The Simpsons’ chess game is one of our young visitors’ favorites. They are always able to find their television heroes straight away. Head of the family Homer has a surprising connection to the very traditional and orthodox Mennonites.
Anyone who has ever watched the American cartoon show about the Simpson family will be able to understand its popularity amongst young people. Ten year old rascal Bart has a heart of gold but finds himself forever in trouble because of his mischief. His foolish dad Homer has his ways as well. He likes to drink beer, eat donuts, watch TV and messes up his work at the local nuclear plant continuously. This usually has serious consequences… Bart’s genius sister Lisa frequently makes for comical situations and baby girl Maggie, forever sucking her pacifier, is a lot smarter than you’d think. Mother Marge is the only one who behaves in a more or less normal fashion, although she is a bit strange looking because of her immensely high hairdo.
Homer is a Mennonite
The American writer of the show, Matt Groening, based all of the Simpson characters on his own family. Groening’s parents are called Homer and Margaret and his younger sisters are Lisa and Maggie. Grandpa Simpson was named ‘Abraham’, after the writer’s real grandfather.
Groening was born the third of five children, on 25 February 1954 in Portland, Oregon. Both of his parents had Northern European roots. Mother Margaret was from Norway and father Homer had German ancestors. The Dutch sounding family name of the writer is probably a bastardization of the name of the city of Groningen. Father Homer was raised in a family of Mennonites, originally a religious European community from the sixteenth century.
This community took its name from the Frisian clergyman Menno Simons (1496-1561). Originally a Catholic, Simons distanced himself from his faith after studying the Bible and went on to preach all around Germany. His opinion was that children were unable to make decisions about their faith. Therefore, only adults, who fully supported their choice of religion, were allowed to be baptized.
There were various communities of ‘Anabaptists’ or ‘Mennonites’ that shared Simons’ beliefs. Simons’ followers in the end were known as Mennonites. Besides adult baptism, this school of thought was known for its sober way of life, the wish to separate church and state and the refusal of taking oaths or carrying weapons. The Mennonites were in favor of a violence-free society, so you wouldn’t find any of them in the city’s council or in the army.
Burning at the stake
Governments of more than one country have prosecuted 
the Mennonites obsessively for a long time. First there were the Catholics, that burnt Anabaptists at the stake. After the Reformation, when Protestants took over power, the Mennonites were still not accepted. Their refusal to defend their city if it were under attack angered many people. Many of the Anabaptists therefore decided to leave Europe and large communities settled in the north of America in the seventeenth and eighteenth century.
Menno Simons (1496-1561)
The first American settlement, called Germantown, was founded in 1683 in the state of Pennsylvania. This state is still home to the largest group of American Mennonites. They have been isolated communities for centuries and they hold on to traditions and ways of life from the past. Mennonites wear old-fashioned clothes and try and stay away from modern technology as far as possible. No cars, televisions or computers for them but horse and carriage and Bible-readings. Even the language from centuries ago, Dietsch, is still spoken by the majority of the Mennonites.
The children from these communities only receive education until they are twelve years old, and only within their community. They don’t get a modern education but study the Bible, learn calligraphy and sing songs of praise.
Naughty boy
It is extremely difficult for Mennonites to turn their back on the closed Mennonite community: it would equal stepping into a time-machine. In spite of this, Homer Groening succeeded in breaking away from the community. His son Matt has obviously distanced himself from his father’s family history with his TV-show The Simpsons. The names may be the same but Homer is everything but a man living according to Mennonite standards. Or would Homer’s stupidity be a reference to the limited education Mennonite children receive?
T
he only name in the Simpson family that doesn’t have anything to do with Groening’s family is the main character’s one. According to the writer Bart is a word-play on the English word brat, meaning naughty or mischievous boy. Bart’s tricks haven’t made it to the game board though: the Simpson family has behaved themselves very well at the Chessmen Museum.
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