Note: Many of the Lodges and Versammlinge have resumed activities this year! If you’d like information on any events or would like your event listed, please contact us.
An important component of the preservation efforts of the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect are the many gatherings that are held in central and eastern Pennsylvania. The oldest among these are the fraternal Groundhog Lodges (Grundsau Lodsche), the first of which was held in 1934. Information on these lodges, dates, and how to contact them to attend a lodge meeting can be found here. Serious Nonsense by William W. Donner provides a history of the lodges and their cultural significance among the Pennsylvania Dutch.
The Groundhog Lodges are one of the various kinds of Versammlinge (assemblies or meetings) held in Pennsylvania. Unlike the Groundhog Lodges, which are men’s meetings, the general Versammlinge are open to men and women (and children). The oldest and largest of the Versammlinge is the Barricks Kaundi Versammling (Berks County Assembly). Information on the general Versammlinge, dates, and how to contact them to attend a Versammling can be found here.