Amazing Coffins of Ga Tribe, Ghana

This post was originally made in (now frozen) Google Earth Community Forum. Some of the missing images have been replaced with newer images and links corrected.

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The dead in Ghana especially those of Ga tribe in coastal Ghana get a burial in custom designed exquisite coffins in the shape of Aircraft, Cars including Mercedes, Birds, Fish, Bottle of Beer, Soft drink and other objects relating to the deceased; how he/she lived or his/her profession or hobbies or wishes.

The trend started in the early 1950 and has now become a status symbol to be buried in specially made coffins which can cost any where from 500 to 1000 Dollars.

In early 1950 carpenter brothers Kane Kwei and Kane Adjetei in the city of Teshie, built a coffin for their grandmother, who in her lifetime had expressed her wish to fly in a plane but couldn't afford it. They therefore thought it appropriate that her last journey should be in an aircraft and made her coffin in the shape of a plane. Their fellow Ga people who believe that when someone dies, they pass into another life, were very impressed with this idea and short while later someone approached the carpenter brothers to build a boat shaped coffin for their dead. Soon it became a fad and requests started coming for coffins of varied shapes and colours.

It is now treated as part of African Arts and these coffins have also been displayed in various Museums around the World. A few coffins have also been exported. The brothers set up a whole time carpentry shop "Kane Kwei Carpentry Workshop" in the Teshie city. With the demand for fancy coffins increasing several more carpenters in and around Accra have started making these fancy coffins. Nowadays coffins of different designs are readily available, however a custom design takes about 30 days to build and till then the dead body is kept in the morgue. It is considered bad omen to order a coffin in advance.

Coffins have been made in the shape of;

Aircraft (Ghana Airways), Aircraft (KLM), Ambulance, Antelope, Asante Stool, Ballpoint With Notebook, Banana, Bass Drum, Bedford Truck, Bible, Bus (32 Seater), Can of Aquarius Energy Drink, Catfish, Chameleon, Chief's Sceptre, Church, Cinema Projector, Coca Cola Bottle, Cocoa Pod, Coq, Corn, Crab, Crayfish, Cruise Ship, Dove, Eagle, Elephant, Fire Truck, Fishing Boat, Fishing Net, Flour Bag, Garbage Truck, Graphic Newspaper, Green Pepper, Guitar, Hammer, Hen, House, Hunting Gun, Lion Lobster, Machine Gun, Mercedes-Benz Car, Microphone, Mobile Phone, Onion, Outboard Engine, Palm Nut, Parrot, Peacock, Piano, Pig, Pineapple, Planer, Pot, Pumpkin, Red Fish, Red Pepper, Robot, Sardine, Saw, Sewing Machine, Shark, Smith's Bellows, Snail, Snake, Soccer Ball, Soccer Shoe, Spanner, Spoon, Star Beer Bottle, Striped Fish, Sugar Cane, Sun, Syringe, Talking Drum, Tilapia, Toyota Corolla, Tractor, Traditional Sword, Trowel, Tuna, Turkey, Turtle, Volkswagen Minibus, War Tank, Whale, Whistle and many more. (List source: Wikipedia)

Image from Flickr is by Rachel Strohm

Image from Flickr is by catface3 (Coffin displayed at African Art Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC)

Image from Flickr is by okrahoma

Image from Flickr is by okrahoma

Image from Flickr is by bookbird

Image from Flickr is by spinning jenny

Image from Flickr is by okrahoma

Image from Flickr is by spinning jenny

Image from Flickr is by elle525235

Image from Flickr is by bookbird

Image from Flickr is by Radio Nederland Wereldomroep

Image from Flickr is by kara_vanmalssen

Image from Flickr is by Jeremy Weate

Image from Flickr is by Jeremy Weate

Image from Flickr is by Emilio Labrador

View location in Google Map (The location shown is for the carpentry shop of Kane brothers, from where this trend started. Coffins shown here may or may not have been made by them.)

Source of info and more info;

• Wikipedia - Ga People
  
• Wikipedia - Kane Kwei Carpentry Workshop
• ghanacoffin.com

Copyright: Images from Flickr are under the copyright of their owners. Actual terms of reuse is available in the link given below each image.

Attachments:

amazing_coffins_ghana.kmz (2.79 KB)

Fantastic! I've been aware of these masterful coffins for some years and I think they're worth a trip to Ghana just to check them out. The sense of humor and celebration in them is what really strikes me. They seem to declare, "Let's face it, death happens and we can't do anything about it, so might as well have a chuckle and a party in honor of Dad!" Maybe I'm seeing them through my own cultural references, but so be it.

I'm trying to think what design I'd like for myself...

I like the hammer which was probably designed for a carpenter. But perhaps it was designed for a very focused "if all you own is a hammer, everything looks like a nail" personality.

I like the hammer, too.  After thinking it over awhile, I'd like something along the lines of a chocolate bar or a slice of chocolate cream pie.