Carpenter with his coffin
Unique. Non-standard. Individualized:
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.
A happy rooster
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.
Ghanaian pineapple coffin
Ablade Glover, an artist who works with coffin carpenters in Ghana, says the coffin acts as a home in the afterlife, so it must be beautiful. But he laments that after putting so much time into creating the coffin, it gets hidden underground.
Bolts of fabric as a coffin
More images: http://tinyurl.com/yga27z2
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