The history of the Shakers is similar to that of most utopian communities. The origins begin with a woman and their story continues today. Although the Shakers came from relatively nothing, they built successful lives for themselves. A woman named Ann Lee is single-handedly responsible for building the Shaker Foundation. She had a difficult life before founding this community. Lee suffered the death of several of her children and a failed marriage, while she was expected to live a celibate life. She endured a lot of physical and mental suffering. When she decided to create a new lifestyle, she had followers who thought like her. But they were not taken seriously in England. The citizens were ruthless. Edward Andrews, author of Work and Worship Among the Shakers, said they "ridiculed their form of worship, accusing them of delusions, denunciation of unbelieving parents, ignorance, witchcraft, naked dancing, Catholicism (belief in celibacy, confession, perfection, miracles, obedience, etc.), exploitation of common members” (18). Ann was eventually arrested because she and her supporters had participated in riots. According to Edward Purcell, author of The Shakers, "When Ann emerged from her cell, she told her companions of a wonderful visit from Jesus himself... She also announced a set of precepts that would free adherents from sin forever: confession, celibacy and perfection of life” (7). His beliefs won followers who created the Shaker group which brought the sect to America. This belief included the idea that "God was both male and female – and in a dual messiahship – Christ, one of the higher spirits, appeared both in Jesus, representing the masculine principle as the son of a carpenter, and in Mother Ann, the feminine principle, daughter of a blacksmith. Thus the quaternity of Father-Son-Holy Mother Wisdom-Daughter was formed” (Purcell 24). The people who followed Lee came from different backgrounds. The Shakers welcomed everyone. In fact, Purcell theorized that "the people attracted to the movement did not come from any fixed social class or economic strata, from any particular religious affiliation... There was a scattering of tradesmen, doctors, of ministers and teachers, and numerous craftsmen, mechanics, tanners, tailors, blacksmiths, coopers, weavers, millers and practitioners of other trades” (43). The Shakers traveled to America in the late 1700s. They settled in New Lebanon, New York, and this place became a sort of headquarters. Eventually, communities spread to the “mountainous regions of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine” (Perry). Over the years, communities could also be found in Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. Development would continue to grow rapidly from there. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The Shakers lived together in communal housing. They stayed with their families, but the term meant something different to them. According to Andrews, "the term 'family,' in Shaker usage, denoted a group of brothers and sisters living in the same dwelling, autonomous in their industrial activities and organized under the dual leadership of elders and elders ( usually two of them). of each sex), the deacons (or administrators) and deaconesses, who were responsible for the “temporalities”, and the “guardians” of the children, also of each sex” (26). These families were extremely important and vital to their society. The number of people in eachfamily could vary from twenty-five to one hundred and fifty. Men and women were separated since sexual relations were not prohibited. Andrews describes the way Shaker women dressed as follows: Many people wore short dresses with short sleeves (over their dresses)… made of light-colored striped cotton. The stripes went around the sleeves, but ran lengthwise across the body of the dress. The waistline extended to the hips, while the dress reached a few inches below the knees. For more common use, short dresses only reached eight or ten inches below the waist. Over the dress in front was worn a checkered apron, about a yard and a half wide, cut in a circle at the top and gathered to over two feet wide. A one-inch white binding ran across the top edge and ended with strings of white ribbon tied in front with a double bow. These aprons were an inch shorter than the dress or about two inches from the ground…On their heads the sisters wore a thin lawn or linen cap” (118-122). When it was summer, they woke up at five in the morning, and when it was winter, they woke up at five thirty in the morning. They had ten minutes to leave their room. The women made all the beds and tidied the rooms. The men got straight to work. Then, at seven in the morning, they came home for breakfast, when the bell rang. Then they went back to work until the bell rang again at noon for lunch. Then they worked until the dinner bell. Work ended at eight o'clock. Families attended a union meeting and went to bed at 9 p.m. (Andrews 199-200). Andrews also said they were quite modern for their time. They used herbs as medicines and even used electric