JP/7/PUNAH

JP/7/PUNAH

Central Sulawesi is losing traditional houses, rituals

Maria Endah Hulupi
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

In many parts of the world, indigenous culture, rituals and
traditional houses are among important tourism attractions that
help boost the local tourism industry.

However, this is not the case in Central Sulawesi where some
rituals have become obsolete and its traditional house, called
tambi, is slowly losing popularity among the more modern locals.

Not only that, modern machinery has also edged out the
traditional way of making cloth out of tree bark and double woven
cloth, a typical type of cloth in Donggala regency.

The province has a distinct architectural style but each of
its 12 indigenous tribes has its own unique details.

However, Ichsam, a member of staff at the Central Sulawesi
museum said there was practically no new tambi being built in the
past several years as locals prefer modern houses.

Tambi is a wooden house, elevated around 150 centimeters from
the ground to protect the house's occupants against possible
attacks from enemies or wild animals that, in the past, freely
roamed the villages.

Ichsam added that a traditional house is usually built with
the help of neighbors because of good social interaction.

To build a tambi, timber is used and each log is indented in
several parts to keep the other logs in place. Rope, instead of
nails, are used to bind the logs together.

The interior of the house is divided into sections (usually
into bedrooms) with only cloth, made of tree bark which acts like
curtains. Occupants sleep on mattresses which are also made of
tree bark.

In the highland area, the beds are arranged around the kitchen
in the center of the house to keep the occupants warm at night.
While people living in the coastal area have a wider terrace to
sun dry their fishing nets.

The space right below the house is used to accommodate several
functions, including a terrace, kitchen/dining room, for cattle,
storage and other purposes.

The houses of ordinary people are left simple and plain, while
those of nobility are carved and decorated with a buffalo horn on
top of the roof as a symbol of wealth or status.

"It is now difficult to find a real tambi in Palu and you need
to go to remote areas to find them," Ichsam said.

Some of the province's traditional rituals have already become
obsolete because they do not comply with the values of major
religions, namely Islam and Christianity.

Traditional rituals, have their roots in animism and evolve
around human life cycles from birth to death and other important
events, like harvesting.

During a birth ritual, sources said that sando (a healer) has
an important role to facilitate the delivery process and to
ensure that the baby is born safely and unharmed by evil spirits.

However, when a delivery problem occurs, the healer would open
the lids of all objects in the house, especially in the kitchen,
unlock all boxes, open all doors and windows to help facilitate
the process.

Should the problem persist, the healer would soak the keys and
sprinkle the water on the head of the pregnant woman and her
stomach. Another way is by rubbing hihikoi (bird droppings) on
top of her stomach.

Funeral rituals, including those performed in Kaili and Pamona
regions have been banned since the late 19th century to early
20th century after locals embraced Islam and Christianity.

In Kaili, when a king died, his body would be kept in a coffin
and would not be buried until the late king's tadulako (servant)
could find the right person to be beheaded and the head be buried
along with the king's remains to accompany the king in the after
life.

In Pamona the funeral ritual, now obsolete, involved the
mompemate ceremony where the body of the deceased would be kept
in a small house, called a tambea until only the skeleton
remained and the mogave ritual, a ceremony to collect the bones
of the deceased from the tambea to be kept at its final resting
place, either inside a cave, a keranda (coffin), or tembikar (big
clay or stone pot).

A tau-tau (a statuette, resembling the deceased) is usually
placed in front of the cave and the house. "It acts as a memento
to remember the deceased by," Ichsam explained.

Actually, a similar rite is still performed by Toraja
communities in neighboring South Sulawesi even after locals
embraced Christianity.

"There is a kind of cultural council which defends the
continuation of the ritual in Toraja area," Ichsam said.

The miniatures of traditional structures, bark cloth and
Donggala cloth making as well as the Pamona-style funeral ritual
are being showcased at the museum.