Understanding 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" group which is made up of all non-Kleine Gemeinde people and includes a variety of liberal churches such as EMMC, Amazing Grace, Fountain of Life among others. Members of these churches use jewelry, up-to-date appliances, listen to fast music, and both men and women dress in modern clothes. Then there is the older, more conservative-minded group: the Kleine Gemeinde, the original church of Spanish Lookout.
Within the Kleine Gemeinde conference there is a rift or subdivision occurring. The first group are the ones who still believe in dressing very plainly such as females with one-piece, loose fitting dresses, males with plain trousers and button-down shirts, avoiding high-end electronic devices, abstaining from movies and fast music; and the second group are the ones who believe its ok for females to wear T-shirts and shorter skirts, and for men to wear casual shirts and jeans. They also are more involved in using musical instruments and technology. Mennoniten Gemeinde Rosenort is a church which resembles the liberal end of the KG church but is separate from them, having been formed only a few years ago.
These 2 types of Kleine Gemeinde attend the same church and get along very well with the non-KG Mennonites. Those who leave the KG church either by choice or by excommunication and join the liberal churches are not banned from the colony but remain members of the community with all their rights and privileges. Both KG and non-KG share the responsibility of managing the colony.
So what about those Mennonites with suspenders and hats, dark dresses and bonnets or kerchiefs? What about those buggies on the road?
First of all, Spanish Lookout is an industrial and commercial center. Mennonites from all kinds of churches across the country do business here on a daily basis. There are Old Colony Mennonites from Shipyard and Little Belize who came to shop and visit; others are working here temporarily. A few families have permanently moved here, joined the Kleine Gemeinde, and become members of SL but have kept their Old Colony dress code. You will also see men with dark shirts, suspenders and bushy beards and ladies in dark dresses and old-fashioned bonnets in Spanish Lookout. They are Old Order Mennonites from Springfield or traditional Mennonites from Red Bank and Pine Hill in south central Belize who charter vehicles to bring them to SL.
And the horses and buggies on the road? They belong to ultra-conservative Mennonites of Lower Barton Creek about 6 miles southeast of SL, across the Belize River. This village is outside SL and the 2 communities are not associated in any way. They resemble the Old Order Mennonites but are slightly different in dress code and doctrines.
So yes, Spanish Lookout is about semi-trucks, motocross sports, huge tractors, cattle trucks, new Chevies and GMC's, modern housing, air-conditioned restaurants, some of the biggest businesses in the country, shops with glass walls, its own private airport and planes, and hundreds of non-Mennonite workers as well as employees from other non-Plautdietsch churches such as the Holdeman Mennonites. It is also about huge chicken barns, well-cared lawns, road maintenance. It's about a community that has helped the country of Belize to move forward.
