Food and the community: The role of sharing a meal among the Mennonites of Shipyard, Belize
Food and the community: The role of sharing a meal among the Mennonites of Shipyard, Belize
by Tanja Plasil and Carel Roessingh
Introduction
When entering the Old Colony Mennonite community of Shipyard, in the North of Belize, one feels thrown back in time at least a hundred and fifty years. People in traditional attire, men in black overalls and Panama hats, women in thick, high-necked, dark dresses, complete with head scarf and straw hat, drive around with horse and buggy. At night many houses are lit with kerosene lamps rather than electric light bulbs.
The Old Colony Mennonites (or Altkolonier how they call themselves) adhere to a strict regulative order based on the Bible and the system of the Ordnung (Redekop 1969; Kraybill and Bowman 2001), a set of rules and regulation, which is controlled and enforced by a group of minsters (Prediger), the leaders and judges of the community in both secular and spiritual matters (Redekop 1969)…
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Key words: Mennonite, Northern Belize, traditional, Shipyard
Suggested APA Reference: Plasil, Tanja & Roessingh, Carel. (2006). Food and the community: The role of sharing a meal among the Mennonites of Shipyard, Belize. Belizean Studies: A Journal of Social Research and Thought.