E-Book Naskah Buku Traditional Arch. Edisi 2-2017 PDF

Traditional Architecture of Nias Island
Second Edition 2017
Alain M. Viaro & Arlette Ziegler
Translated into English by Irne de Charrire

Geneva, August 1993
YAYASAN PUSAKA NIAS

By Alain M. Viaro & Arlette Ziegler
Translated into English by Irne de Charrire

Geneva, August 1993
First Edition: 1993

Second Edition: 2017
Final Editing & Layout: Nataalui Duha, 2017
Cover: Gratiano Telaumbanua
Cover photo: Nataalui Duha
Published by:
YAYASAN PUSAKA NIAS

Jl. Yos Sudarso No. 134-A
Gunungsitoli 22812
Telp. (0639) 21920, 22286
Fax.: (0639) 21920
NIAS - Sumatera Utara Indonesia
E-mail: sekretaris@museum-nias.org
www.museum.pusaka-nias.org
ISBN: 979 - 95749 - 5 - 1
Hak Cipta dilindungi oleh Undang-undang Hak Cipta.

Dilarang mereproduksi, menterjemahkan dan memperbanyak sebagian atau seluruh isi buku ini dalam
bentuk apapun tanpa izin tertulis dari penerbit Yayasan Pusaka Nias.
Setiap kutipan isi buku harus memuat sumber aslinya.
Fig .1
Nias Island Cultural Divisions in 1980

A. the North (6/9 of the whole surface)
B. the Centre (2/9), B1 Terraces villages, B2 villages around a square
C. the South
Traditional house and megalith at the village of Orahili-Gomo, 1979
Traditional house at Tuhembaruz village Centre Nias, 1981

Foreword
T
his book has been written in 1986, translated into English in 1993, published in
Nias in 2006. It is based on researches and fieldwork made by the two authors
on Nias Island from 1979 to 1986. As such it is a testimony of a period when Nias
was still relatively isolated. Traditional culture was still practised in many places. Local
informants were still alive to speak about the past. Television appeared in the middle
1980s in a few villages. It was a first revolution and the introduction of modernity.
After the 2004 tsunami and the 2005 earthquake things have radically changed.
International, national organisations, Indonesian government and NGOs helped from
2005 to 2011 to rebuild the whole infrastructure of the island. A completely new Nias
emerged fully integrated in the Indonesian modernity.
As the results of change some traditions have disappeared, new ones have been
developed. Traditional houses are still built, but have been mostly replaced by modern
ones. What we have written about the building process for traditional houses has
today disappeared.
The planning of villages is no more what it was, it now follows the government
regulations. New materials are imported from outside the island. Ancient village
boundaries have been replaced by new administrative divisions and many names have
changed.
A new book should be written about Nias Island today.
For this second edition we didnt change its content based on our experience in the
1970s and 1980s.
April 2017,
Alain Viaro & Arlette Ziegler
i
ii
Traditional house at Sifaoroasi village, 15 August 1981

Table of Contents
CoverDalam
Forewords .. i
Table of Contents . iii
Introduction v
First Part:
One island, one culture . 1
Chapter l
Some historical data 1
Chapter 2
Geographical environment 7
Chapter 3
The ritual of the pig . 13
Chapter 4
Habitat, similarities and differences 35
Second Part:
Habitat in the North .. 43
Chapter 1
The open layout of the villages 43
Chapter 2
Oval houses: a solution unique in the archipelago 51
Chapter 3
The chiefs' houses, remains of past splendour . 73
iii
Third part:
Habitat in the South 81
Chapter 1
Strongly structured villages 81
Chapter 2
A defined architectural type .. 101
Chapter 3
Monumental architecture 123
Chapter 4
The ambivalence of recent evolution . 137
Fourth Part
Habitat in the Centre .. 139
Chapter 1
The closed worlds of the hills . 139
Chapter 2
The houses of the Centre: a compromise?.................................................. 151
Chapter 3
The chiefs' houses, a wide architectural variety . 161
Chapter 4
An unpronounced evolution .. 175
Conclusion
The future of the past .. 177
Glossary .. 185
Bibliography . 193
iv
Introduction
N
ias is not well known. On the borders of the Indonesian archipelago, this island
has always remained on the fringe of the great currents of civilization, religion,
trade and even interest1. One of the most original and elaborate architectures
in the world nevertheless developed there. It is rare to find, anywhere, such a
combination of functional and artistic particularities, as well as such an excellent use
of space.
The Nias house is resolutely "modern" in its application of three-dimensional

