 |
The space in and around the houses Inside the beehive house there was only one room. The only opening was the door. Along the wall there were several objects of ritual importance to the family, but unfortunately it is not always clear what kind of objects were used and stored for this purpose. In the middle of the house there was a fireplace, usually filled with earth. The main purpose must have been to keep insects out of the house, although the fire also kept the house warm at night. The people must have preferred to cook elsewhere, since there was no opening in the roof to let out smoke and kitchen utensils were stored somewhere else. Other items inside the house were sleeping mats made of pandanus leaves. Only husband, wife, and one or two young children slept in the beehive house. Other relatives and older children slept in a rectangular house connected to the beehive house. This rectangular house not only served as a place to sleep, but apparently was also used as a kitchen. This house must have been much more comfortable than the beehive house, because it did not have closed walls, smoke could escape easily, and there was more space. A disadvantage must have been the cold, for especially at night it can be quite cold on Enggano. People not only kept pigs under the house, but supposedly also stored their shields there. This idea seems to be confirmed by the fact that the Engganese word for shield, euba u obo, also means 'house for a pig'. The villages Usually the house of the local leader occupied a central place in the village. It was also the tallest house. The other houses were built in a circle around this central house. The villages could be very small, consisting of only five houses, or somewhat larger, up to perhaps twenty houses [58]. The regular Engganese word for a village is eka'udara. A village community, however, can also be called a kahanai'ia, which means a place for slaughtering the pigs. Several of these small villages could be joined in clusters. All the people living in such a small circle of houses were related [59]. They might have belonged to the same sub-clan or lineage, kelompok in Bahasa Indonesia or pahai in the Engganese language, thereby being related to each other in the matrilineal line. Kähler [60] suggests that more than one kinship group lived in every small circular village. A fence, made of wooden poles tied together with rattan, surrounded the village. Outside this circular space one found the gardens, and at a greater distance the bush. | |
