Karo Traditional House

KARO TRADITIONAL HOUSE

Karonese as one of the oldest tribe to settle in the North Sumatera district, has a unique heritage, form of a traditional house. The house built in the early years of Highlands Movements were made to protect the people from wild beast and jungle cruelty. They were able to remain safe and protected, laid shelter from rains and wetlands. It was simply built among trees and shack rooftops. The shack indeed was constructed to follow the river streams facing west and east, so the inner inhabit could lay guard on what is going on the river bed.

There are many types of Karo traditional houses, seen from its family member. There used to be eight types of houses among the Karonese, but we only could see two remaining types. The first type was called the GERGA, a place for the King / Sibayak / Raja to live personally with his family. Known as a king’s sanctuary, this place forbids outer family member to enter. Another type of this building is known as the MBELANG AYO. Due to its extinction, scientist could not differ the two kinds of building.

A common house known today is the empat (4) jabu and the waluh (8) jabu as it could be seen in Lingga, a famous traditional village near Kabanjahe fame for ethnical tangible and intangible heritages. The houses named after the number of inhabits doubling in twice, so the empat jabu is for 4 families, enem jabu for 6 families, and it ended with the sepuluh enem jabu for 16 extended families. Known to all, the waluh jabu is most popular among all as it still seen today. Si enem (6) jabu, sepuluh (10), and dua belas jabu (12) is not common among people due to its extinction many years ago. Sepuluh enem (16) jabu is the largest of them all, known to all as the king’s palace. The last one seen was possessed to Sibayak Rumah Kabanjahe and was burnt in the independence revolution. The local government inherit the burnt building by establishing a dummy very similar to its original, placing it at the main office of Pemkab Karo and Terminal Kabanjahe bus stop.

Beside a traditional house, a village would consist of five other buildings to complete its status as a well village. First there must be a JAMBUR, place where locals and adolescent sleep outer the houses. A jambur also is functioned as the town hall, meeting places and courtesy. Then there is a GERITEN beside a house to preserve the skulls of ancestors, believing that being placed in geriten, the spirits of our predecessors will shelter near our homes, protecting us. Finally to keep the grains safe, Karonese built SAPO PAGE, LESUNG and KEBEN. Sapo page is built as a leisure spot for the host, lesung is made for thumping and pounding rice grains, in order to separate the wheat from grains. Last but not least, Keben is constructed by rich peoples to show their power and dignity, but the function of these three buildings are the same, to stockpile rice.

NOTE:

1.   Due to the harsh struggle for independence, we cannot find a village with detail mapping and complete structure of all buildings. Many were burnt down to forbid the Dutch of using it as basecamp in later days. Many more were burnt down as a reaction of dissatisfaction towards Kings ruling the area of East Sumatera in 1947.

2.   You could visit Museum Lingga in Lingga (20 minutes ride from Kabanjahe) and Dokan (10 minutes from Berastagi) to see the well preserved traditional house.

3.   You could also see the traditional house in Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII) Jakarta Timur.

4.   You could also visit traditional villages of Kabupaten Karo to see inappropriate houses in Batukarang, Perbaji, and Kutabuluh Simole.

SOURCES:

1.    http://planetbatak.blogspot.co.id/2013/09/rumah-adat-karo.html (accessed at 24/02/2016      21:15 wib)

2.    http://www.ketadu.com/2012/02/rumah-adat-karo-rumah-siwaluh-jabu.html (Accessed at 24/02/2016    21.35 wib)

3.    My special thanks to my beloved and always supportive girl Savedia Lania Olga Sembiring Meliala, with restless and endless prayers. God Bless.

   

Introduction to Karo Highlands

INTRODUCTION OF KARO HIGHLANDS

Karo district located in the province of North Sumatera, Indonesia, is famous for its view of the Lake Toba. Toba itself, use to be one of the greatest volcano in the world, among fame scientist believed to have extict the dinosaurs and covered Earth for months. It created days of darkness, lack of sunlight emerge deseases, forever frost and exterminate many beings from existance. Life was up stake for some time where earth was covered in ashes and embers. But then, by “killing” himself, Toba Lake fertilized its surroundings with rich soils. Soils containing substances which would compost surrounding territories, ease farming in such land.

The Karonese originated from beach and shore areas of the Sumatra District, came to the lands approximately 2.000 years ago, during the first movement of Proto Melayu. These people move to the highlands due to arrival of the Deutero Melayu, pushing them out of the shore line, forcing to live among the mountains and plateus. They were banned for conducting costums and mores from their ancient ancestors, then grouped by clans, set settlements alongside rivers, streams, and creeks. They built their traditional houses from materials of uninhabited forest, such as timber, rattan, cane, bamboo. They hunted to feast, searched for rocks and gravels to build monuments and sacred sanctuaries just outside town. Waterways were also modified in order to provide a pancur (traditional Indonesian shower) for people to bathe, beside rinsing themselves in riverbanks.

Karonese were known throughout the region as remarkable farmers. They manage to slash and burn forests, planting new kind of vegetables and fruits as replacement. The result would be personally consumed, and the remains were sold to the shores by perlanja sira (salt – trekkers) to obtain the absence of salt in the highland regions. Sugarcane and roomi (nira) could be found at deep forest as valuable substance, which are boiled together to obtain brown sugar, to be traded with salt and gold in the lowlands. Paddy fields founded in many areas of the Karo land, to sustain hunger. Farmers use cows to plough solid grounds, ease the plantation of rice seedslings. These efforts exposed Tanah Karo as a green carpet alongside the Toba territory, fame its name for Gerden of Eve. Fish ponds were not so eminent in the district, because Karonese like to consume fishes obtained directly from the rivers, not those raised in ponds. Fishes consumed from ponds would taste muddy not as good as one’s captured from the waterways, said an elder once. But previous Karonese would livestock chicken, ducks, pigs, boars underneath their platform – houses so they would not suffer lack of food when winter approached. Adults would also gather in groups to hunt wild boars, deers, snakes, apes to feast together among villagers. They also celebrated the beginning of planting season by presenting their best form of food and harvest to Beru Dayang, a fertile mistress of Karo tradition who would provide them with fertile season. This occasion were then known as Kerja Tahun, Nimpa Bunga Benih, Merdang Merdem.

Sources:

1. Masri Singarimbun. Kinship, Descent, Alliance Among the Karo Batak. Yogyakarta: UMI, 1990.
2. Brahmo Putro. Karo dari Zaman ke Zaman. Medan: CV Ulih Saber. 1995
3. Z Pangaduan Lubis. Cerita Rakyat dari Karo. Yogyakarta: Grasindo. 2010

Karo English Start

KARO ENGLISH

Thank you for still having the chance to read my articles about uniques of the Karo Highlands. Due to my efforts to take an IELTS test, I would like to share my opinions of the Karo Highlands, in order to practice my writing skills in a academical sense. First of all, I would like to apologize for not writing in ages. I just hoped that you never get bored with my sense of writing. Please pardon my gramatical errors and tenses disabilities,

I really hope that my writings could introduct Karo Highlands within its people and culture, so people would recognize the difference between Karo and the other so called Batak clans. It is not to judge pride among the other Batak, but just a review of my indigenous society uniqueness.

If you have a rejection, critique, or even a debate about my writings, feel free to contact me by email, so we could discuss the matters in a academical way. Finally I would thank you all for still sparing slight stint to read my articles. Pardon me and Mejuah – juah!