自動車は使わず馬車で移動し、農業と牧畜で祈りの日々を暮らす。今でも昔ながらの信仰生活を守り、独自のコミュニティを築いているのが、アメリカのペンシルバニア州などに住むドイツ系の人々、アーミッシュだ。
2006年にはアーミッシュの子供が通う学校に男が乱入し、生徒を銃殺する事件が起こった。その際、自ら犠牲になって自分より小さな子供を守った女子生徒がいたこと、さらにその両親やコミュニティが、犯人を赦し、その家族をも葬儀に招いたことは、アメリカで大きく報じられた。
アーミッシュの静かな暮らしを、写真でまとめた。
信仰を守り暮らす人々 アーミッシュ
Amish Attacks(01 of30)
Amish girls eat snacks during an end of the school year celebration in Bergholz, Ohio on Tuesday, April 9, 2013. The celebration was also part of a farewell picnic for four women and one man from this tight-knit group in rural eastern Ohio who will enter prison on Friday, April 12, joining nine already behind bars on hate crimes convictions for hair- and beard-cutting attacks against fellow Amish. (AP Photo/Scott R. Galvin) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
AP10ThingsToSee(02 of30)
AP10ThingsToSee - Amish girls play softball after class during an end of the school year celebration in Bergholz, Ohio on Tuesday, April 9, 2013. The celebration was also part of a farewell picnic for four women and one man from this tight-knit group in rural eastern Ohio who will enter prison on Friday, April 12, 2013 joining nine already behind bars on hate crimes convictions for hair- and beard-cutting attacks against fellow Amish. (AP Photo/Scott R. Galvin, File) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
New York Daily Life(03 of30)
An Amish boy runs with a fishing pole by a pond while fishing with his family on Thursday, May 29, 2014, in Fairfield, N.Y. (AP Photo/Mike Groll) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
New York Daily Life(04 of30)
An Amish man looks on as his children fish on a pond on Thursday, May 29, 2014, in Fairfield, N.Y. (AP Photo/Mike Groll) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
New York Daily Life(05 of30)
An Amish buggy rides along Church Street on Friday, May 2, 2014, in Canajoharie, N.Y. (AP Photo/Mike Groll) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
ENDANGERED MONUMENTS(06 of30)
Farmland stretches under a cloud dappled sky in Pennsylvania\'s Lancaster County in this undated photo. The scenic land, threatened by a proposed superhighway that would cut through the farmland home of Amish and Mennonite communities, has landed on the World Monuments Fund\'s list of 100 most endangered sites, announced Tuesday, Sept. 14, 1999, in New York. (AP Photo/World Monuments Fund, B. Seitz) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Winter Weather Ohio(07 of30)
An Amish buggy carrying two passengers goes slowly down a steep hill Thursday, Feb. 6, 2014, in near Middlfield, Ohio. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Ohio Daily Life(08 of30)
Two Amish boys ride their bikes on a country road Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2013, in Middlefield, Ohio. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
New York Daily Life(09 of30)
Amish men ride on a horse-drawn wagon after baling hay in a field on Friday, July 26, 2013, in East Springfield, N.Y. (AP Photo/Mike Groll) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
YE Amish Attacks(10 of30)
FOR USE AS DESIRED, YEAR END PHOTOS - FILE - Amish boys watch a game of baseball outside the school house in Bergholz, Ohio, on Tuesday, April 9, 2013. Many Amish families gathered following the final day of school for a celebration and farewell picnic. (AP Photo/Scott R. Galvin, File) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
NY Upstate NY Flooding(11 of30)
An Amish wagon navigates the muddy parking lot of a grocery store after flooding on Friday, June 28, 2013, in Fort Plain, N.Y. Severe flooding caused by the spring and early summer\'s persistent rains damaged houses, closed roads and forced people to flee their homes Friday in New York\'s Mohawk Valley. Heavy rains Thursday and into early Friday caused the Mohawk River to overflow it banks where it traverses the southern end of Herkimer County, located 60 miles east of Syracuse. (AP Photo/Mike Groll) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Gas Drilling Amish(12 of30)
In this May 17, 2013 photo, several of the seven children of Susan Mast are seen near their home in Baltic, Ohio. Mast says the youngsters watched with fascination as a hydraulically fractured oil and gas well went in on property adjacent to their home in Amish country. Traditional Amish communities in Ohio and Pennsylvania are debating the benefits and perils of oil and gas fracking (AP Photo/Julie Smyth) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Amish Attacks(13 of30)
FILE - In this April 9, 2013 file photo, Freeman Burkholder, right, takes the headpiece off of his horse in Bergholz, Ohio. Bergholder and other Amish now imprisoned in beard-cutting attacks on fellow Amish in Ohio have been granted a religious freedom exemption from a requirement to attend high-school equivalency classes behind bars. (AP Photo/Scott R. Galvin, File) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Amish Attacks(14 of30)
