Blue Creek, also Blue Creek Colony, is a

Mennonite Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

settlement that is also an administrative

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

Orange Walk District Orange Walk is a Districts of Belize, district in the northwest of the nation of Belize, with its district capital in Orange Walk Town. Demographics Main settlements The Orange Walk District, with an area of 1,829 square miles (4,636 square km), ...

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

. It borders Blue Creek river, which forms the border to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. Its inhabitants are

Plautdietsch Plautdietsch () or Mennonite Low German is a Low Prussian dialect of East Low German with Dutch influence that developed in the 16th and 17th centuries in the Vistula delta area of Royal Prussia. The word ''Plautdietsch'' translates to "fl ...

-speaking

Russian Mennonites The Russian Mennonites ( it. "Russia Mennonites", i.e., Mennonites of or from the Russian Empire are a group of Mennonites who are the descendants of Dutch and North German Anabaptists who settled in the Vistula delta in West Prussia for about 2 ...

. In 1958 Blue Creek was founded by

Old Colony Mennonites Old Colony Mennonites ( German: ''Altkolonier-Mennoniten'') are a part of the Russian Mennonite movement that descends from colonists who migrated from the Chortitza Colony in modern Ukraine near Zaporizhia (itself originally of Prussian origins ...

from

. Disputes about the use of mechanical tools, especially

chain saw A chainsaw (or chain saw) is a portable handheld power saw that cuts with a set of teeth attached to a rotating chain driven along a guide bar. Modern chainsaws are typically gasoline or electric and are used in activities such as tree fell ...

s, soon led to conflicts, which resulted in the founding of an

Evangelical Mennonite Mission Conference The Evangelical Mennonite Mission Conference (EMMC) is an evangelicalism, evangelical body of Mennonite Christians, organized on July 1, 1959. The EMMC was formed from the ''Rudnerweider Mennonite Church'', which was organized in 1937. The ''Rud ...

congregation in 1966 there, while others left to

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

, Mexico and Canada. In the end also the leaders of the Old Colony church left, forcing members to decide whether they would leave with them or join other groups. In 1978 families of the

Kleine Gemeinde Kleine Gemeinde is a Mennonite denomination founded in 1812 by Klaas Reimer in the Russian Empire. The current group primarily consists of Plautdietsch-speaking Russian Mennonites in Belize, Mexico and Bolivia, as well as a small presence in Canada ...

congregation from

Spanish Lookout Spanish Lookout is a Mennonite settlement in the Cayo District of Belize in Central America. According to the 2010 census, Spanish Lookout had a population of 2,253 people in 482 households (2005 census had a population of 2,300 and the 2000 censu ...

population moved to Blue Creek, to form a congregation there. Today about half of population is in the modern Evangelical Mennonite Mission Church, which is part of the

, while the other half is in the more conservative

. Since about 1980 the population of Blue Creek is around 100 families. According to the 2010 census, Blue Creek had a population of 407 people in 111 households.Belize Population and Housing Census - Country Report 2010
The population has more than doubled between 2010 and 2022 censuses, reaching 841 as of 2022.

External links

Anabaptistwiki: Kleine Gemeinde zu Blue Creek

References

Kleine Gemeinde Mennonitism in Belize Mexican diaspora in Belize Old Colony Mennonites Populated places in Orange Walk District Russian Mennonite diaspora in Belize {{Belize-geo-stub

See also

External links

References