younger sister's. Braided hair is as much a part of a conservative Mennonite girl's life as wearing a dress. Old Colony, Kleine Gemeinde, Holdeman, Beachy, and Conservatives all teach their little girls to wear braided hair. For some of the Mennonite groups, braids are usually dropped as the girl enters her teenage years.   The Holdeman Mennonites require all school-age unbaptized girls to wear either braided pigtails or braided ponytails. No other hairstyle is accepted while at school or at church.   The Kleine Gemeinde are no longer as firm in that area as they used to be. Little girls now wear their hair in whatever style their moms prefer as long as its not "worldly." Lately it seems they are leaning towards buns and loose ponytails rather than traditional pigtails.   Beachy and Conservative Mennonites also believe in teaching the

  Below are a few of the traditional acapella songbooks used by the Beachy, Holdeman, Kleine Gemeinde and Conservative Mennonites. However each group also has their own off-the-record songs composed by their own members. The most popular English songbook used widely in both Mennonite and non-Mennonite circles is the black  Christian Hymnal , published by Gospel Publishers, a Holdeman printing company in the U. S. The German songbooks are not pictured here.   Singing is done in 4-part harmony except for the Old Colony Mennonites who do not use notes in their singing. To listen to them singing, click here  or watch below: Songbooks:

  Today Belize celebrates 38 years of independence. On the night of the 20th fireworks are held in different towns across the country. Then on the 21st parades and marches are carried out countrywide.   Most schools celebrate the holiday one or two days before the 21st. Conservative private Mennonite schools such as the Old Colony, Old Order and Kleine Gemeinde do not observe the holiday. The non-traditional Mennonites do observe and celebrate it. Other conservative Mennonites such as the Beachy and Holdemans keep the holiday but do not allow festivities.   The following  video is a patriotic parade held at Jireh Fundamental Education, a modern but private school on the southern edge of Spanish Lookout owned and managed by non-conservative Mennonites. At first they had the parade on the school grounds, then for a year or two they had a big march on Center Road through Spanish Lookout, but according to what I heard the "community" said something about this so now they have

  The structure of most Mennonite families is still built on the Biblical base of one man and one woman married for life and with the purpose of having children.                   Plautdietsch Mennonites   Among the Old Colony, Kleine Gemeinde, Old Order and conservative daughter colonies, it is not unusual to have big families and those families usually work together. Children are taught from a very young age to get up early and work on the farm or in the shop, and to work hard. Chores such as milking, gathering eggs, weeding the garden, making cheese, driving the tractor, etc. are done by both boys and girls. However when it comes to chores inside the house, most Plautdietsch men and boys have the mindset that such things are for women. Washing dishes, hanging up laundry, No way! they would be mortified if someone saw them doing women's work. It is an old tradition that boys belong out on the farm or in the shop. Yet, the girls are still expected to do their share of farm w

 In the 1700's, the Spaniards made repeated attempts to invade the colony of British Honduras. Their final attempt at conquest was on September 1798, beginning on September 3 and lasting 7 days until the 10th. This battle decided the fate of the small British colony. British soldiers and a mixed group of Belizean settlers, slaves, buccaneers and timberjacks fought side by side and defeated the much bigger and stronger Spanish army. The battle took place off the coast of St. George's Caye. On the 10th, the Spanish finally sailed away and never again attacked Belize. Today Belize is the only English-speaking country in Central America due to the victory of the Belizeans and British on that historic day.   Belizeans nowadays commemorate the event by holding a variety of festivities and parades. However, the autonomous and conservative Mennonite colonies such as Shipyard and Springfield do not observe the holiday. In the modern communities of Spanish Lookout and Blue Creek, t