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About Shakers and Shaker FurnitureTYPE "SHAKER" INTO OUR SEARCH BOX OR CLICK ON THE BUTTONS AT THE LEFT TO SEE OUR SHAKER FURNITURE SELECTION
The history of the Shaker Religion begins more recently than that of the Amish religion. The Shakers had their roots in a Quaker revival in England in 1747, and were led at the time by James and Jane Wardley.. This sect was known at the time as the Shaking Quakers, and later as the Shakers, because of their ecstatic form of worship. This involved a marching dance where they would tremble and shake, with some falling into a trance. This conduct was scorned and considered profane by the traditional Christian religions of the time.
The Shakers believed that a life of celibacy, confession of sin, and hard labor was the only way to total redemption. The society grew strong only after the appearance of Ann Lee in 1758 who believed herself the recipient of the mother element of the spirit of Christ. She became one of the society’s most vocal proponents and was arrested on a number of occasions for disturbing the peace. She had visions during one such incarceration that revealed how, through purity, mankind could find redemption. She told the society about these revelations and in 1760, probably as a direct result, was elected their leader becoming known as "Mother Ann".
One of the fundamental doctrines of the society became the belief in the dual nature of the Deity. The male principle was incarnated in Jesus; the female principle, in Mother Ann. Other tenets were celibacy, open confession of sins, communal ownership of possessions in the advanced groups, separation from the world, pacifism, equality of the sexes, and consecrated work. Singing, dancing, and marching characterized phases of Shaker worship. The community was organized into groups, called families, of between 30 and 90 individuals. The believers donated their services and possessions but were always free to leave.
Following one vision, she and eight followers left Manchester, England and emigrated in 1774 to New York State. In 1776, she and the others founded a communal utopian society at Watervliet, near Albany. Mother Ann gained a number of converts who after her death (1784) began the formation of Shaker communities living by Mother Ann's much quoted: "Put your hands to work and hearts to God," which was the essence of Shaker living and religion.
Between 1787 and 1826, nineteen Shaker communities were established in eight states from Maine to Kentucky and Indiana. A surprising number of people joined - some six thousand between 1830 and 1850. After 1860, Shakerism began to decline; By 1889, their numbers had dwindled by the mid-1990s it was almost nonexistent, with a tiny community in New Gloucester, Maine, constituting the only active Shaker village in the country. The last remaining community continues with a small number of followers at Sabbathday Lake, Maine.
The Shaker movement in America was characterized by communal living, celibacy, public confession of sins, pacifism, belief in equality of all people, and daily living designed to bring about the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. The Shakers were known for their inventiveness, their outstanding craftsmanship, their industriousness, and their spirituality. The lives of the Shakers' were strictly ordered with a law covering every aspect of daily life. These were known as the millennial laws. They were, however, revised from time to time, reflecting the Shakers flexibility to a changing world. They sought to live separately from the "world's people," to produce all the goods needed for their own purposes and to produce income for the purchase of land. Many talents and occupations contributed to a legacy of fine craft and ingenuity, best known are the simple yet beautiful Shaker-made furnishings and tools.
The American Shakers designed furniture and woodenware without adornment and thereby created some of the most beautiful woodworking in the world. Luckily for us their striving for perfection on earth has left us with a lasting testament to their industry, in the shape of their furniture. By striping away unnecessary ornament and condemning beauty for beauty’s sake, the Shakers contrived to produce some of the most beautiful furniture made. Looking at plain but neat Shaker chairs and barns today, it is evident that the Shakers made their heavenly ideals a working part of their everyday life in all things they made. People today admire Shaker furniture and architecture because of its simplicity, honesty, grace, utility and sturdiness. Clean, elegant lines and honest functionality make Shaker furniture one of the most popular and enduring furniture styles. .By concentrating on form and function they were probably 150 years ahead of their time; the precursors to the modern movement. These are the qualities that characterize the things they made, because these were the ideals that the Shakers felt were part of God’s heaven and his home. As one member said, "What are goods worth unless they are full of genuine religion?" The lack of adornment bespoke the Shakers’ determination not to let anything unnecessary stand between the believer and his God. Order, harmony and utility were the objectives of good workmanship. It is a recognizable look, not "factory-like" as some have described their buildings, nor austere and "grim" as Charles Dickens once called the Shaker furniture, but, rather like its users, dispassionate, reliable and unworldly.
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