How to bury in Ghana
Why should a coffin be a boring box if it can be ordered in the form of a lobster, fruit, bird or shoe? Residents of the African state of Ghana believe that a funeral is not a sad farewell to the deceased, but a celebration of the transition of a dear person to a better world. This is where the tradition of burying the deceased in a bright coffin of intricate shape appeared.
Often the choice of a coffin depends on the profession of the deceased. For example, if he has worked as a photographer all his life, then a coffin in the form of a huge camera will be made for him.
As a rule, residents of the southern part of Ghana prefer to use coffins of unusual shape.
This tradition appeared by chance. In the middle of the last century, one of the rulers of Ghana ordered for himself a palanquin (a stretcher in the form of a bed on two poles) in the shape of an eagle, the delivery of which fell just on the day of his death. Resourceful relatives provided the palanquin with a lid and buried the monarch in it.
The local population liked the new method of burial. Soon, many wealthy people, and then everyone else began to order shaped coffins. The design of the coffin is based on some aspect of the life of the deceased person. For example, if a coffin is carried down the street in the form of a car, then most likely the one who lies in it was the driver. A farmer can be put in a chicken, and a seamstress can make a coffin in the form of a sewing machine.
The deceased is carried to the burial place in a coffin made in the shape of a fish. According to the funeral ritual, the coffin is sprinkled with goat's blood. Funerals are the largest events in Ghana, all distant relatives of the deceased, everyone who knew him, and even those who have never seen him are invited to them.
Also, the coffin can symbolize some characteristic feature of a person or a bad habit and be in the form of a beer bottle or cigarette. The body of someone who dreamed of buying a luxury car or his own plane, relatives put in a wooden copy of his "dream".
Often the coffin has such an unusual shape that it is problematic to put the body of the deceased there in the usual way. But Ghanaians do not worry about this and place the deceased as they have to. The main thing is that his soul should be pleased with the special individuality of the last refuge of the body, and the refuge itself should pass through the doorway. For this purpose, some parts of the coffin, for example, the wings of an airplane, can be easily dismantled and attached back.
The production of such coffins takes quite a lot of time. Ghanaians, because of superstition and religiosity, do not order a coffin in their lifetime. Therefore, the situation when the body of the deceased is in the morgue for several weeks is considered normal. Due to the complexity of production, the average cost of a figured coffin is 500-600 dollars.
For many Ghanaians, this is the amount of annual earnings. The state authorities are already concerned that, despite the benefits for several service providers from expensive funerals, the population of the country is being deprived of huge sums of money.
The fashion for original coffins has already spread beyond the borders of the African state. Shaped coffins began to be ordered by some residents of England. Ghanaian coffins are also bought by European collectors.