Mennonites in Belize

  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, et...

                     "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-cons...

  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 ...

  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 t...