ABSTRACT
Mennonite and Amish religious roots are to be found among the Anabaptists, those radical reformers who were not satisfied by the paths taken by the major reformers during the Protestant Reformation of the early sixteenth century. A problem in dealing with this topic is the tremendous variation in practices to be found within the Mennonite community. A segment of the Mennonite population has consciously rejected modernity. For the Mennonites from the South, Germany and Switzerland the are the Old Order Amish and the Old Order Mennonites. As persecution subsided, and eventually disappeared, the Mennonite churches adopted funeral practices closer to societal norms but traces of the old practices remained. In the Old Colony Mennonite Church, funerals are very much a community affair. When a member of the Aylmer Old Colony Mennonite Church dies, the body is taken to the funeral home for the necessary preparations.
