An article about the ancient tradition of bundling has generated a lot of interest since I researched the topic and wrote about it for magazine in the July 2007 issue. is in place at Quilter’s Muse Publications.

In this blog file, I share four of the letters that I have received.

Hi,

I just finished reading the fascinating article you wrote on bundling. At the end, you asked if anyone had more info on it they should contact you. I have one tidbit you didn’t mention.

In the 2000 movie “The Patriot” starring Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger, Heath’s character “Gabriel” was in love with the daughter of a merchant who gave the rebels supplies. When the militia troops, of whom Gabriel was a member, stopped in the town to resupply he asked permission to court the girl from her father, and that evening the mother of the girl sewed him into a “bundling bag” – Gabriel thought it was a “fine” tradition. The girl’s father on the other hand was concerned because he remembered that when he was courting his wife in the same manner; apparently there was some hank-panky going on. She soothed his feelings by telling him, “Don’t worry. I sew better than my mother did.” ) laughing

Just thought you might like to know.

—
Second letter:

I read your article in the July issue of THE QUILTER with great interest. I have recently become interested in this subject after seeing it depicted in the movie THE PATRIOT and also after being told by someone that a family in our area still practices bundling! I am skeptical as to whether or not this is true as the woman is quite a gossip.

Being a practicing Mormon I feel the practice is playing with fire as we believe that sexual relations should only take place between married people. Even though my husband and I have never had sex with anyone else and we were both virgins when we married, I don’t believe we could have “slept” next to each other during our engagement and remained chaste! Why play with fire?

Nevertheless, I am still fascinated by the subject– I think because I am a history buff and want to research everything interesting–especially in early American history. I have a question for you and thought you might be able to answer it given your status as an “avid quilt history researcher”. I have been looking for this for years and can’t seem to find where I read it. Somewhere I read that a certain group of people would make a small (maybe 36×36) all white hand quilted quilt to place on the “wedding bed”. I assumed this was for a couple whom had not lived together or had sex outside of marriage. It was saved and used for their “first time” as husband and wife. I believe the article mentioned that it was intended to be laid across the top of the blankets. Even though I could not locate the original information on this practice I made one for my son and his fiance for their wedding night. I used all sorts of symbolic symbols for the quilting pattern–dogwood blossoms because they met in Virginia, cherry wreaths because they were married in Washington DC, hearts of course for love, doves for peace and a huge basket of fruit to symbolize fertility. I want to enter this quilt in a local quilt show and would like to include some correct information on this practice if possible.

Any information you could give me or lead me to would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your wonderful article on bundling. I enjoyed it very much and have saved it for future reference should I ever need it.

—

Third letter:

I wouldn’t go so far as to say that bundling or bed courtship is the reason that *many* have left the Old Order, but it certainly is a consideration for some. My friend and her husband were married in 1972, I believe, so their experience would be later than your example in PA. It’s one of those things that everyone knows about but can’t be documented unless you’re very close to someone who’s practicing it. I don’t know many Old Order Amish so I can’t give you any more help than that.

I forgot to mention that I’ve never heard of the bundling boards or bolsters. They may have existed in earlier years, but now I believe that the tradition of bed courtship is so strong in some Amish churches that no attempt is made to maintain innocence.

There is a lot of immorality in general among the young Amish people in Geauga County; drinking, smoking, drugs, etc. Several groups of concerned Amish have actually moved away from this community to remove their children from bad influences. (Geauga County has somewhat of a ‘bad reputation’; not all Amish communities are like this one.)

A very good book for you to consider is online pharmacy vicodin by Stephen L. Yoder. He was a Beachy bishop (recently deceased) from Indiana who addresses many of these issues, including bundling. In fact on page 83 he lists “bundling among youth” as one of the four main reasons that the New Order Amish church was founded in Holmes Co., Ohio in 1967.

—

Fourth letter:

Dear Pat,

I came across your essays on bundling today, so I thought I would send you a link to what I’ve written about the subject… I had no choice but to practice “bed courtship” when I was young. Well, I did, but then I would have dated no one.

To read what I’ve written, you can visit:

I also have some about this in my new book, online pharmacy vicodin.

All best,

Saloma Furlong