Saying Goodbye to the Dead

Well-wishers brought sticky notes, candles, flowers, and other keepsakes to Apple, Inc. stores around the nation following Steve Jobs’ death. Similar memorials were established for Princess Diana and Alexander McQueen following their respective deaths. These memorials demonstrate this generation’s attempt to pay homage to the dead.

Many people in Ghana, England, and the U.S. are also commemorating the dead by purchasing colorful and unique coffins for loved ones. In Ghuan, these unusual coffins come in shapes of airplanes, Coca-Cola bottles, mobile phones, and fish. An Oklahoma based company creates coffins designed specifically for firefighters, members of the military, sports fans, and Star Treck “Trekkies.” In England, one company offers customized coffin designs that have included a guitar, river barge, egg, and Rolls-Royce.

See Sarah Murray, Colorful Coffins and Funerals to Die For: What Explains Our Constantly Evolving Rituals for the Dead?, The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 22, 2011.

Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.