The royal origins of the fancy coffin
Although Kane Kwei is sometimes considered to be the inventor of the mock coffin in the 1950s, recent studies by European ethnologists tend to show that he was the one who popularized this art. It would seem that the manufacture of these coffins was directly inspired by that of the palanquins, the famous chairs carried by men used by the Ga kings (an ethnic group present in the Greater Accra region) during important ceremonies and festivals, and more precisely the figurative palanquins. These figurative palanquins were decorated with attributes representing the totem of specific clans. Indeed, in order to distinguish themselves from their Akan neighbors who only used palanquins in the shape of a boat or a chair, the Ga began at the beginning of the last century to build palanquins of all kinds: in the shape of a lion or an elephant (such as that of the king of Accra, the Ga mantse, in 1925) but also of plants or objects. The elements chosen are always associated with the history of the clan. In addition to being a mark of clan distinction, the figurative palanquin, through its totemic symbols and royal insignia, ensures protection by the spirits and ancestors on the one hand, but it also confers on the chief the magical powers associated with the totem.
Although these figurative palanquins are still used today, they are very rarely shown to the public, unlike the fancy coffins. It is generally the same craftsmen who carve palanquins and coffins. Moreover, the two objects are intimately linked. It would seem that the first figurative coffins were created to accompany the chiefs on their last journey. In the Ga tradition, the initiation, the reign and the funeral of a chief must complement each other. The palanquin bearing the clan insignia cannot, however, be buried with the one he wore. In the 1930s, the idea of a substitute was born: a figurative coffin that would resemble the palanquin. A copy intended to be sacrificed and buried. As the chiefs were buried secretly, often in the middle of the night, no one in the audience was able to distinguish between the original palanquin and its substitute. This is how the first figurative coffins were born.
Passing into the afterlife with panache
In Ghana, the funeral ceremony is one of the most important moments in a man's life, if you will. Indeed, a funeral is an important social gathering that usually takes the form of a big party. For the occasion, the family of the deceased usually spends astronomical sums, sometimes even more than for a wedding, not hesitating to go into debt to make the funeral an unforgettable moment. The pomp of the ceremony is an indicator of the social status of the family of the deceased, but it is also an opportunity to test their generosity against the community. Also, in Ghana, when invited to a funeral, one does not hesitate to travel very long distances. Death is celebrated with joy, and the party often lasts several days!
As for the mystical aspect, beliefs differ according to ethnic groups. Among the Ga, it is considered that physical death does not mark the end of a person's life, but rather a passage to the afterlife, where life continues in another form. Moreover, the dead and the ancestors are believed to have a much greater power than the living. Their action can have a real impact, a concrete influence on the course of the existence of the living to whom they are linked. This is the reason why the families of the deceased do everything possible to attract the sympathies of the deceased.
The social and metaphysical characters of death intersect in the practice of elaboration of fancy coffins. The first coffins of this type that are not linked to the clan chieftaincy (i.e., devoid of totemic symbols) were carved by Ataa Oko (1919-2012) around 1945, followed closely by Kane Kwei in the early 1950s. Kane Kwei built a coffin in the shape of an airplane for his grandmother. The reason? On the one hand because his grandmother had always dreamed of seeing the country without being able to do so, but also because of the symbolic power of the vehicle: the plane, which takes its passenger to the afterlife. The story goes that some time later, a fisherman came to Kane Kwei and asked him to make a boat-shaped coffin for his recently deceased mother. And so the Ghanaian tradition of the personalized coffin was born.
A coffin for everyone
Freed from its royal symbolism, the figurative coffin became accessible to all, at least to those who could afford it (a rather sophisticated piece worth several thousand euros and requiring several weeks of work). If on the sarcophagus intended for people with a high social status, royal or priestly symbols with magical or spiritual functions are present, they are not allowed for the rest of the population. Thus, the first makers of fantasy coffins, Ataa Oko and Kane Kwei, rid their secular creations of strong symbols such as the lion, the rooster or the crab (clan totems) and deep meanings in favor of more prosaic elements, objects related to daily life. Thus, like the airplane or boat coffin, the most eccentric orders began to follow one another from the 1950s-1960s in the workshops of these fancy funeral homes. In general, the casket takes the form of an object symbolizing the profession or occupation of the deceased during his or her life. But it can also reflect his tastes, his aspirations, his passions. Thus, the shoemaker will be buried in a giant shoe, the musician in the trunk of a piano, the mechanic in a gigantic key of 12, the driver in a car... In short, everything is possible: the telephone or gun coffin, in the shape of a bottle or a camera... Animals are also requested again, and with many colors! Note that shapes evoking proverbs are also very appreciated (hence the expression abebuu adeka : "proverbial coffins"), as well as means of transport and shoes, for their strong symbolic charge linked to the notion of travel. The last one!
