Going out in Style

Trip Start Jun 03, 2003

Trip End Jun 2005

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Flag of Ghana Accra, Ghana
Wednesday, September 15, 2004

If only Elvis had known: Not only can you live and drive a pink cadillac, but you can also die (or at least be buried) in one. Yes, it's true. Ghana has mastered the art of 'specialty' coffins- it's a tradition, you see. If you're a fisherman, you can get the shrimp coffin; a pilot: they've got an airplane to take you to the great hereafter; a bartender: yep, that's right, a beer bottle.
It seems a bit bizarre that one would be buried encapsulated in their profession here in West Africa where it seems what you do for a livigng takes a backseat to who you are as a person. It seems far more appropriate in America where what we do for a living often defines us. But, I suppose our somber funerals would not respond well to a colorful airplane amongst dark wardrobes and somber prayers. But, here where funerals are a celebration, a night of dancing and drumming, perhaps the elephant in the middle of the room really does go unnoticed. Here, where no one ever REALLY dies (they just kinds cross over, as it were), why not affirm life by taunting death a bit?
Maybe it's a little refreshing to see fun poked at this vicious thing called death. Recalling the story to a friend, they asked in a shocked tone, "You crawled inside a coffin?" And, I thought... no, it was a beer bottle. So, you see, it's all a matter of perspective- death as the great mystery or death as the big avion to the great beyond...