Central Sulawesi Wooden Houses

Rumah Tambi is a traditional house or traditional house from the province of Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. This traditional house is in the form of a stage whose roof is also useful as a wall. Rumah Tambi is the home of the Kaili and Lore tribes, which are generally the homes of local residents and several areas in Central Sulawesi make this house the home of traditional chiefs. What distinguishes it is the number of steps to climb the house, where the Tambi house which is used as the house of the traditional chief has an odd number of steps, while for ordinary residents the number of steps is even. The plinth of the house consists of arranged blocks, while the foundation consists of natural stone. The stairs to go up are made of rumbia leaves or split bamboo leaves in half.

The structure of the Tambi house is in the form of a house on stilts with short support poles and no more than one meter high. These pillars are 9 pieces and are attached to one another using wooden beam pegs. These poles are usually made of bonati wood, which is a type of forest wood with a strong texture and not easily decayed. These pillars support the floor frame made of planks as the basis. The boards are arranged tightly and the floor area of ​​Tambi's house is about 5 meters by 7 meters.

For the room, the Tambi house only has one room, namely the main room. Even though it is only one large room, it has various functions. Daily activities ranging from cooking, sleeping, receiving guests, all are done in one room. To complete it, two additional buildings were given outside the house to support other activities that could not be carried out directly in the main house, namely Pointua and Buho or Gampiri. Pointua is a building that functions as a rice pounding place, in which there is a long mortar named Iso with a total of 4 poles. Meanwhile, Buho is a building similar to the main Tambi house but has two floors. The lower floor serves as a place to receive guests, while the upper floor functions as a rice barn, before being taken to Pointua for further pounding and processing.

The roof of the tambi house is in the form of a prism with a small angle at the very top so that it looks high and can shade the whole house. The roof is made of palm fibers or thatch leaves which extend downwards and also function as the outer wall of the house.

If you want to build a Tambi house, the main requirement that must be fulfilled is the house facing north-south, so you cannot face or back from the rising and setting sun. If you glimpse the shape or construction of the house, it looks like a mushroom with a prism made of sago palm leaves palm fiber as previously described.

The main tambi house functions as a home for the community in general, especially the Kaili and Lore tribes. Various daily activities of the community are also carried out in this house, from cooking, eating, resting, receiving guests, to other activities. The tambi house also functions as a residence for traditional leaders and holds meetings. And not to forget, Tambi house is a symbol of the province of Central Sulawesi, so some government offices have also adopted the building style of Tambi's house, it's just that it has more than one room.

The shape of the building and the carvings in the Tambi house have a certain symbol or symbol. When viewed directly, the dominant Tambi house is a triangle, where this triangle represents two horizontal and vertical relations. The horizontal line which is the base or base of the triangle symbolizes the relationship between fellow humans, while the two vertical lines which are the legs of the triangle symbolize the relationship between humans and the Creator. Usually on the front roof or in the main room there will be a pair of buffalo horns / buffalo head called pebaula. This pebaula symbolizes the wealth and power of the owner of the house. Apart from that, there are other carvings called bati which come in various patterns such as buffalo, chicken and pig, where the bati symbolizes well-being and fertility.

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