The Tiwi islanders use the term Pukamini to indicate the ceremonies that take place after the death of a man or a woman to celebrate their life and to commemorate them. The poles displayed here are produced for funeral ceremonies with songs and dance, and refer to the cycle of life, death and rebirth. As Paddy Freddy explains, "Pukumani decorations on posts represent people". Once the funeral ceremonies are over, the posts are allowed to deteriorate. It is believed that those sculpted with a head represent women, while those with arms are men.

A myth of the Tiwi Islands narrates that the first Pukumani funeral ceremony was held at the time of creation, when everything was immortal. A female ancestral figure named Wai-ai violated the law, causing the death of her son, Jinaini. The father of the dead child, Purukaparli, thus created the ceremony, decreeing that from that moment onwards all the dead would follow his son in the world of the spirits. With the help of Tokwampini, the Man-Bird, Purukaparli sculpted the first poles, planting them around the place where Jinaini was buried, near the sea. He also created the first songs, dances and symbols linked to the ceremony.

To this day, when someone dies all the relatives are involved in the preparation and execution of the ceremony. Some carve the posts (tutini) and make the necessary objects, while others prepare the body for burial. Those involved in these activities are defined as Pukumani (a term that also refers to the goods of the deceased and to the ceremonial objects), and must observe rigid alimentary and sexual taboos. During the ceremonies, the participants hide themselves from the spirit of the deceased, painting their body with geometric designs and wearing warra cockatoo feathers in their hair, bark bracelets and false beards, while they cry and chant. The dancers carry carved spears with several spikes (at the sides of the point), and repay with gifts the artisans who have produced the posts. At the end of the ceremony, the tunga/imulina, baskets made of tree bark and used in that period to carry food and objects, are left upturned on the posts.

Nowadays Pukumani posts are also placed around Christian burial sites, evidence of mutual adaptation and syncretism between the two types of burial. Traditionally the posts should be left to deteriorate; however, these were produced for display and are among the most ancient museum specimens in the world.