An Amish boy leads his miniature horse to the barn in Bergholz, Ohio on Tuesday, April 9, 2013. Amish members gathered for a farewell picnic for those convicted in a hair and beard cutting scandal. (AP Photo/Scott R. Galvin) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Amish Attacks(15 of30)
Amish men and children listen to children sing in a school house during the final day of class on Tuesday, April 9, 2013 in Bergholz, Ohio. The end-of-school celebration Tuesday served as the last big community gathering before four women and one man from this tight-knit group in rural eastern Ohio enter prison on Friday, joining nine already behind bars on hate crimes convictions for hair- and beard-cutting attacks against fellow Amish. (AP Photo/Scott R. Galvin) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Amish farms and fields(16 of30)
EPHRATA, PENNSYLVANIA, UNITED STATES - 2014/10/17: Amish farms and fields. (Photo by John Greim/LightRocket via Getty Images) (credit:John Greim via Getty Images)
Amish farmer tilling with horse drawn machinery(17 of30)
LEOLA, UPPER LEACOCK, PENNSYLVANIA, UNITED STATES - 2014/10/17: Amish farmer tilling with horse drawn machinery. (Photo by John Greim/LightRocket via Getty Images) (credit:John Greim via Getty Images)
Amish family in horse drawn buggy(18 of30)
LANCASTER COUNTY, RONKS, PENNSYLVANIA, UNITED STATES - 2014/10/16: Amish family in horse drawn buggy. (Photo by John Greim/LightRocket via Getty Images) (credit:John Greim via Getty Images)
Amish Attacks(19 of30)
An Amish family crosses the road on their way to the schoolhouse for the final day of class before summer break in Bergholz, Ohio on April 9, 2013. (AP Photo/Scott R. Galvin) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Amish Attacks(20 of30)
Amish children play on swings and teeter-totters prior to the start of the final day of school in Bergholz, Ohio on April 9, 2013. (AP Photo/Scott R. Galvin) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Amish Attacks(21 of30)
An Amish boy looks through his folder of classwork during the final day of the school year in Bergholz, Ohio on April 9, 2013. (AP Photo/Scott R. Galvin) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Amish Attacks(22 of30)
Amish children play on the playground prior to the start of class for the final day of the school year in Bergholz, Ohio on April 9, 2013. (AP Photo/Scott R. Galvin) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Amish Attacks(23 of30)
Amish children play on the teeter-totters prior to the start of class in Bergholz, Ohio on April 9, 2013. (AP Photo/Scott R. Galvin) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Amish Attacks(24 of30)
Amish boys walk past horse buggies on their way to the schoolhouse for the start of the final day of class in Bergholz, Ohio on April 9, 2013. (AP Photo/Scott R. Galvin) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Amish Attacks(25 of30)
An Amish man talks with a boy as they wait for class to start for the final day of the school year in Bergholz, Ohio on April 9, 2013. (AP Photo/Scott R. Galvin) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Amish Attacks(26 of30)
Emma Miller holds her son during a farewell picnic outside the schoolhouse in Bergholz, Ohio, Tuesday, April 9, 2013. Miller, along with three other women and a man from this tight-knit community in rural eastern Ohio, will enter prison on Friday, April 12, joining nine already behind bars on hate crimes convictions for hair- and beard-cutting attacks against fellow Amish. (AP Photo/Scott R. Galvin) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Amish Attacks(27 of30)
An Amish girl attempts to mount a miniature horse near the family farm in Bergholz, Ohio on Tuesday, April 9, 2013. (AP Photo/Scott R. Galvin) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Amish Attacks(28 of30)
Amish women fill-up the school house to listen to their children sing during the final day of class on Tuesday, April 9, 2013 in Bergholz, Ohio. (AP Photo/Scott R. Galvin) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Amish Attacks(29 of30)
Wilma Mullet and her family walk to the school house for the final day of class on Tuesday, April 9, 2013 in Bergholz, Ohio. Mullet and other Amish families gathered for a farewell celebration before members of the sect depart for prison following convictions in a beard cutting scandal. (AP Photo/Scott R. Galvin) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Amish Attacks(30 of30)
Freeman Burkholder waits for his at bat during a game of baseball at the farewell picnic in Bergholz, Ohio on Tuesday, April 9, 2013. The picnic was for Burkholder and other Amish people leaving for prison this week for their part in the hair and beard cutting scandal against other Amish members. (AP Photo/Scott R. Galvin) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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