Tongkonan Traditional Houses

Tongkonan are the traditional Torajan ancestral houses. They stand high on wooden piles, topped with a layered split-bamboo roof shaped in a sweeping curved arc, and they are incised with red, black, and yellow detailed wood carvings on the exterior walls. The word “tongkonan” comes from the Torajan tongkon (“to sit”).

Tongkonan are the center of Torajan social life. The rituals associated with the tongkonan are important expressions of Torajan spiritual life, and therefore all family members are impelled to participate, because symbolically the tongkonan represents links to their ancestors and to living and future kin. According to Torajan myth, the first tongkonan was built in heaven on four poles, with a roof made of Indian cloth. When the first Torajan ancestor descended to earth, he imitated the house and held a large ceremony.

The construction of a tongkonan is laborious work and is usually done with the help of the extended family. There are three types of tongkonan. The tongkonan layuk is the house of the highest authority, used as the "center of government". The tongkonan pekamberan belongs to the family members who have some authority in local traditions. Ordinary family members reside in the tongkonan batu. The exclusivity to the nobility of the tongkonan is diminishing as many Torajan commoners find lucrative employment in other parts of Indonesia. As they send back money to their families, they enable the construction of larger tongkonan.

Source: http://birabeachhotels.com/tana-toraja-land-tours-south-sulawesi-05-days-04-nights-adventure-trip.html

Vocabularies

words	Kinds of Parts of Speech	Meaning
Wooden	noun	: Dari kayu
Layered	noun	: Lapisan
Sweeping	verb	: melapis
Ancestors	noun	: Nenek moyang
Myth	noun	: Mitos, dongeng
Laborious	adjective	: Sulit, susah payah
Lucrative	adjective	: Menguntungkan

Exercise

ü  Based on the text, choose the best answer in the list to complete the sentences.

authority                              heaven                            expressions

                  detailed                                    ancestral

1.       Tongkonan are the traditional Torajan …………… houses.

2.       They are incised with red, black, and yellow …………. wood carvings on the exterior walls.

3.       The rituals associated with the tongkonan are important …………… of Torajan spiritual life.

4.       The first tongkonan was built in ………… on four poles

5.       The tongkonan pekamberan belongs to the family members who have some …………….. in local traditions.