structures, both for its under and superstructure. The empirical perception of static
principles has led to an architectural concept unknown elsewhere in traditional
dwellings. The mastery of carpentry has enabled the use of gigantic hard wood beams
for building, showing great artistic sensibility. All the houses are decorated, the
carvings on the chiefs' dwellings being particularly remarkable, as testified by their
importance in private collections. On the village scale, megalithism, reflecting society
and social status, is linked with architecture and produces a unique spatial
organization.
In spite of its relatively small size, Nias offers amazing diversity; two distinct languages
and several cultural areas, well defined as to their traditional political organization and
their megalithic forms and emphasized by three main architectural types.
Like all minority - although not inevitably minor - civilizations integrated into modern
states and their development process, the Nias culture is in full evolution.
From an historical sequence in which it had its own dynamics, colonization and
indonesianisation have projected Nias in a transition sequence where, facing an
evolutionary logic that is foreign to it, it must re equilibrate its culture in order to
ensure continuity.
The years of the eighties were certainly the last moment for direct observation, when
the research subject had not already become an empty wrapping, a devitalized
testimony of the past. Among our informants in the areas colonized late, some still
belonged to the generation remembering the arrival of the settlers and missionaries.
They were the last who could bear witness to what Nias was like before the disruption.
1
Through history the international trade used the Straits of Malacca. Very little exchanges took place along the
West coast of Sumatra.
v
Langguage of Building
Traditional architecture can be presented in various ways, ranging from photo albums
to plans, from a discourse on the symbols of forms to a description of the techniques.
The fields are diverse but always tackle one of the approaches of dwelling only, mostly
its functional and aesthetic aspects.
At the opposite of this restricted vision, we consider that habitat and architecture show
the main aspects of culture and mode of living through surface and volume. In that
sense, all the parts of dwelling can be considered cultural. The social structure, the
productive activities, the beliefs and the rituals will therefore, to various degrees, have
an influence both at the scale of territory and of house.
Technology itself, as a means used by the group to realize its objectives, is conditioned
by the its vision of habitat. Climatic constraints, which can seem so determining, are
only expressed in relationship with modes of comfort and living. The accordance with
a climate is cultural, as the group's responses to it are not universal.
By building according to a model recognized, accepted and understood by all members

of the community, the Niha2 convey their adhesion to mutual values and needs, to a
common vision of the world. Beyond all functional definition, this architecture is
mainly the expression of a culture, "the language of building".
Methods of Work
This publication is based on data collected in the course of seven visits between 1977
and 1986. During the same period, bibliographic research enabled us to assemble most
existing texts and iconography concerning Nias. In the field, we took numerous notes,
series of photographs, drawings, and made semi-directive interviews. At first, we
worked through interpreters, with all the inconveniences usual to this type of
situation. On our last sojourns, mainly dedicated to the social integration of
architecture and to feasts, a sufficient knowledge of "Bahasa Indonesia" enabled us to
manage by ourselves.
Our informants were mainly village chiefs. Tradition demands that they be the only
ones to receive foreign guests. Their position makes them familiar with customary law
and therefore they are, although privileged interlocutors, also unavoidable ones.
These periodic visits enabled us permanently to confront the written data with field
information and soon to discover its gaps and contradictions. The comparison of
history - be it the one given by the texts or the oral local tradition - with the present
situation helped analysis of the villages and houses. By placing the daily practices into
a larger world frame, we tried to put back the particular into the global, without
favouring one or the other, searching for the deeper logic which links them. This logic
2
The inhabitants of Nias in vernacular language. We shall use this word all along to design the people of Nias.
vi
can also be felt in the dwelling, and that is what we have attempted to show here.
Spelling of the Niha Words
The transcription of the vernacular words has caused us some problems, mainly
because of the different spellings successively used for a language of oral tradition.
First the German Lutheran missionaries of Barmen (north Germany) started to write
the Niha language last century, in order to translate the Bible. This transcription was
made according to the norms of mid XIXth century German written form and only the
language of the northern part of the island was recorded. Later the vocabulary of the
southern part was added to this glossary, but without it being put into a separate
section.
At the time of the effective colonization of the island, the Dutch either kept the
German spelling or used their own phonetic. In the course of the XXth century, both
German and Dutch writings were modified, while the Dutch administration spread
Malay as a general vehicle throughout the archipelago. Finally Indonesian became the
national tongue, which again brought changes. Therefore, according to the text or the
age of the informant, the spelling varies considerably3.
As no recent work has been done to fix a corpus of Niha expressions, we have chosen
the usual spelling of today. The terms used in this publication have been checked in
the Kamus bahasa Nias Indonesia of Ama Wohada Mendrfa.
All the letters are pronounced (saita is sata)

