Batak architecture
Six groups of Batak speak separate but related languages: the Angkola, the Mandailing to the south, the Toba, to the north the Pakpak/Dairi, the Simalungun, and the Karo.
The bale ("meeting hall"), rumah ("house"), and sopo ("rice barn") are the three main building types common to the different Batak groups.
During the day, the interior is a shared living space, and at night, cloth or matting drapes provide families with privacy.
Most Batak now live in modern homes, and many traditional houses are abandoned or in a poor state of repair.
The Toba and Karo Batak live in permanent villages and cultivate irrigated rice and vegetables.
On the other hand, the Angkola, the Mandailing, and the Pakpak practiced slash-and-burn agriculture which required frequent changes of location and their villages were only semi-permanent.
[1] Irrigated rice cultivation can support a large population, and the Toba and the Karo live in densely clustered villages, which are limited to around ten homes to save farming land.
Internecine Batak warfare before the twentieth century saw villages sited in easily defensible positions.
A substructure of large wooden pillars resting on flat stones (or concrete nowadays) protects the structure from rising dampness.
Some of these pillars support longitudinal beams known as labe-labe, which run the length of the house at head height to carry the massive roof.
[2] Toba Batak rice barns (sopo) were built in a similar style but are smaller than the jabu.
The open platform beneath the roof structure was used as a working and general storage space and as a sleeping place for guests and unmarried men.
Rice barns are now rarely used for grain storage, and many have been converted to living areas by walling off the open-air section between the sub-structure and the roof and adding a door.
[4] The houses are constructed from wood, and bamboo, using ijuk fibres for binding (no nails or screws are used) and for the thatched roof.
[5] To choose a suitable site for the house, the guru (witch doctor) would be consulted, who would determine whether the land was bad or good.
After the four-day period had elapsed, a hole was dug in the centre of the plot, into which was placed a knife, betel leaf, and rice.
After the site was ready, a seven-day ceremony was performed, consulting the spirits of the forest (for wood) and arranging payment for the craftsmen responsible for creating the decoration of the house.
Ornaments in Karo houses served traditionally to protect the residents from evil spirits, and to demonstrate the status of the owner.
