The term ethnic Mennonite refers to

Mennonites Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radica ...

of Central European ancestry and culture who are considered to be members of a Mennonite

ethnic An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

ethnoreligious group An ethnoreligious group (or an ethno-religious group) is a grouping of people who are unified by a common religious and ethnic background. Furthermore, the term ethno-religious group, along with ethno-regional and ethno-linguistic groups, is a ...

. The term is also used for aspects of their culture, such as language, dress, and Mennonite food.Voth, Norma Jost, "Mennonite Foods & Folkways from South Russia, Volumes I", pp. 35-55. Good Books, 1990.

History

The most prominent ethnic Mennonite groups are

Russian Mennonites The Russian Mennonites (german: Russlandmennoniten it. "Russia Mennonites", i.e., Mennonites of or from the Russian Empire occasionally Ukrainian Mennonites) are a group of Mennonites who are descendants of Dutch Anabaptists who settled for ab ...

(German: ''Russland-Mennoniten''), who formed as an ethnic group in

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was '' de facto'' dissolved by an ...

and South Russia (now

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

), but who are of Dutch (both

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

and Frisian) ancestry and speak Plautdietsch and Mennonites of

Pennsylvania Dutch The Pennsylvania Dutch ( Pennsylvania Dutch: ), also known as Pennsylvania Germans, are a cultural group formed by German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. They emigrated primarily from German-sp ...

heritage who formed as an ethnic group in North America and who are of Swiss-German and German ancestry. Because Mennonites for centuries almost only married inside their churches, they developed into ethnic groups in Russia since 1789 and in North America since the 1730s, where for a long time almost all of them kept their ethno-languages

Pennsylvania German The Pennsylvania Dutch (Pennsylvania Dutch: ), also known as Pennsylvania Germans, are a cultural group formed by German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. They emigrated primarily from German-spe ...

and Plautdietsch. Until the middle of the 1950s the vast majority of Mennonites were of Central European or Eastern European ancestry and culture, all the same if they were conservative or modern and all the same if they lived in Europe, North America,

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Gua ...

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

or in Brazil. Since then, missionary activities of Mennonites led to so many converts in Africa, India, Indonesia and other places outside Europe and North America that, in 2012, a majority of Mennonites are not of Central European or Eastern European heritage anymore. Some conservative strains of Mennonites, like the

Old Order Mennonite Old Order Mennonites ( Pennsylvania German: ) form a branch of the Mennonite tradition. Old Order are those Mennonite groups of Swiss German and south German heritage who practice a lifestyle without some elements of modern technology, who stil ...

s and the Old Colony Mennonites have kept their languages, traditional customs and the practice of

endogamy Endogamy is the practice of marrying within a specific social group, religious denomination, caste, or ethnic group, rejecting those from others as unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships. Endogamy is common in many cultu ...

until today, so that they are considered to be

or ethnoreligious groups. The same is true for the

Hutterites Hutterites (german: link=no, Hutterer), also called Hutterian Brethren (German: ), are a communal ethnoreligious branch of Anabaptists, who, like the Amish and Mennonites, trace their roots to the Radical Reformation of the early 16th centur ...

and the

Amish The Amish (; pdc, Amisch; german: link=no, Amische), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss German and Alsatian origins. They are closely related to Mennonite churches ...

who are

Anabaptists Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek : 're-' and 'baptism', german: Täufer, earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. ...

like the Mennonites, but have never engaged in mission activities on a larger scale. Due to the fact that most Mennonites today do not belong to either of these ethnic group, some discussions have arisen around the continued use of the term "ethnic Mennonite".

Literature

* Francis, E. K.: ''The Russian Mennonites: From Religious to Ethnic Group'' in ''American Journal of Sociology'' Vol. 54, No. 2 (Sep., 1948), pp. 101–107. * Loewen, Royden: ''The Poetics of Peoplehood: Ethnicity and Religion among Canada's Mennonites'' in Paul Bramadat, David Seljak: ''Christianity and Ethnicity in Canada'', 2008. * Redekop, John H.: ''A People Apart: Ethnicity and the Mennonite Brethren'', 1987.

References

{{reflist Mennonitism German-American history German-American culture Ethnoreligious groups in the United States Swiss-American history