[1] The so-called Holdeman Mennonites and the Beachy Amish are groups originally of German descent that also welcome people of other ethnic background to join their congregations.

[3] The Friesian and Flemish ancestors of the vast majority of Belizean Mennonites settled in the Vistula delta, starting in the middle of the 16th century and migrated to southern Russia between 1789 and the early 1800s, settling the Chortitza and Molotschna Mennonite colonies.

There are also some hundred Pennsylvania German-speaking Old Order Mennonites who came from the USA and Canada in the late 1960s and settle now in Upper Barton Creek and daughter settlements.

Mennonites are easily identified by their clothing, except from the ones who have modernized to a large degree or have never been traditional, because they have converted in recent times.

In Upper Barton Creek and daughter settlements, men and women dress similar to the Old Order Amish.

In Spanish Lookout, members and friends of the deceased address the congregation after the obituary has been read.

The penultimate Saturday evening before the wedding is called "Falafnes" (Standard German: Verlöbnis).

The vast majority – more than 95% – of ethnic Mennonites in Belize speak Plautdietsch in everyday life.

A small minority of very conservative Mennonites that came from North America mostly in the second half of the 1960s speak Pennsylvania German instead.

They produce milk, cheese, beans, corn, melons, honey, chicken, and eggs.

[citation needed] While the Mennonites in Belize have been very prosperous in agriculture, geography professor Michael Trapasso wrote, in a 1992 article published in the academic journal GeoJournal, that there have been complaints that they often do so with no regard for the environment or environmental laws.

Trapasso wrote that the environmental impact of their farming methods leads to large-scale deforestation.

(Even though the report speaks of "Amish", it refers to Old Order Mennonites of the Noah Hoover group who live in settlements like Upper Barton Creek, Springfield and Pine Hill):[15] Amish agriculture is characterized by the use of animal power and natural forms of energy, and is almost completely independent from fossil fuels as a form of energy.

Success is measured in a number of ways foremost amongst these are the capacity to feed themselves, contribute to national food security, create sustainable livelihoods based on farming for all community members, be independent from government financial support, social, and educational services, though they use health services.