Ethnic Mennonites are anethnic orethnoreligious group descended from Mennonites in various locations, ultimately tracing back to peoples of Western Europe speaking Dutch, Frisian, and Low German.[1][2]Mennonite is also used for aspects of their culture, such as language, dress, andMennonite food.[3]
The most prominent ethnic Mennonite groups areRussian Mennonites (German:Russland-Mennoniten), who formed as an ethnic group inPrussia andSouth Russia (nowUkraine), but who are mostly of Dutch (bothFlemish andFrisian) andNorth German ancestry and speakPlautdietsch and Mennonites ofPennsylvania Dutch heritage who formed as an ethnic group in North America and who are ofSwiss-German and South German ancestry.[4]
For centuries, Mennonites almost exclusively married inside their churches, and moved through Europe and into North America in large groups, while maintaining their own language and religious practices. They emerged as distinct ethnic groups in Russia around 1789 and in North America around the 1730s. Many still speak those languages today:Pennsylvania German and Plautdietsch.[5]
While missionary activities after 1950s, converted thousands to the Mennonite church in Africa, India, Indonesia and other places outside Europe and North America, these groups cannot be considered ethnic Mennonites as they do not share the same European heritage. In 2012, the Mennonite World Conference estimated that the majority of people attending Mennonite churches were not of Central European or Eastern European heritage anymore.[6]
Some conservative strains of Mennonites, like theOld Order Mennonites and theOld Colony Mennonites have kept their languages, traditional customs and the practice ofendogamy to this day, so that they are considered to beethnic orethnoreligious groups. The same is true for theHutterites and theAmish who areAnabaptists like the Mennonites, but have never engaged in mission activities on a larger scale.
Since most religious Mennonites today do not belong to either Russian Mennonite or Pennsylvania Dutch heritage, discussions have arisen around what the Mennonite identity means. Some see the term "ethnic Mennonite" as unnecessary, believing that the only requirement needed to qualify someone as Mennonite is baptism as an adult into the Mennonite church.
That argument, however, fails to see a distinction between religious Mennonites and ethnic Mennonites, and denies the experience and identity of thousands of people in North America, Mexico, Belize, Paraguay, and elsewhere, who share a common Mennonite heritage.
While many ethnic Mennonites have assimilated into Western culture, and adopted English as their primary language, their heritage and their family names continue to distinguish them as ethnically Mennonites to other ethnic Mennonites, who are proud of their heritage and make a point of knowing who all their relatives are. This is affectionately referred to as the Mennonite Game.
Many ethnic Mennonites, would also consider themselves non-practicing, further demonstrating the need to distinguish between ethnic Mennonites and religious Mennonites, and highlighting the complications of ethnoreligious identity.[7][8][9][10][11]
1. Religion is the major foundation of ethnicity, examples include the Amish, Hutterites, Jews, and Mormons. Ethnicity in this pattern, so to speak, equals religion, and if the religious identity is denied, so is the ethnic identity. [Footnote: In actuality, of course, there can be exceptions, as the labels "jack Mormon," "banned Amish," or "cultural Jew" suggest.] Let us call this pattern "ethnic fusion."
2. Religion may be one of several foundations of ethnicity, the others commonly being language and territorial origin; examples are the Greek or Russian Orthodox and the Dutch Reformed. Ethnicity in this pattern extends beyond religion in the sense that ethnic identification can be claimed without claiming the religious identification, but the reverse is rare. Let us call this pattern "ethnic religion."
3. An ethnic group may be linked to a religious tradition, but other ethnic groups will be linked to it, too. Examples include Irish, Italian, and Polish Catholics; Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish Lutherans. Religion in this pattern extends beyond ethnicity, reversing the previous pattern, and religious identification can be claimed without claiming the ethnic identification. Let us call this pattern "religious ethnicity"