Pukamani Poles
The Australian Aborigine “Tiwi” people of the Bathurst and Melville Islands of the Northern Territories have symbollic material cultural artifacts littering their landscape similar to the use of headstones or grave markings in Western culture. These are called “Pukamani Poles” and represent individual people who have passed away incorporating a mourning process into their state of being from their birth, life, death, and rebirth. Posts with shapes of heads are believed to be female, while those with projecting arms represent males. While they are interpreted as “mortuary poles” to Westerners, they are not called as such by the Aborigine who make them. One of the best displays of these poles can be found at the National Museum of Australia. Intricate ceremonies surround the poles in Tiwi culture especially the public “Pukumani Ceremony” or “Mortuary Ceremony” which is done for burial including singing, dancing, and the creation of these specially carved poles called tutini and tungas and arm bands. The poles are made from the trunk of ironwood trees, carved and decorated to celebrate the deceased’s life and spiritual journey. The ceremony is performed to ensure that the spirit of the deceased goes from the living world into the spirit world. It is also seen as a forum for artistic expression through song, dance, sculpture, and body painting which is held 6 months after the deceased has been buried. The Tiwi believe that the deceased’s existence in the living world is not finished until the completion of the ceremony and is seen as the climax of the series of ceremonies following the burial of the dead. The poles are placed around the burial site of the deceased during the ceremony and represent the status the deceased had while living. Participants in the ceremony are painted with natural ochres utilizing many different designs that transforms the dancers and provides protection against recognition by the spirit of the deceased. Kin of the deceased – the mother, father, siblings, and widow must dance and includes the last wailing notes of the death song, then the grave is deserted and the burial pole is allowed to deteriorate. The practice was believed to come about from the time when all things were immortal until the Goddess “Wai-ai” broke the law causing the death of her son Jinaini. The God Purakapali, his father, through mourning, created the first pukamani ceremony while he wept and decreed from then on anyone who died would follow his son into the world of the spirits. He was joined by the great bird man “Tokampini” and they sculpted the first of the great painted poles at a burial place near the sea. They created dances, songs, and symbols that were painted on this pole transmitting this to all the people around to see. This assures life after death and permits the deceased to reach the world of spirits where he will live forever.
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