In my never ending quest to find all news about Nazareth, I came across an article in the St. Petersburg Times in Florida about a former Nazareth resident.
The former resident, Jayne Naska, opened an ice cream shop, "Das Dippin' Haus" that features Pennsyvlania Dutch decor.
I guess having grown up in the area I never thought much about PA Dutch, I knew what it was, and didn't have to explain it. The article states, "Naska is from Nazareth, Pa., a small town near Allentown, where she was raised in the Pennsylvania Dutch traditions similar to, but less severe than, those of the Amish two hours to the south around Lancaster."
While I believe it was an honest attempt to explain it, I wouldn't want everyone thinking the area is nothing but less severe Amish (which I thought were the Mennonites)!
The wikipedia provides this account.
Most of our original landowners and settlers were Palatinate Germans. I've seen ancestors' baptism and marriage certificates written in German and beautifuly embellished with PA Dutch art. They weren't two hundred years old, this tradition was very strong into the late 1800s and early 1900s. I can't imagine there are too many today who speak PA-Dutch, but it wasn't uncommon throughout much of the 1900s to hear it spoken in and around Nazareth.
My first attempt at a description: Somewhat Americanized Palatinate German Protestants who farm by day, polka by night, and paint hex signs on the barns just to be on the safe side.
It's a start. What do you think? How would you describe PA Dutch?
More important, given Lancaster Counties adoption of Dutch Country as its mantra, combined with the large number of new residents to the Lehigh Valley, have we lost our ties to our German roots?
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
1 comment:
well I believe she was tring to describe the way she was raised. The Naska Family is from Nazareth and are also PA Dutch. She was just saying that she grew up around the PA Dutch traditions. I know this because she Jayne Naska is my aunt and like her I am from Nazareth and grew up with some of the same traditions as well as a few others. She wasn't saying that Nazareth is amishtown or anything. She was saying that this is how she was raised and where she was raised.
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