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

List of Vocabularies

• Ancestral                             : keturunan leluhur
•  Pile                                     : gundukan, tumpukan
• Incised                                 : ditoreh
• Impelled                              : didesak, terdorong
• Ancestor                              : nenek moyang, leluhur
• Kin                                      : sanak, family
• Pole                                     : galah
• Nobility                                : kaum ningrat, bangsawan
• Diminish                               : mengurangi, berkurang
• Lucrative                              : menguntungkan

Grammar Line

SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE

The simple present expresses events or situations that happen everyday and can be a habit (habitual events) or facts.

Subject + Verb 1 + Object/Complement

E.g :

• Tom watches television every day.
•  Abdi loves her very much.
• They go to Amerika every year.

Identify which of the following statement uses simple present tense.

1. They stand high on wooden piles.
2. Symbolically, the tongkonan represents links to their ancestors.
3. He imitated the house and held a large ceremony.
4. The exclusivity to the nobility of the tongkonan is diminishing as many Torajan commoners find   lucrative employment in other parts of Indonesia.
5. The tongkonan pekamberan belongs to the family members who have some authority in local traditions.

Choose the best answer in the brackets to make correct simple present tense sentences.

1. The word “tongkonan” (mean, means, meant) “to sit”.
2. All the family members (participated, partipates, participate) in ritual associated with Tongkonan.
3. Tongkonan (consists, consisted, consist) of three types.
4. Ordinary family members (resides, reside, resided) in the tongkonan batu.
5. They can (enables, enable, enabling) the construction of larger tongkonan.