Interracial Marriage among Mennonites

   


   This article does not outline their rules and customs regarding courtship and marriage. I simply wish to point out that whether or not you can date and marry a Mennonite girl (or boy) depends on the type of church. For example interracial marrying among the traditional Old Colony "Russian" Mennonites of Shipyard and Little Belize is simply out of the question. Those who do are expelled from the church if they are already baptized. If not baptized they voluntarily leave the colony. In the Kleine Gemeinde churches of Blue Creek and Spanish Lookout there is more leniency now than there was 20 years ago. However the very few interracial marriages that have happened among the Kleine Gemeinde consists of a Mennonite  male marrying a Hispanic or Maya girl, not the other way around. Read this article about Andres and Martha Penner. 
   The Hoover Mennonites of Springfield and Upper Barton Creek in the Cayo District (easily mistaken for Amish due to the men's bushy beards and the women's black bonnets) allow their members to wed people of other cultures provided that the prospective groom or bride is already a member of their church. Although extremely conservative in lifestyle, they are much more tolerant of intermarrying other races than the Old Colony and Kleine Gemeinde Mennonites. But like most conservative churches, a baptized member cannot marry a non-member even if they are both from the same church. 
    There are conservative Mennonite churches who are made up of white, Creole, Mestizo and Maya peoples. Amish Mennonite groups as well as the Holdemans and Beachy accept converts of any race and background. Once baptized those members may now date another baptized member no matter what color or country yet even then the relationship will not progress to the point of marriage until the pastors, both sets of parents, and a few other older spiritual leaders have scrutinized them and are convinced that the way is clear to hold a wedding. I grew up in the Holdeman church so I attended quite a number of interracial weddings.
  In Spanish Lookout and Blue Creek there are Plautdietsch Mennonites who have left the traditional churches and formed modern evangelical ones. Among these groups there is definitely a broad acceptance of mixed marriages. You do not have to be baptized or a member of the church. Mestizo and Creole men are marrying "white" Mennonite girls while the Mennonite boys are hooking up with Mestizo girls.
   So whether or not you can date and ultimately marry a Mennonite girl depends on the church where she is from. If she's from a church that accepts mixed marriages then the question is, what is her parents' view of it? For although some Mennonites have modernized, cultural prejudices still exist in some of those families but that is a subject all on its own.
















                                      A. Mendoza

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