Beckwith and Fisher end their exploration with the final transitional rite: funerals. In Africa, dying persons are shown great respect. The Ashanti give the dying a last drink of water and then they bury their dead with a few coins so that they can buy water in the afterworld. The Ga people of Ghana bury their dead in fantasy coffins designed according to one's profession in life: a wealthy merchant is buried in a replica of a Mercedes Benz; a deep sea fisherman is laid to rest in a pink tuna coffin.

It took Fisher and Beckwith many years to get permission to photograph the elaborate, six-week-long collective funeral of the Dogon people of Mali. Held every twelve years, the Dama ceremony honors all those who have died during this period. Hundreds of masked dancers come out of the sacred forest to drive way the spirits of the dead and put them to rest peacefully in the afterworld. The bodies are wrapped in cloth and hauled by rope 300 feet up a sheer cliff face to centuries-old burial caves.