Amish Barn Raising
Building a barn is very costly for an Amish farmer with limited income. Having the whole Amish community come together with material and labor to build his barn in one day (at no charge) is a great benefit to the Amish farmer.
Everyone in the Amish society is expected, and pretty much required, to participate in Amish Barn Raising. The elderly plan and organize, the men do the hard labor, the women make food, the young boys do light jobs like fetching tools, and the children see what is expected of them in the future.
Not only do new Amish families starting a new farm need a barn, but also an old barn needs to be replaced or rebuilt because of old age or fire. Amish Barn Raising gets the whole community together with good food, socializing, and hard work to help out the farmers in need. This is Amish at its best and a good example of how collective work in religious society actually works.
PS. Barn Raising is also called "rearing" and "raising bee" and was also practiced by non-Amish farmers in the 1700s and 1800s.
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