e=
= eu, like in the English words: about, ago, attack, etc.
u = ou, like in the English words: put, push, etc.
c = tch, like in the English words: church, much, change, etc.
kh = kh soft (like German richtig)
g = g hard (like garden)
h is always aspirated
j = dj
z is sometimes pronounced s according to the context
w = ou except before the sound eu where it is pronounced v
z is pronounced dz, dj or ts according to the context.
ndr= like in the English words: hundred, under, etc. And in Nias words like andr
(beg), mondri (take a bath), ndraha (branch) etc.
Names of places however have usually kept their old spelling. Therefore "y" will be
pronounced "y" and "Oyo" will be pronounced "Oyo." It is like in the English word
young.
3
All the more so as the spelling of Bahasa Indonesia was modified in 1972. It may be noted that the Niha
language has kept the transcription of the German umlaut.
vii
Fig .1
Nias Island Cultural Divisions in 1980

A. the North (6/9 of the whole surface)
B. the Centre (2/9), B1 Terraces villages, B2 villages around a square
C. the South
viii

First Part:
ONEISLAND,ONECULTURE
CHAPTER 1
SOME HISTORICAL DATA
T
he island of Nias lies west of Sumatra, in the Indian Ocean, at about a hundred
kilometres north of the Equator. It is part of a string of islands marking the
western limit of the Indonesian archipelago. The most important groups are the
Simeulue, the Batu4, the Mentawai (among them Siberut), and Enggano. Nias is 75
miles from the coast of Sumatra, opposite the port of Sibolga. Gunungsitoli, on the
northern part of the east coast, is the main town of the island, Telukdalam being the
southern harbour.
The people of Nias derive from archaic Malay or Proto-Malay races. Their language is
of the Austronesian or Malayo-Polynesian language family. The word Niha means
humans and Tan Niha the island of humans. It is generally agreed to divide the island
into three zones of unequal geographic importance, but more or less corresponding to
cultural units: the South, 1/10th of the surface, the Centre 3/10ths and the North
6/10ths. All the population however seem to be of common stock. They claim to be
Ono Niha (child of humans) and place their ancestors in the Gomo area, in the centre
of the island, which is said to be their place of origin.
For the time being, there is no information concerning the prehistory of the island.
Original myths, which might provide indications of the first peopling are rare and
mostly heterogeneous constructions derived from various places and lineages. What is
more, the missionaries or travellers of the XIXth century are not always as precise as
could be wished. However, the long time scale in the verbally transmitted genealogies
takes the Ono Niha's origin back very far5.
4
The Batu Islands are an archipelago of about a hundred islands, only a few of which are inhabited. The oldest
testimonies mention that they were occupied by the Southern Niha and that some Bugis from Sulawesi lived
there. By and by, the latter were integrated into the Ono Niha community and adopted its customs.
5
If one retains the diffusionist hypothesis interpreting formal similiarities- in this case the decorative motifs of the
megaliths- the civilization of Nias would relate to the Dongson, in other words the civilization of Indochinese
bronze, which developed during the first millenium B.C. in the area in North Vietnam (Heine Geldern 1961).
1
Traditional Architecture of Nias Island.
According to Heine Geldern (Loeb 1935: 308-312), a German specialist of all the
megalithic civilizations of South-East Asia, Nias was populated before the Christian era
by tribes similar to the Meo from Burma and the Naga from Assam. Their culture is
mainly characterized by large stone monuments commemorating "feasts of merit"
given to raise the social status of individuals. The dating of these civilizations is
difficult; although associated with the neolithic period they may have appeared later.
What seems certain is that megalithism spread in Indonesia before Buddhism and
Hinduism. It is present in Nias, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Flores, Sumba, Timor, Tanimbar
and in other regions of Southeast Asia.
The first references to Nias are found in the travel accounts of Arab merchants
(Suleyman in 851, the Adjaibs' manuscript in 900-950, El-Edrisi in 1154, Rashid Ad-Din
in 1310).They mention a society with characteristics similar to those of the Ono Niha at
the end of the XIXth century, when their effective colonization by the Dutch and
evangelization took place. Although not on the main ancient routes of commerce, the
island was known by Tamil merchants (South-East India) as early as the XIth century
(Meilink Roelafsz 1962:92) and by Chinese navigators and Gujarat (North-West Indian)
traders from the beginning of the XVth century onwards. But only in the XVIth
century does Nias appear on the maps of European merchants and is their first specific
evidence recorded (Tome Pires, 1512-1515; General de Beaulieu, 1619). One learns that at
the time the island was independent, that rice, coconuts and slaves were traded with
the kingdom of Barros, the present region of Sibolga in Sumatra, and that heads were
cut off there. On the Malay side, as far as we know, the first mention is in the
manuscript Bustan us Saladin (Lombard 1967:94, 197) which indicates that Nias was
conquered and plundered by the Atjihais in 1034 of the Hegira, that is to say 1624-25 of
our era. This type of destruction was the first of many similar events extending up to
the XIXth century.
Several points emerge from these testimonies. Nias was not isolated6 but in contact
