From "6 Feet Under in Art Coffins That Are Over the Top/Elaborate coffins, produced by Ghanaian artisans, are the centerpieces of funerals that celebrate the life of the deceased and get them to the afterlife in style" (NYT gift link)(lots of photos of fantasy coffins).
२९ ऑगस्ट, २०२६
"An 1888 ordinance from the British colonial government precipitated the need for coffins. The traditional Ga practice..."
"... had been to bury relatives beneath the floor of the family home, to keep the dead close by. But British officials, concerned about hygiene, mandated the use of wooden coffins for burial in designated cemeteries. Some have suggested that fantasy coffins allowed Ghanaians to celebrate their lives and achievements while complying with the law...."
From "6 Feet Under in Art Coffins That Are Over the Top/Elaborate coffins, produced by Ghanaian artisans, are the centerpieces of funerals that celebrate the life of the deceased and get them to the afterlife in style" (NYT gift link)(lots of photos of fantasy coffins).
"For Ga families, finding a fitting design, whether a book for a teacher or a truck with a squeeze-bulb horn for a mechanic, can be a complex and emotional process.... In 2020, a coffin in the shape of a circumcised penis, which was publicized on social media, was rumored to have been made for a sex worker and was widely seen as disrespectful. In fact, it was made to honor a traditional wanzam, similar to a Jewish mohel — someone who performs male circumcisions...."
From "6 Feet Under in Art Coffins That Are Over the Top/Elaborate coffins, produced by Ghanaian artisans, are the centerpieces of funerals that celebrate the life of the deceased and get them to the afterlife in style" (NYT gift link)(lots of photos of fantasy coffins).
पोस्ट्स
१७ टिप्पण्या:
Just another backwards, tribal, shit-hole country that the Brits tried to civilize. I imagine many of these Third Worlders have now moved to the UK and brought their shity culture with them.
Whoops…
https://youtube.com/shorts/pmdunj7fs8A?si=gGOztNnnbnv168xI
80,000 Ghanaians have moved to the UK since 2000. That’s roughly the population of Wisconsin’s Memorial Stadium.
I knew Georgia was a strange state, but under the floor?
Making a coffin for someone who performed male circumcisions must be a piece of cake compared to making a coffin for someone who performed female circumcisions.
OK, Ghana, Jews, Circumcision. Something NYT's readers will relate to.
brings new meaning to "Bodies buried in the basement".
I've never stopped to think about about what the heck do you do with a dead mohel?
"Making a coffin for someone who performed male circumcisions must be a piece of cake compared to making a coffin for someone who performed female circumcisions."
Just put 'em in a box.
It wasn't the 1888 British ordinance that precipitated the need. The need was always there. The healthy tradition was the thing that was missing. Then the Ga took the sensible, colonial solution and made it into something more... African. As the colonialists say, Africa always wins.
If ordinance also required dancing pallbearers would be super cool.
Punchline: He only took tips.
My alma mater and former employer had an active relationship with Ghana, with some 100 Ghanian students enrolled. A new regime there has refused to honor the agreement made some years ago and the school is owed 4 million dollars American.
The only question in my mind is whether the Ghanian treasury was looted by the old regime or the new.
Colonialism = bad. Right?
Ghanaians are Gas? Who knew?
Josephbleau said...
"I knew Georgia was a strange state, but under the floor?"
That was my first take, too, until I understood it's about the Ga people of Ghana.
So pitching camping tent in cemetery is a no-no?
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