Woven pandanus pamagini (armband) with feather tuft
Date1995
Object number00028990
NameArmband
MediumPandanus, wax, cockatoo feathers
Dimensions315 x 135 mm, 0.015 kg
Copyright© Margaret Munery
ClassificationsClothing and personal items
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionA woven pamagini (armband) by Margaret Munery made from strips of pandanus palm leaves. Attached are cockatoo feathers attached with beeswax.
The pamagini were traditionally worn in groups up both arms during the mourning period surrounding the death and subsequen tmortuary or Pukumani ceremony.
HistoryThe Tiwi woman are traditionally the makers of these ceremonial bands. Pamajini (armbands) and japalingini (headbands) have been traditionally worn by mourners during the Pukumani ceremony in conjunction with body paint. Purukapali, the ancestral being who gave the Tiwi the Pukumani ceremony at the time of creation, decreed that the Tiwi wear these mourning bands. The Pukumani ceremony is central to modern Tiwi culture.SignificancePamagini are traditionally made by the Tiwi women to be worn by mourners after a death until completion of the mortuary or Pukumani ceremony .They are worn with body paint as a disguise, so the spirit of the dead will not
recognise them.