with all the great actors of the region at the time. Its civilization was therefore already -
or had it always been? - confronted with others. Precious indications are given, for
instance the predilection of the Ono Niha for gold, which had to be imported as there
was none on the island, or the abundance of coconut trees. The custom of beheading
enemies and keeping their skulls for prestige, the large population belonging to
numerous tribes, "towns", and therefore a grouped habitat of a certain importance, are
other examples. Also the practice of slavery which, be it for trade or domestic use,
confirms the social structure and the systems of production, prestige and acquisition of
wealth.
In 1668, the V.O.C7 created a trading post at Barros and established its first
relationship with Nias8. 1669 was a key date for the contacts of the latter with the
6
From a genetic point of view the population of Nias is isolated. Their characteristics are not related to
neighbouring populations (Ingo Kennerknecht 2011).
7
Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (Unified East India Company) created in 1602 by a group of Dutch
merchant towns. The purpose of the VOC was of course commercial but also colonial.
8
It may seem astonishing that Nias has been contacted so late as the Portuguese were in the Malayan world since
2
exterior, and particularly the western world. The first map of the island was drawn by
David Davidson and the first trade agreement concluded between the V.O.C. and the
chiefs of Nias. It was to be reinforced by a new treaty in 1693. Colonization, although
intermittent, was set for three centuries. The Dutch then "forgot" Nias until about 1755,
leaving the commercial benefits to the Malays and Chinese.
European conflicts influenced Nias in spite of the distance. The Napoleonic wars
brought the destruction of the Dutch fleet. The French, after razing the English trading
post of Tapanuli in Sumatra, found shelter in the harbours of Nias, thereby taking
command of all the western coast of Sumatra. Numerous Niha were then brought as
slaves to the French colonies of the Bourbon islands (present Reunion island).
England occupied the Indonesian Dutch colonies from 1803 on, returning them only in
1824. During that time, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles9 tried to impose an anti-slavery
policy in Indonesia. He became very enthusiastic about Nias and sent two of his
colleagues there10 to collect information. Their records explain the economical, social
and religious situation of the island. This first detailed description of the villages and
their architecture dates from 1822.
The Anglo-Dutch treaty of 1824 gave back the sovereignty of the Indonesian
archipelago to the Netherlands. Immediately the Dutch reinsured their position in
Nias by renewing the treaties and signing new ones. At the same period, Aceh (a
sultanate to the far north of Sumatra hostile to the Dutch ) tried to reinforce its
influence on the island that had provided its contingent of slaves, thereby creating
conflicts with the Dutch. The latter built a fort and set up a garrison at Gunungsitoli in
1840 to help impose their presence. Aceh increased its pressure and the razing
augmented, making the Ono Niha appeal to the Dutch for help against the Acehnese.
Various military expeditions followed, but the island was still not controlled by the
colonizer.
In 1846 L.F. Donleben, civil and military commander of Gunungsitoli, was given the
mission to explore the island, of which large parts were still unknown, and to draw a
suitable map for future military campaigns. However the expedition came to a sudden
end when the southern Niha took him for a slave hunter and prevented him from
landing.
On the 12th of april 1854, a Dutch royal decree was signed, ordering research on Nias
with a view to establish the colonial authority better. Nieuwenhuisen and Von
Rosenberg11, who were commissioned to do so, travelled through the island from
1511 (seizure of Malacca) and the Dutch sent as many as 57 vessels in the course of nine expeditions in the
Indonesian Archipelago between 1595 and 1601 (Recueil des voyages 1701-1707).
9
Raffles was Lieutenant Governor of Java and later of Bencoleen (Sumatra) for the East India Company, befor
founding Singapore in 1819.
10
John Prince, resident of the East India Company at Tapanuli and Natal, and William Jack a geologist who
accompanied him (Bastin 1965 : 117-8, note 330).
11
The first was administrator of the province of Singkel (Sumatra) and the second a German naturalist who
travelled through the archipelago during a long period (Modigliani 1890 : 52).
3
September 1854 to September l855. They brought back an interesting report and
published the first important study of the island, with a map on which the south of
Nias was still "terra incognita".
After its unsuccessful attempts at pacification, Holland changed strategy in 1856. It was
decided to build a fort at Lagundri which was to become the first implantation in the
South to support the expeditions against unsubdued villages.The Dutch then gathered
the chiefs of these villages and informed them by proclamation that they were taking
possession of that part of the island. The declaration had three aims: rely on the
traditional powers, abolish customs incompatible with Dutch morality (particularly
beheading and slavery) and encourage the unification of the island by creating
channels of communication. The strife between the villages was so frequent that
farming had practically been abandoned; these wars mainly opposed the two largest
