Belief system of Low German-Speaking Mennonites

An event was held at the Lethbridge College on Tuesday to highlight the Low German-Speaking Mennonite community in our region.

According to organizers, there are around 40,000 Mennonites in southern Alberta.

Amanda Sawatzky, one of the keynote speakers at the event, explained a little of who the Mennonites are along with their some of their belief system.

“The belief system is very conservative and traditional. It is a faith based group, although some sociologists and historians will debate that. Maybe an ethno group or an ethnoreligious, cultural group. We can’t decide yet. We speak low German and like I said, it’s a faith based, very traditional, conservative values and conservative dress. Now, the caveat to that is you can’t make assumptions. And so from me, you wouldn’t infer that I’m from the low German based population because I don’t dress or look like somebody. So we need to be careful that we don’t make assumptions.”

The Lethbridge Historical Society says back in 1940, two Mennonite churches in Vauxhall, Alberta were burned down due to anti-German sentiment during the Second World War.