Ghanaians Say GoodBye With Stylish Coffins

Newspaper Review by: WhiteLotus

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Funerals are important social occasions in Ghana and brightly coloured coffins have become an art form. Most customers

want to give their loved ones a fitting send-off in a coffin that honours who they were. Fantasy coffins shaped like Coca-Cola bottles, chickens, cars, cameras, birds and bibles are all on sale. First popularized in the 1950`s the coffins cost between $300 (rupees 13,750) and $800 (rupees 36,668) in a country where many live on barely $2 (rupees 91) a day.
Some say the coffin represents an aspiration, or pride in the achievements of a short earthly stay in a poor country. If you cant acquire it, you can at least be buried in it. It is born out of economic crisis, out of trying to build confidence and pride in what life you have.
In many African countries, rich funeral traditions have been eroded by poverty, but Ghana`s stability and the relative prosperity as the world`s second largest cocoa exporter has helped preserve these traditions. In some towns, large billboards advertise the time and place of the “home coming” or “farewell”, usually accompanied by a picture of the deceased. Other people take out full page national newspaper adverts, inviting all to the funeral, but the most vivid expressions of this commitment to saying goodbye are the fantasy coffins.

Published: June 11, 2006

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