and strongest villages of the South, Orahili (present Bawmataluo) and Fadoro
(Hilisimaetan). On May 29th, 1863, the Dutch reduced Orahili to submission after a
hard battle, but did not profit from this victory, as the price of a civil and military
colonization was thought to be too expensive in regard to the benefits the island might
bring12.
In this context, the Dutch asked the missionaries to settle in the island (Kayser
l976:68) and the Rheinische Missions-Gesellschaft did so in 1865. They are still there
today. The "civilizing" influence the colonial government so wished for, however, was
limited to the Gunungsitoli area and the north until 1916. It is clear that colonization
and evangelization started in the east and particularly the zone along the axis
Gunungsitoli-Sirombu. The coastal areas of the Centre and the South were pacified
later, during the two first decades of the XXth century, and only in the thirties did the
missions and colonial authorities really master the island.
Road building began in 1902. Villages were displaced to be established along the new
access ways, according to a general technique of colonial control. In 1908 the island
was divided into four districts and the customary chiefs mostly became transmitters of
the colonial power. In 1914 taxes were imposed. The growing influence of the missions
was to bring a massive conversion in 1916: the "great repentance"13.
For aged informants, the loss of the old values, the end of slavery and its profits, the
introduction of taxes and free services to the government were felt to be an
impoverishment of the island. As the roads developed, coconut plantations were
created from 1912 on; they belonged to Chinese, Dutch and Swiss: 260 km2 of these
coconut farms were mainly in the far north, whereas only 1km2 in the south. The Ono
Niha themselves go on gathering their coconuts in the old way.
12
Lately we have again tempted to place a governmental servant into these areas of the island (Southern and
Central), whose task would have been by and by to bring their mostly barbarian tribes to a more satisfactory
degree of civilization, but we have given up, for it has not been possible to obtain sufficient credit for such an
establishment, which demanded military protection. These expenditures would not be sufficiently covered by the
results one could obtain from them, particularly considering the little success of similar tentative (Kolonial
Verslag 1879, in Modigliani 1890 : 75).
13
The missionary sanitary action brought the decline of traditional medecine associated with religious practices.
Many conversions were the result of this medical assistance.
4
Physical anthropologists are interested in the race of the Niha14, and both missionaries
and Dutch colonial officers, have published many studies on the subject. In the
thirties, the first tourists landed on the island, which had become an East India
Company Line stop. A southern chief's house (Hilimondregeraya) was completely
dismantled and shipped to Copenhagen. The wooden statues and sacred figures were
destroyed by the missionaries or exported to Europe. The world crisis of the thirties hit
Nias too and the prices of copra and rubber, now the main exportation resources, fell
by 70%.
With the rise of nationalism in Indonesia, the Ono Niha demanded that the settlers
and the Protestant missionaries leave, wishing on the other hand that Catholic
missionaries replace them. They associated the Protestant missionaries of the
Rheinische Missions-Gesellschaft with the Dutch, and may not have been entirely
wrong in doing so. On the whole however, nationalist movements do not seem to have
had much influence.
In 1942 the island was invaded by the Japanese, who, like everywhere else in Indonesia,
left very bad and still vivid memories. In 1945, Nias became part of the new State of
Indonesia. Contrary to what happened in Sumatra, communist movements hardly
developed in Nias and therefore the bloody repression of 1965 was avoided.
Islam, although practiced by about 90% of the Indonesians, has not spread in Nias and
is only represented by a few Sumatran communities living along the coast.
Nias has joined the new Republic of Indonesia with a mode of living, an economic and
social system and a religion very different from the ones it knew for about a thousand
years. Rather neglected after the war, the island has only recently become a source of
interest again, with new scholarly research and publications15. A few tourists are
starting to visit it and therefore the government is growing attentive to its tourist and
archaeological potential16.
Scholarization, the emigration of workers and students to Java and Sumatra, the media
(radio and television) and in particular the national civil servants bringing and
spreading the Javanese model, are little by little causing the loss of Nias's
characteristics, in favour of a general Indonesian standardization.
14
Kleiweg de Zwaan (1915) came over in 1911 to measure the skulls of the natives for his research work about
Indonesian populations.
15
For example : J. Danandjaja, J.A. Feldman, J. Hmmerle, B. Laija, W. Marschall, M. Thomsen, P. Suzuki, P.
Scarduelli
16
in 1980, Nias was visited by Vice-president Malik ; civil servants have been sent to Bali to prepare a tourism
development plan. A huge private project (Medan investors) project beach resorts in Moale (southwest coast),
Lagundri (Sorake) with a new airport near Hilisimaetan (1991). In 2016 still the airport was not built.
5
6
Traditional house and megalith at Hiliamaetaniha village, 1980.

