Fantasy Coffins from Ghana.

Posted by Alex in Pictures, Travel & Places on April 15, 2006 at 2:43 pm


Why be buried in a boring coffin, when you can get handmade coffins that look like a Mercedes Benz, lobster, onion, shoe, beer bottle, even a cigarette?

From the website:

For the Ga tribe in coastal Ghana, funerals are a time of mourning, but also of celebration. The Ga people believe that when their loved ones die, they move on into another life — and the Ga make sure they do so in style. They honor their dead with brightly colored coffins that celebrate the way they lived.

The coffins are designed to represent an aspect of the dead person’s life — such as a car if they were a driver, a fish if their livelihood was the sea — or a sewing machine for a seamstress. They might also symbolize a vice — such as a bottle of beer or a cigarette.

Link | WaPo article: Death in Ghana | A Coffin for All Events (via Death, the Last Taboo - Thanks Tim Mosley!)


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COMMENT

13 comments to "Fantasy Coffins from Ghana."

  1. Paul James
    June 10th, 2006 at 10:10 am

    How can a person go about buying one of these coffins?

  2. Mari
    December 14th, 2006 at 7:29 pm

    Hello. My name is Mari of Osaka,JAPAN. I’d like you to make mine. In Japan, The size of a coffin is required; 50×60x160~190.( My height is 163cm.)+ made of THIN,easily burn WOOD(this is A MUST). Is it possible to order one without visiting you in Teshi,Ghana? Please email me. Then I’ll tell you the details about my coffin(shape,collor,etc.)+ I’d like to know　the price. Am waiting for your reply. THANK YOU.
    email add.;mariguitar@hotmail.com
    name;Mari
    tel+fax;72-298-5162(Japan)
    BEST REGARDS,

  3. Cancerous
    January 10th, 2007 at 10:57 am

    freaks…

  4. Bob
    January 10th, 2007 at 11:03 am

    That picture shows shelves in the bottle which would preclude it from being used as a coffin. Obviously a made up story that shows how gullible people are.
    As for Mari from Japan, you really need to calm down before publishing all of your personal information on a public blog, especially one that is talking about a bogus product. Why don’t you just start sending your money to Nigeria right now.

  5. Bob
    January 10th, 2007 at 11:29 am

    The gods must be crazy!!!

  6. assface
    January 10th, 2007 at 12:50 pm

    Bob, did you actually go to the linked website to see the rest of the coffins? I agree that the shelf things are suspicious. Maybe the corpse is supposed to go through the cap and the door is just for viewing.

  7. someone
    January 10th, 2007 at 1:00 pm

    i’ve got a used port-a-potty that’s small enough to be used as a coffin in japan…

  8. kiwi
    January 10th, 2007 at 7:01 pm

    They sell coffins like this in various countries - the shelves are so you can use them as ornaments or furniture (before you die…)

  9. Neatorama » Blog Archive » Strange Funeral Rites From Around The World.
    January 12th, 2007 at 12:58 am

    [...] GHANA: If you want an ornate but relatively inexpensive coffin, you’ll be well advised to avoid the American funeral home racket altogether and die, as no less an American than W.E.B. Du Bois did, in Ghana. There, the dead are often buried in elaborate "fantasy coffins" that come carved in everything from airplane to fish styles. [...]

  10. Bri
    January 14th, 2007 at 3:06 pm

    This is real people, I’ve seen carpenters make and sell those coffins in Teshie, Ghana. It’s a tradition of the Ga-people. Nothing freaky about it - that’s just what you make of it by looking through your western glasses.

  11. Joe
    May 29th, 2007 at 12:39 pm

    “Obviously a made up story that shows how gullible people are.”

    Actually it is very real. I read an article about it in the economist recently. They are worried about the ammount of money the Ghanians are spending on their funerals, when they are so poor. They say wasting money in this way will be economically bad for the country. But culturely the funeral is perhaps their biggest statement to their community, always trying to out do others.

    Another interesting fact is that they try and keep bodies frozen in the morgue for as long as possible, as this shows how afluent you are (it costs alot).

  12. gdg
    February 6th, 2008 at 8:45 am

    hello this comment is really random goodbye

  13. jessie whitman
    February 26th, 2008 at 12:48 pm

    i am doing a school project on fantasy coffins if anyone has any websites that would be useful please let me know thanks!!


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