Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun US A period of
adolescence for some members of theAmish that begins around the age of 14–16 and ends when a youth choosesbaptism within the Amish church or instead leaves the community.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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VARGAS: The ten-episode series follows its Amish participants during "rumspringa" -- it's a time when Amish youths are allowed to leave the community and experience the temptations of the outside world, and then decide if they want to remain in the Amish religion.
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It's a film about the Amish coming-of-age period called rumspringa, see IHT/NYT article here which means "running around".
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This experience is part of a tradition called "rumspringa," in which Amish teens can decide whether they wish to be baptized into the Amish church or to abandon the Amish life for our society.
NPR Topics: News 2011
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It's part of an Amish tradition called rumspringa, which lets Amish kids drive cars and drink and party for a few years, before they decide whether or not to be baptised into the Amish church and live an Amish life.
This American Life 2009
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For the Amish have a tradition, called "rumspringa".
Philip Slater: Why the Amish Freak Us Out, and Not Vice Versa 2008
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Her first feature documentary, Devil's Playground 2002, followed a small group of Amish teenagers in the period of "rumspringa", when they are allowed to run wild and free, before deciding to stay cut off forever from modern society.
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To Amish people ... did you go through "rumspringa" and what happened?
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In the '70s, parenting was like a combination of intense crate-training and rumspringa, so I would typically spend June through September burnt to a crisp and wandering listlessly around the city, verging on scurvy.
A Long Summer for 'Weary Tiger' Mothers Samantha Bee 2011
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I mean there's this huge list, so, again for that reason I thought it would be fun territory to explore because that was years ago and they weren't thinking of rumspringa.
Marina Cashdan: The Rebirth of Rob Pruitt Marina Cashdan 2010
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The Amish leaving and exploring the world thing is called “rumspringa.”
uselessness commented on the word rumspringa
Aww, I'd like to know the rest! Try using the bigger box for comments so they don't get cut off.
June 28, 2007
reesetee commented on the word rumspringa
Uselessness, here's more (better late than never). :-)
December 1, 2007
uselessness commented on the word rumspringa
Wow, that's fascinating. I thought the Amish were zero-tolerance folk... it's strange to seem them allowing that.
December 1, 2007
lampbane commented on the word rumspringa
Usually a lot of these kids get burned by the outside world (drugs, drinking) and come running back, which binds them tighter to the community.
December 1, 2007
reesetee commented on the word rumspringa
There's also the fact that they're completely ostracized ("shunned" from family and Amish community) should they decide not to return. I'd imagine that's a powerful draw.
December 1, 2007
uselessness commented on the word rumspringa
I just have to wonder what the parents' general attitude is. Are they saying "go on, son, be a wild man, deny yourself nothing, live it up... and then come crying back to us when you can't take it anymore"?
Or is it more like "doing this stuff is wicked and terrible, and we don't want you to, but we can't stop you... and sooner or later when you come around we'll be here for you"?
December 1, 2007
bilby commented on the word rumspringa
Possibly from standard German herumspringen meaning to scamper ... in this sense being let loose to run around outside the Amish community.
December 1, 2007
reesetee commented on the word rumspringa
I think it's part of both, uselessness. Sort of a rite of passage--the acceptance that because they're not yet full members of the church (and teenagers to boot), a certain amount misbehavior is tolerated. I believe it's also when they're meant to choose between baptism or leaving the church, so the idea is that they enter adult religious life knowingly and informed.
I can't claim to be an expert, but from what I know it's not as much a zero-tolerance faith as you'd think. :-)
December 2, 2007
reesetee commented on the word rumspringa
Bilby, there's an interesting chart here comparing modern German and Pennsylvania German (which is more often called Pennsylvania Dutch).
December 2, 2007