Woman’s new book opens door to Hutterite culture

Talk about it

After hiding her past for more than 30 years, Mary-Ann Kirkby decided to disclose it in a very public manner.

She did so to learn more about her culture — and herself. Kirkby is the author of “I Am Hutterite: The Fascinating True Story of a Young Woman’s Journey to Reclaim Her Heritage.”

“Until we fully embrace our heritage and really value the power it is meant to bring to our lives, we cannot realize our full potential,” Kirkby writes.

Writing the book was an emotional, and at times painful, experience.

“I had to open my heart wide and really be vulnerable,” she said during a telephone interview Thursday with The Daily Republic. “And that was tough.”

Kirkby will be at the Mitchell Public Library from 7 to 9 p.m. today as part of a tour of the state to promote the book, which was published in Canada in 2007. Although the book was rejected by every major Canadian publisher, Kirkby believed in it and published it herself.

It has sold 100,000 copies so far, she said, has garnered outstanding reviews and claimed the Best Non-Fiction Award at the Saskatchewan Book Awards.

“It flew off the shelves,” Kirkby said. “It was a sensation.”

An American publishing house, Thomas Nelson, is now selling the book in the United States.

She said her past helped her choose the words for the gracefully written book.

“I was raised at the knees of the finest and most gifted oral storytellers one could imagine,” she said.

Hutterites, who do not use computers, TVs, radios or other electronic devices in their private lives, depend on oral histories and leg- ends to impart wisdom and entertain each other, she said. They have been known to add a bit of color to “improve” a story, Kirkby said.

“We love to juice it up a little bit,” she said with a laugh. “That’s part of what makes life sweet, the jam does.”

Kirkby, 51, was born in a Canadian Hutterite colony and said she grew up in a loving, supportive environment.

“I loved growing up in a Hutterite colony,” she said.

But when she was 10, her father clashed with a prominent member of the colony, and the family struck out on its own.

“We left a conflict, not a culture. It was a conflict with the colony minister, who is like the CEO,” Kirkby said. “My parents didn’t see any way out, any way of resolving that.”

The adjustment was difficult, she admits.

“I learned very quickly that my culture had no value in mainstream society,” writes Kirkby. “Our clothing was ridiculed and our lifestyle treated with suspicion. No one understood that beneath the black hats and polka dots lay a beautiful language, a wonderful work ethic, and the best cottage cheese pie in the world.

“We didn’t know how to swim or skate or ride a bicycle. We had never tasted pizza, macaroni and cheese, or a banana split — rites of passage in mainstream society. Our knowledge of the English language was adequate, but we much preferred to speak our own language.”

She adjusted as much out of self-defense as a desire to be part of the dominant culture and to avoid the pain caused by “people’s misperceptions about my culture” and their often-hurtful statements.

Eventually, Kirkby established a successful career as a Canadian radio and TV reporter and left her Hutterite heritage in the past. She married and had a child.

Kirkby worked, dressed and lived as a “regular person” in Canadian culture. But her past was always on her mind, she admits.

When her son was born, she felt compelled to share her family heritage with him and, eventually, the world.

“I never imagined I would be a writer, but over time it became clear to me and the ignorance about my culture began to eat at me,” Kirkby said. “I felt it was really important to step into my space and acknowledge who I am.”

She said she often visits Hutterite colonies — “That’s where all my relatives are” — and is in touch with her roots. She wears an “auntie’s” traditional dress on the cover of the book and her mother’s polkadot kerchief.

“I still speak the Hutterite language fluently,” she said. It’s known as Hutterisch, and is an oral language that is only now being written down.

“It’s lovely,” Kiirkby said. “It’s a delightful language because it’s so to the point. They’re absolutely delightful.”

She said people don’t understand how fun-loving and colorful Hutterite life is, with gossip quite common and romance, even in a traditional setting, flowering as it does everywhere else.

“They’ve got a bawdy sense of humor,” Kirkby said of the Hutterites.

And they are extremely blunt. Kirkby said she had to become used to people talking behind her back, since in the Hutterite world, people say what they think to your face.

Kirkby lives in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, with husband Gordon and son Levi, 13.

“I call myself off-reserve Hutterite,” she said. “I’ve always maintained a loving relationship with my relatives.”

The book is controversial among some Hutterites, she admits, since she goes into some detail on why her family left the colony. However, many Hutterites own the book, even if they have to buy it secretly, she said.

“For the most part, it’s a very well-loved book,” Kirkby said.

The ultimate message of the book is for people to learn that “every culture has something of value, to really cherish each other,” she said.

“I don’t think there is another culture in North America where so many know so little about them,” Kirkby said.

The Hutterite people practice a communal way of life that is modeled after the biblical teachings of Christ and the Apostles. There are approximately 45,000 Hutterites on 460 colonies in North America.

Her mother, Mary, who is still alive, was one of 16 children, half of whom were born in South Dakota. Their roots are in the “Mother Colony,” Kirkby said, the Yankton Colony, which was established in 1874 and still exists.

Many Hutterites fled the United States for Canada during World War I when they were threatened with being forced to enlist in the military, which goes against their pacifist nature.

One-third of those Hutterites returned to the United States and many settled in South and North Dakota. Their reputation as successful farmers led the United States government to invite them to return.

“North and South Dakota are really historic for the Hutterites,” she said. “After a bloody 500-year history in Europe, the Hutterites were able to live as our ancestors intended it.”

While she said people “often lump us together,” Hutterites are different from Mennonites and the Amish. All three are Anabaptists, born of a 16th century Christian schism. They all live in traditional ways and use clothing and languages with roots in the creation of their sects.

The Amish live in family groups while the Hutterites, named for their founder, Jakob Hutter, live in colonies. Hutterites live more traditionally than Mennonites and dress in a very conservative, traditional fashion.

“They’re known as the finest example of community life in the modern world,” Kirkby said. “We embrace modern machinery or modern methods that will help us with the farming.”

For more information about Kirkby and her autobiographical book, visit www.polkadotpress.ca.

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