Ghana's fantasy coffins: Driving into the hereafter in a Porsche
Traditional Coffins in Animal Format, Ghana
A funeral procession pours along the streets of Accra. Almost everyone is clad in Ghana’s traditional red and black mourning colours, and they’re carrying the coffin closer and closer.
That’s when you notice there is a curious winged vessel being carried aloft by the crowd... Is it a bird, is it a plane? Neither: it’s a ‘fantasy coffin’, also known as a FAV (Fantastic Afterlife Vehicle).
When it comes to unorthodox transportation to the afterlife, nothing comes close to Ghana’s fantasy coffins.
For more than 70 years, Ghanaian artists have been chiselling coffins shaped like ships, chilli peppers or airplanes. Any object even vaguely oblong in shape can inspire a unique creation – made to order by one of a dozen FAV makers in Ghana (mostly around the capital, Accra).
The originator of fantasy coffins is Kane Kwei, who established a coffin workshop in the 1950s and passed on his unmistakable style and craft to many apprentices.
But the concept dates back much further, to okadi akpakai: palanquins (wheelless litters) that were used to carry kings and sub-chiefs of the Ga people.
Palanquins took the shape of the owner’s totem, a symbolic object or animal; being transported inside okadi akpakai was believed to guarantee protection.
Local stories tell of a chief who died before he could be paraded around in his cocoa- pod-shaped palanquin, so he was buried inside it instead. This is believed to have inspired Kwei’s fantasy coffins, which quickly became an Accra funeral fixture.
Fantastical coffins are no longer reserved for royals, and nor do they need to be modelled on traditional totems. Today, their shape is only limited by your imagination. You can be buried inside a giant palm fruit, or meet eternity in a pen-shaped casket.
You can send your dad to heaven in a beer-bottle-shaped casket, or bury your stern auntie inside a hawk in flight.
If the deceased was pious (or you just want to ensure the pastor allows the coffin into church for the funeral ceremony), you can opt for a Bible-shaped coffin.
But it’s most common for a fantasy coffin to represent something the deceased enjoyed in life, like a wine bottle, a sneaker, a mobile phone or a cigarette.
The coffin might even represent the dead person’s dreams and ambitions, and act as the final fulfilment of their aspirations in life.
Accra’s coffin workshops are a riot of hammering, sawing and swishing paintbrushes, as artists busily assemble and decorate oversized insects, fish and ears of corn.
With this standard of craft, it takes at least a couple weeks to create a bespoke coffin and demand for these premium products is at sky-high levels.
Most locals spend the equivalent of US$1000, but coffin makers increasingly take commissions from people overseas who are willing to pay a premium, including art collectors around the world.
One Porsche-shaped fantasy coffin sold for an impressive US$9200 at London auction house Bonhams, and even former US president Jimmy Carter is believed to have purchased a Ghanaian FAV.
In Ghana, a body typically spends weeks in refrigerated storage while the family makes extensive funeral preparations.
This gives artists plenty of time to fashion the coffin: perhaps a snarling lion, or a shiny black dress shoe.
Death is viewed as preparation for a journey, so it’s logical to equip a loved one with a vessel that is suitably grand, and reflective of their personality and status.
When the day of the funeral arrives, typically a Saturday, the unveiling of the fantasy coffin is just one component of a lavish celebration of life, where the festivities’ extravagance is a tribute to the dead.
Attendees often bring donations to give to the grieving family. Crowds will gather, including people who may have had no relationship with the deceased, to follow a funeral procession that might include paid mourners.
Some funerals even have dancing pallbearers, who transport the coffin with a variety of eclectic dancing styles: rhythmically crawling with the coffin on their backs, or performing choreographed moves while holding the coffin aloft.
The procession and burial are often followed by up to three days of celebration, complete with feasting, live music or a DJ.
Many Ghanaians believe that fantasy coffins will remind the dead person of their passions and talents when they arrive in the spiritual realm.
It’s also believed that your ancestors have the power to influence your fate on Earth, so it’s important to keep them happy after death – making springing for that expensive Porsche coffin a prudent decision.
Imagine throwing a party for a friend who’s moving overseas. You’re sad that they’re leaving, and you wish you’d had more time; but you’re eager to celebrate everything they’ve meant to you.
You put Champagne on ice, invite friends and family and have one glorious final knees-up before they get on that plane.
This is the sentiment behind Ghanaian funerals: sorrow cuts deep, but the funeral doesn’t need to be a sombre affair.
People will weep and mourn, but they’ll also joke, dance and feast. After all, we live our lives in technicolour, so why not our deaths?
When we lose someone, it can be upsetting if our final image of that person is a blank coffin lowered into the ground.
In Ghana, instead it can be a bright totem representing something they held dear. Subdued mourning customs are optional; we can choose to showcase treasured memories that bring us delight.
The main drawback of being buried in a fantasy coffin? You won’t get to admire it for yourself. But even if you never make it to Ghana, you can still see elaborate FAVs in galleries around the world.
The largest permanent exhibition of fantasy coffins can be found at the National Museum of Funeral History in Houston, Texas.
Several artists have become celebrities in the coffin creation world. Some, like Ataa Oko, kept their styles typically Ghanaian.
But others have flung open their arms to collaborations with European artists, such as Kudjoe Affutu, whose work has been displayed in Hamburg, Paris and Monaco.
The most famous living artist is Paa Joe; his creations can cost up to US$15,000 and are shipped overseas to delight a vast international clientele.
A former apprentice of coffin-art visionary Kane Kwei, Paa Joe has amassed almost 16,000 Instagram followers and has been visited by former US president Bill Clinton; his fantastical coffins have been displayed at exhibitions as far afield as Paris and New York.
Papa Joe’s apprentice, Daniel ‘Hello’ Mensah, has also risen to prominence. Coffins created in his studio in Teshie, southeastern Ghana, have been showcased in London’s British Museum.
- Extract from Lonely Planet’s Guide to Death Grief and Rebirth.
- Reproduced with permission from Lonely Planet © 2024
