If you happen to be passing through the Ashanti Region of Ghana on a Friday afternoon or Saturday, you do not need a calendar to tell you that it is the weekend. Red and black will dominate the colour of the clothing as you drive through any village that is celebrating a funeral. Yes, in Ghana, it is the Ashanti who are known to go to great expense to send their loved ones “back to the village” in style.

Funeral homes in North America are known to be certain money makers, and in Ghana funerals have become big business. This very elaborately custom-made hearse was spotted as Comfort and I returned from the village last Friday. When we stopped to take the photos, we were told that it had been brought from Kumasi to be used the following day at the funeral of one of the matriarchs in that village.