08 Oct Happiness…to the end!
‘Happy Coffins’ Make Funerals Less Grim
Come on, baby, don’t fear the reaper.
That’s the message, not from Blue Oyster Cult, from a Singapore nonprofit that recently revealed a series of coffins featuring fanciful designs and festooned with cheery slogans, such as “Say hello to my wonderland” and “Hello, coffin. You seem to be nice.”
The 12 caskets, or “Happy Coffins,” represent the winning designs from an international competition held by the Lien Foundation to create caskets that take the stigma and fear out of death.
“The traditional negative associations surrounding the coffin were transformed to a celebratory symbol of courage, life and beauty,” foundation spokeswoman Genevieve Kuek said in an e-mail to AOL News.
Many of the 733 entries from 33 countries, however, appear not only to destigmatize the Grim Reaper but kick him in the ‘nads while jabbing him in the eyes.
Take, for example, the design by a 30-year-old Martin Matera of the Czech Republic. His coffin resembles a pair of worn jeans, complete with button collection and beer bottle jutting from the rear pocket. A slogan on the lid exhorts mourners, “Don’t cry. I had a good life.”
Then there’s the design by 23-year-old Aurel Cablan of France. Imitating a wine crate, her coffin appears to hold a bottle of wine resting amid straw packing material. A tag dangling from the stem of the bottle says “Special Vintage.”
When I first read this I wasn’t sure if it is was serious or not but I started to laugh and then thought…well that’s relevant to happiness!
If you want to read more about happiness and coffins (I never thought I’d put those two words in the same sentence) – just click here