25. Men Symbolize Marriage With a Beard
While married women wear black bonnets instead of a wedding band, their male counterparts grow the customary long beards. They don’t grow mustaches, as mustaches are seen as being associated with soldiers in European militaries. If a man doesn’t get married, he is not permitted to grow a beard until he is 40 years old. Beards are such a large part of the Amish male identity that a 2014 rash of beard cutting incidents between opposing US Amish communities initially led to hate crime charges.