Chapter 2
GEOGRAPHICALENVIRONMENT
RELIEF
T
he island of Nias, with a surface of 4,475 km2, lies on the exterior edge of the
continental plateau which extends from the Malay peninsula, at the limit of the
deep trenches of the Indian Ocean. It is mainly covered with hills oriented
north-west /south-east, their heights varying from less than one hundred to several
hundred metres.
Most of the hills of the North range parallel to the coast. Between them are relatively
deep valleys with rivers, often very large. The coasts are generally swampy alluvial
plains, particularly near the river mouths. The north-west of the island has a softer
landscape with more modest heights.
The Centre, covered with forests, has a marked relief. Its highest point, in the hardly
accessible massif of Llmatua, reaches 886m; most of the important rivers of the
island spring from it. Always hidden in clouds, this massif creates a natural barrier
between the different regions of Nias. It can only be crossed through a few north-south
oriented valleys.
The southern hills have a relatively low ridge and lie more definitely north-south. Both
the east and west coast too have hills, often ending in the sea and separated by deltaic
plains. The coasts are rather inhospitable; they end in reefs making landing difficult,
except in a few small sheltered bays.
Earthquakes are frequent in Nias although, contrarily to its large neighbour Sumatra, it
is not itself volcanic. On the scale of geological time, the island emerged recently. The
hills are of sandstone and metamorphous rock covered by a layer of fossilized and
calcareous coral. The soil is relatively poor and constantly eroded by the rains, even
more so now due to deforestation.
7
CLIMATE AND VEGETATION
Nias is subject to a double monsoon regime, north-east from October to March and
south-west from April to September. Rain is frequent and plentiful most of the time,
with a yearly average of 3,200 mm (Schrder 1917:693). The Centre and the North have
noticeably stronger rainfall. There are practically no seasonal temperature variations
and the difference between average day (320) and night (220) temperatures does not
exceed 100.
On the whole, the island is very green and the masses of coconut trees are the main
characteristic of the landscape. Tropical forest only covers the most inaccessible
regions. Due to the deforestation resulting from extensive farming, the alang-alang
(imperata cylindrica) savannah and secondary forest are now predominant.
FARMING AND CATTLE-BREEDING
The basic crops remain manioc, sweet potatoes and rice as well as sago, bananas and
coconuts. Patchouli, cloves, rubber and copra are also grown for export.
Farming techniques are still very basic, unlike in many other parts of Indonesia. Rice is
mainly grown in dry land paddy by slash and burn method, this being one of the
causes of deforestation, but some wet paddy fields have developed in the low plains
and near the river beds. Terrace wet land paddy planting is rare, as the villagers do not
master irrigation. Although it seems that rice used to be one of the main export
products, now there is not even enough for local use. If demographic growth is partly
responsible for this situation, another factor is the Ono Niha's little interest for
growing rice; they find it strenuous and not sufficiently profitable.
Manioc and sweet potato cultivation cover large areas. They do not need much care
and what is more the foliage of sweet potatoes provides fodder for the pigs.
Coconut plantations are an important source of revenue; they lie mostly in the richer
parts, the south and south-west. The mountainous Centre, where coconut trees are
rare, is the poorest area. Coconuts are used daily as cooking oil and for feeding the
pigs, as well as being export products.
The Dutch introduced hevea at the beginning of this century. It grows all over the
