Rumspringa ("running around") is a traditional rite of passage in the Amish religion. It is a period of months or years when adolescents are released from the rules of the church. Beginning at age sixteen, they are allowed to live among "the English" (non-Amish North Americans) and experience the outsiders' way of life.
The tradition is that no matter what they do in this time, they are welcome to come back to be baptized in the Amish church, but once they do so, they are bound to its rules for life.
Most Amish teenagers do not wander far from their family's homes during their rumspringa, and most (estimated at 85 to 95 percent) choose to join the church at the end of the period. This figure was significantly lower as recently as half a century ago.
The custom is part of the Amish belief that only informed adults can "accept Christ" and be baptized. (The Amish also believe that the unbaptized cannot enter Heaven.)
The Pennsylvania German word rumspringa (also spelled rumschpringe) comes from the verb schpringe, meaning "to run" or "to skip," while rum is an adverb meaning "about" that is also used as a separable prefix, as in the case of rumschpringe.
The word rumschpringe is closely related to the standard German word Herumspringen, although the herum has more of the meaning of "around" than "about". Omitting the he syllable leaving only the rum is widely accepted in colloquial German and does not change the meaning of the prefix. The modern German word springen means "to jump" and bears no meaning in the form of "to run" anymore. In the variant of German spoken in Switzerland springe however does mean "to run". In modern German "to skip" would rather be translated with the verb hüpfen. The German noun Herumspringen (literally "to jump around") correlates with the Pennsylvanian German word rumschpringe, describing a state of change or unrest (although there is no correlation with the Amish custom of rumschpringe).
Recent popular exposure
Rumspringa is the subject of the film documentary The Devil's Playground and UPN reality television series Amish in the City. The practice has also been the subject of plotlines on the TV shows ER and Judging Amy, as well as part of the Abram's Daughters series of novels from Beverly Lewis . Dutch band The Nits had a song named Rumspringa on their 2003 album 1974.
External links
Last updated: 05-07-2005 03:32:15
Last updated: 05-13-2005 07:56:04
