PHOTOS: Colourful, Elaborate, Custom Coffins From Ghana

Every culture has its unique funeral customs; but the most interesting ones usually come from those cultures that celebrate death instead of mourning it. Such is the way in Ghana, who honor their deceased ancestors by sending them off in the most insanely elaborate coffins you have probably ever seen. Larger-than-life-sized Nike trainers, Coca-Cola bottles, Unclad women, grand pianos. . . they can all serve as caskets for the dead.

In this Gold Coast Nation, the dead are seen as protectors of the living - spirits that dwell among us and interact with us on a daily basis. For this reason, it's important to keep the dead happy. One way to do that is to send them off in style, ferried to the hereafter encased in a one-of-a-kind work of art - a fantasy coffin.

Unless you've got a sense of humor about these things, it does seem a little morbid at first. But what's wrong with enjoying those last few moments of life with the people we love the most? After all, the Ghana fantasy coffin business has in itself become a great boon to the living of Ghana. And dead or alive, you have to appreciate that kind of legacy.

Photos below:

I Freed Thousands of Slaves. I could have freed more only if they knew they were slaves! I Freed Thousands of Slaves. I could have freed more only if they knew they were slaves!