island, but the main plantations are on the high hills of the Centre and North
(Botombaw and Lahewa areas). The whole production goes to Sumatra.
Started not long ago, patchouli growing is easy and in spite of not needing much care,
brings a relatively substantial profit. Raised on the hills after slash and burn clearing,
the plant unfortunately does not have sufficient roots to hold the earth. Furthermore,
its distilling needs fuel, which means more deforestation. The cultivation of patchouli
8
therefore favours erosion. Lastly, it is a plant which depletes the soil rapidly and its
yield is decreasing very fast.
Clove tree plantations are even more recent, dating from the seventies. It is too early to
measure the consequences of their development on the economy and ecology of the
island. This new production is linked to the national demand for the sweet smelling
kretek cigarettes.
Domestic live-stock breeding is visibly dominated by the pig, which plays an essential
part in the performances and exchanges that ensure the social cohesion of the village
community. Neither feast nor ceremony can be considered without pigs being killed,
"shared", eaten and distributed. The whole process of concluding a marriage is marked
by exchanges of pigs. The young couple then receives more pigs to start the new family
production. In the past, and even today to some extent, the pig like gold is a standard
of value and a means of payment, particularly for fines penalizing transgressions of
customary law.
It should not be forgotten that pork is the main and most appreciated source of
protein, even if its consumption is not regular. Providing food for the pigs takes a great
deal of time and a lot of energy is devoted to feeding them. If previously they were
essentially kept for festive use, some of them are now more often used for acquiring
rice, oil for lamps and other necessary consumer goods.
Buffaloes, omnipresent in Indonesia, are very rare in the island. The Ono Niha have no
draught cattle, which may explain the lack of irrigated paddy fields. Lately, cows, goats
and ducks have appeared, in particular in the Gunungsitoli and Telukdalam area, but
they are associated with the Muslim communities.
Unfortunately, the production of the island is hindered by the lack of exchange
flexibility, due mainly to the bad road network.
MEANS OF COMMUNICATION
There are two means of transportation from Sumatra to Nias. One is by air to and from
Medan or Padang, the other by sea from Sibolga or Padang to Gunungsitoli,
Telukdalam, Lahewa and Sirombu.
Communications within the island are not easy. Geological conditions make it difficult
to build a comprehensive and durable road structure. Therefore the network has not
yet been completed, and several sections remain unpaved. About 30% of the provincial
roads, and 96% of the district roads, still cannot be used for car traffic (1990).
The routes laid out by the Dutch have mostly returned to jungle, although a part if this
network has lately been rehabilitated. A recent development programme of the World
Bank and Japan, in favour of Sumatra, has enabled the building of a road between
Gunungsitoli, and Telukdalam, with branches to Sirombu and Gomo. Roads linking
Gunungsitoli to Tuhemberua and Lahewa, to Alasa and to Idangawo are under
construction and can partly already be used.
9
Around Telukdalam and Gunungsitoli, secondary roads go as far as the neighbouring
villages, but the small local networks are not always connected between each other and
can mostly only be used by motorcycles. Erosion due to rain and lack of upkeep also
limit motorized traffic. Therefore, part of the exchanges are still man-carried over
narrow paths or river beds, but a sudden rise of the water often make the latter's use
impossible.
STATE ADMINISTRATION
The political and administrative structure of Indonesia is now in place in Nias.

