Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Deadstock

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.
A cigarette-shaped coffin is carried in a funeral procession in the Ghanaian capital, Accra. Relatives wanted to honor the dead man's love of smoking and his cigarette business.
Shoe Coffin: Prizes for an imaginative coffin vary between five and six million Cedis (about 500 to 600 US dollars).
Beer Coffin:It's not unusual that fatalities are kept in the fridge of the morgue for almost three weeks until the carpenters have finished their shaped coffins to show mourners the profession or the individuality of the casual.
"Air Jordan" Coffin: The literal meaning of deadstock? Coca Cola Coffin: Young carpenters open a coffin shaped in the form of a Coca Cola bottle in Teshie, a suburb of Accra.
Benz Coffin: Affordable when dead: For about 30 years Ghana has earned a special reputation for the world's most colorful and imaginative coffins for their dead.

With a little research we found these coffins have taken ahold in the "Urban" market as well...

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