ABSTRACT
The ideal death for us is as painless as possible, which also implies that dying should take place quickly. This portrait contrasts markedly with the process of dying among the Hutterian Brethren of the prairies. Perhaps the dying Hutterite’s children or grand-children will meet their wives and husbands at the funeral. Perhaps the dying Hutterite’s children or grand-children will meet their wives and husbands at the funeral. Hutterites prize the deaths of children while we abhor them and they regard a long death period as desirable while we regard it as unfortunate, particularly if it is painful. When Hutterian patients are diagnosed as terminally ill they should be returned to their home colonies as speedily as possible following some stabilization of their conditions. Indeed, J. A. Hostetler reports an instance in which a terminally ill person was sung to day and night by members of several colonies in rotation until “the steadfast soul was ushered into the banquet of the redeemed”.