currents in some communities (73). They lived a very structured and planned life. However, it worked for them and didn't cause many problems, so they were happy. Purcell states, “For a truly committed Shaker, it was a satisfying life, limited perhaps from the point of view of outsiders, but without the tension and anxiety that accompany the necessity of making daily choices” (11). The guidelines followed by the Shakers brought them simplicity for several years. Since there was a lot of structure, there were rules and leaders in Shaker communities. Of course, Ann Lee dictated all these rules. After her death, she left behind several people who had the exact same way of thinking that she possessed to adapt to any changes that might have come. Andrews said: “The roots of Shaker culture – the principles by which believers lived and the practice of those principles – lie not only in the unusual personality and teaching of Ann Lee, the society's founder, but also in the interpretation of its principles. testimony of his immediate successors” (12). As noted earlier, the elders were mostly in charge. There were also deacons and deaconesses who played important roles in the communities. Perhaps the most important of these was trade management. Edward Andrews said: “All dealings and dealings, purchases and sales, alterations and exchanges, must be made by them or by their immediate knowledge or consent” (41). One of the rules that the Shakers had to follow was that they could only socialize with each other. Andrews stated that "they should, as far as possible, eat in the same tavern and lodge in one room, and when you walk the streets you should keep as close as possible to thefrom each other that there would be no room for even one.” dog to run between you and your companion” (42). Another rule was that the Shakers remembered the importance of prayer at all times. Even if they were on the move, they had to pray. Andrews also said: "All who go out into the world should observe the command to kneel as much as possible and should always kneel in prayer twice a day, whether they have to do so by the roadside or in the cart. , while driving” (42). These rules kept everything in order and the Shakes were happy with them. Their religion and their family were the two most important things to them. Shaker women were valuable members of their community. They were not considered inferior to others, which was not common in their time. In fact, “from the beginning, women were equal to men in all privileges and responsibilities of leadership and work” (Andrews 110). They had several responsibilities which took up a large part of their time. Without them, communities would not have thrived as they did. Andrews describes it this way: Much of the Shaker sisters' time was taken up with domestic chores such as washing, ironing, cooking, cleaning, mending, "schooling" and caring for the many girls who were in the care of the family care. Company. If we consider the size of the dwellings, the number of men, women and children living in communities and the almost religious emphasis placed on order and cleanliness, we see that household chores did not represent a small matter (111). were providing services to everyone around them as well as themselves. What may seem simple today was quite difficult and time-consuming for them because they did not have the technology and tools they could use today. Purcell said, "Washing clothes was labor intensive in the early Shaker era, but the same doctrines that led Shaker sisters to sweep and dust every room every day also required them to immediately replace fabrics and linens soiled with freshly laundered items. » (121). Women were necessary for the survival of the Shakers. Children were an interesting part of Shaker communities. They were obviously not born Shakers because members were not allowed to have sex. Instead, “they were brought in by new members, left with the Shakers by outraged parents or guardians, or adopted from orphanages” (“Sects and Communalism”). As with the rest of the Shakers, boys and girls were kept separately. They took their studies at different times of the year to avoid having interactions. Andrews listed the subjects the children studied as follows: "Spelling, reading, writing, composition, English grammar, arithmetic, mensuration, agricultural science, agricultural chemistry, a small part of history and geography, architecture, moral sciences, good manners. , and true religion. (113). The Shakers were not always seen as a good place for children to grow up. In fact, a law was passed that required the children of men who joined the Shakers to live with the non-Shaker woman (Andrews 166). However, it appears that the Shakers provided an excellent home for every member of the community. Purcell stated, “The Shakers provided a good general education in addition to religious instruction, but all children were allowed to choose between the Shakers and the world when they reached maturity” (88). Whether the children have chosen the Shaker lifestyle for themselves or have gone to try something else..