The Mennonites: A lesser known community in Mexico
June 3rd, 2011 - 3:00 pm ICT by IANSMexico City, June 3 (IANS/EFE) The German-speaking Mennonite community in Mexico - who came from Canada in search of cheap land and “greater respect for their way of life” - have now grown to around 70,000 members.
Mennonites live in the northern state of Chihuahua. They speak the Low German dialect, and their schools teach German, English and Spanish.
The Mennonites, whose lives revolve around farming, have transformed the arid landscape of Chihuahua into productive fields and have turned the border state into one of Mexico’s top milk producers.
The conservative Christian community arrived in Mexico from Canada in 1922.
The community - which now has about 70,000 people across Mexico - has followed the same way of life for hundreds of years. They have obtained exemption from military service for their pacifist members.
Mennonite children usually finish school at the age of 12 and go to work, helping their fathers on farms or in other businesses.
The community’s star product - a food with which people all over Mexico are familiar - is “Mennonite” cheese, or “Chihuahua” cheese, of which they reportedly produce 70,000 kg a day and sell across the country.
The businesses run by the Mennonites employ about 20,000 people in Chihuahua, with the majority of them working in agriculture and dairy production, said Lisa Wolf, who runs the Mennonite Cultural Centre and Museum in Ciudad Cuauhtemoc.
“They have a culture that is very deeply rooted in the land,” said chef Patricia Quintana, promoter of the “Flavors and Aromas of Mexico” tour.
–IANS/EFE
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