Shakers

This article is about the Shakers, a religious denomination. For other uses of the term shakers or shaker, see Shakers (disambiguation).

Communal spiritual family

The Shakers did not believe in procreation so therefore had to adopt a child if they wanted one. Another way they could expand their community's population was to allow converts into the Shaker society to live and function as one. When Shaker boys reached the age of twenty-one, they were given the choice to leave the Shaker religion and go their own separate way or to continue on as a Shaker. The Shakers lived in "families" sharing a large house with separate entrances for each family within the "family"; thus the families were exclusively male or female — the sexes were segregated into separate living areas.

Related Topics:
Religion - Family - Sexes

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The Shakers struggled with complex human problems that have no simple answers, and they managed to set up and sustain a distinctive way of life with much appeal for more than two hundred years.

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Revelations and visions

A peculiar, intense kind of spirituality began to develop under this unique arrangement. A period of spiritual manifestations among the Believers began in 1837 and lasted through 1847. Children told of visits to cities in the spirit realm and brought messages to the community which they received from Mother Ann. In 1838 the gift of tongues was manifested and sacred places were set aside in each community, with names like Holy Mount; but in 1847 the spirits, after warning, left the Believers. The theology of the denomination is based on the idea of the dualism of God: the creation of man as male and female "in our image" showing the bi-sexuality of the Creator; in Jesus, born of a woman, the son of a Jewish carpenter, were the male manifestation of Christ and the first Christian Church; and in Mother Ann, daughter of an English blacksmith, were the female manifestation of Christ and the second Christian Church — she was the Bride ready for the Bridegroom, and in her the promises of the Second Coming were fulfilled. Adam's sin was in sexual impurity; marriage is done away with in the body of the Believers in the Second Appearance, who must pattern after the Kingdom in which there is no marriage or giving in marriage. The four virtues are virgin purity; Christian communism; confession of sin, without which none can become Believers; and separation from the world. The Shakers do not believe in the divinity or deity of Jesus, or in the resurrection of the body. Their insistence on the bi-sexuality of God and their reverence for Mother Ann have made them advocates of sex equality. Their spiritual directors are elders and "eldresses," and their temporal guides are deacons and deaconesses in equal numbers.

Related Topics:
1837 - 1847 - Male - Virgin - Jesus - God

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Culture of work

The prescribed uniform costume with woman's neckerchief and cap, and the custom of men wearing their hair long on the neck and cut in a straight bang on the forehead, still persist; but the women wear different colors. The communism of the Believers was an economic success, and their cleanliness, honesty and frugality received the highest praise. They made leather in New York for several years, but in selling herbs and garden seeds, in making "apple-sauce" (at Shirley), in weaving linen (at Alfred), and in knitting underwear they did better work.

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:"Do your work as though you had a thousand years to live and as if you were to die tomorrow."

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:"Put your hands to work, and your heart to God."

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Shakers were known for an exquisite style of furniture, known as shaker furniture. It was was plain in style, durable, and functional. A Shaker chair would take weeks to make because only one craftsman made it and put a great deal of effort into making sure every joint, corner and leg were correctly in place. Because of this craftsmanship, original Shaker furniture is costly. One Shaker chair sold for US$ 500,000.

Related Topics:
Shaker furniture - Chair - Furniture - US$

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The Shakers worshiped in meetinghouses that were painted white and unadorned. It was that way because they considered shutters and carvings to be worldly things. The Shakers believed in the value of hard work and kept comfortably busy. Each member learned a craft and did chores. Mother Ann said, "Labor to make the way of God your own; let it be your inheritance, your treasure, your occupation, your daily calling."

Related Topics:
Inheritance - Treasure

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Shakers worshiped in plain meetinghouses where they marched around, sang songs, danced, twitched and shouted. Many outsiders who witnessed Shaker worship services thought that they were heretics and protested in front of their places of worship. Mother Ann was arrested several times for disturbing the peace. Early Shaker worship services were unstructured, loud, chaotic and emotional. However, later on, Shakers developed precision dances and orderly rituals. The Shakers have also authored thousands of religious songs.

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