It’s Not Christmas
West Africa: Accra, Ghana
This is a coffin manufacturer’s showroom and what looks like a child’s idea of a perfect Christmas morning is a display of the types of coffins the company has made.
Ghana seems to be unique in matters relating to funerals. Your coffin can be designed to represent your life…your work, your sport or even your favorite beer. If you loved spicey food, then you could be buried in a hot chile pepper coffin. If you loved to fish then perhaps a happy looking orange-colored fish. Maybe an airplane or a giant bird. The price for one of these (for a foreigner) at the time was about $2000.00. I’m sure the price depended on the amount of work and skill required and how much you looked like you could pay. The richer you look, the higher the price.
Another unique funeral custom is the celebration of funerals every weekend. Although the Ashanti tribe of Ghana call these celebrations funerals, there are no dead bodies present. People dress in their best togas. The men wear bright red and the women wear black. The women wear their best gold jewelry, including breast plates of gold. They dance, eat and try to see and be seen. Bands of drummers keep a constant rythm. Everyone dances even elderly women. But mostly they sit in dignity as befits anyone wearing a toga or heavy gold jewelry.
Dance Music at the Funeral