The Amish are closely guarded people who like to live away from society. They often can seem like an impenetrable community from the outside, but they have learned to live with modern society in parallel lines.
While they are an isolated and internal group we still show them respect and understanding as we would any religion or creed, and we understand them more now perhaps than ever before.
In any case, one thing curious people may wonder is why Amish people never seem to have mustaches, but actually a specific type of beard. In today’s article we are going to explore this nuance of their culture, keep reading to learn more about Amish people and their unique facial hair, below!
Understanding Facial Hair In Amish Culture
First off, it’s important to know what facial hair actually means in Amish culture to understand why not having a mustache is really important.
Bear in mind that Amish culture is particularly expressive. Often their clothes are bland and matching, which is a purposeful move to set them apart from other people, ‘a people apart’ as an Amish would say, but can also be related to biblical scripture and simple modesty.
But as a result, there aren’t many ways to express yourself, your identity within the Amish community, nor your priorities as a person.
Consider marriage for example, marriage is important to Amish people, and women need to distinguish between married men and men who are single. Yet, Amish people don’t wear jewelry so there aren’t any wedding bands to keep an eye out for.
As a result, the beard symbolizes marriage for Amish people, which in turn also symbolizes maturity and responsibility.
Put simply an Amish woman looking for a suitable partner can distinguish between men with beards as married, and men without as single.
The color of an Amish female’s bonnet also denotes their availability as a spouse; Amish women with a black bonnet are single, while Amish women with a white bonnet are married.
As there are no wedding rings in Amish wedding ceremonies, the beard also symbolizes love and commitment within a relationship.
A man with a beard in Amish culture is considered to be mature, respectable, and can express love and commitment to a marital spouse.
Why Don’t Amish People Have A Mustache?
While the facial hair of an Amish man is a symbol of marriage and maturity, many may notice that Amish men do not have a mustache, nor a ‘soul patch’. The reason for this is historical and can enlighten us about other things important in Amish culture.
A founding belief of Anabaptism, the church of the Amish, is a doctrine of non-resistance.
Non-resistance is a belief influenced by Jesus’ ‘Sermon On The Mount’ where he instructed his disciples to ‘resist not evil, but whoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also’ (Matthew 5:39)
This is about more than just pacifism, which is mainly related to war, but an Amish person will never retaliate or use force as this demonstrates a conceited sense of self-importance.
This goes beyond violence as an Amish person will not resist authority in any situation no matter how ‘unfair’ it might be deemed.
An Amish person would never sue someone, or barter, for example. This does mean that violence is never an option for the Amish and as a result, they have a long history of refusing to be enlisted in war.
During the Colonial hold on India by Britain in the 1800s the mustache became greatly related to the Military.
In Asia facial hair is a sign of wisdom and power and British soldiers soon picked up on this and would grow their mustaches in order to seem this way too.
By the mid-19th century, especially during the Crimean War, all ranks were encouraged to grow mustaches.
In this period Amish people would then shave their mustaches purposefully to not associate themselves with the army at all.
While this stopped being a requirement by the First World War, with expectations of maintaining facial hair not being practical, Amish people kept up this tradition.
While the origin of not having a mustache is pretty historic at this point, as Amish are quite resistant to change and appreciate tradition, they have stuck with expressing their non-resistance through shaving their mustache.
What Does Traditional Amish Facial Hair Look Like?
Commonly Amish people let their beards grow really long when they are married to show continued commitment.
In modern-day Amish culture you can shave or trim your beard for practicality every now and then, but this is mainly for practicality than anything else.
Most Amish people swerve as far away from vanity as possible, but a long beard can get in the way of their pastoral work and life.
This said, unmarried men will shave their faces on purpose to indicate they are single and are open to marriage.
While Amish married men will shave their mustaches and soul patch regularly, even stubble isn’t really ideal. Of course, a straight razor is used by Amish people to shave, rather than an electric razor.
Final Thoughts
Fundamentally, facial hair is one way in which Amish men can express certain things. As clothing is modest, jewellery banned, and vanity generally avoided, most Amish men use their facial hair to express things that are important to them.
Notably, a beard is used to show a mature married Amish man and functions much like a wedding band does by demonstrating commitment and responsibility, to both God and their partners.
When it comes to the mustache, in modern Amish culture this shows their unwillingness to be related to military culture, as historically you could identify people in the British army by their mustache.
While mustaches and the military are no longer related so closely, Amish people keep the tradition anyway as a way of expressing their doctrine of non-resistance.
