Funerals in Ghana are not only an occasion to mourn. They are also an opportunity to celebrate the life of the dearly departed.

Hardly ever a somber, low-key affair, Ghanaian funerals are a social event attended by a large number of mourners, which could reach hundreds — the more, the better.

Ghanaians may spend as much money on funerals as on weddings, sometimes even more.

An average funeral, according to a Kumasi-based funeral planner costs between $15,000-$20,000. That includes the obligatory giant, colorful billboards that announce funeral arrangements.

The billboards, which may cost from nearly $600 to $3,000, are placed at strategic spots for everybody to see, often dotting the cities’ skylines.

Most funerals are held on the weekends, most frequently on Saturdays. Mourners, usually dressed in black or black and red traditional funeral clothing, may travel to other towns or villages, and in turn they expect the bereaved families to provide food, drinks, music and dance.

The extravagance also extends to the caskets. Coffins have become a statement in Ghana. They are usually brightly colored and elaborate. They may have fanciful shapes that resemble the dead’s favorite objects, or represent their profession.

Thus, a carpenter may have a coffin shaped like a hammer, or a shoe for a shoemaker. There are also caskets shaped like Coca-Cola bottles and airplanes. Ghanaians revere the dead so much that funerals are at the heart of Ghanaians’ social life.

Lavish spending on funerals has invited criticism from political and religious leaders.

For instance, the Second Deputy Speaker Alban Bagbin once said, “we are investing in the dead rather than the living … and that is bad”.

Charles Gabriel Palmer-Buckle, the Archbishop of Accra also once said: “The surest way to remember the dead is not the type of coffins used to bury them nor is not the type of cloth or T-shirt won during their funerals, but doing something positive for the dead which would benefit the living.”

Funeral rites also involve some official crying by mourners, as well as praying. The Boafos, like many grieving Ghanaian families, hold a church service for the dead as well. But the rest of the funeral ritual is purely party time.