Without entering into details, let us just remember that Indonesia is a republic in
which the supreme authority is the Parliament. Indonesia is divided into provinces,
themselves split into kabupaten, the equivalent of French "departments". Nias,
together with the Batu islands, forms a kabupaten of which the head town is
Gunungsitoli17.
This kabupaten is divided into thirteen kecematan - or districts - of which twelve are
Nias and the thirteenth the Batu islands. These kecematan are themselves split into
desa - villages or rather communes - which become kelurahan - town councils -when
they are urban. This administrative division gives the army power, but also favours the
new Indonesian class of civil servants, which superimposes itself on the traditional
political structures, not without friction, of course18.
POPULATION
Up to the middle of the twentieth century, the population estimate of Nias was rather
fanciful, as it was assessed to be 800,000 people in 1965 and 162,000 in l926. The
468,021 inhabitants recorded during the national population census of 1980, compared
to the 352,478 established by the bureau of religious affairs of Nias in l967, was
certainly nearer to reality.
According to 1987 figures, the population was 537,690 inhabitants, with an average
annual demographic growth of 2.87%, slightly above the national average (2.3%).
The population is proportional to the importance of the regions: 61 % for the North
(328,666 people), 27% for the Centre (145,435) and 12% for the South (63,589). The
immigrant population has always been low and stays so. Indonesian civil servants and
Chinese tradesmen mainly constitute it.
17
Complete different organisation in 2016 : 4 kabupaten + Gunungsitoli (City or municipality)
18
Since the 1980s the political situation has changed a lot. We dont want to develop this aspect here. The island
is now divided into five kabupaten : Kabupaten Nias, Nias Utara, Nias Barat, Nias Selatan and Kota Gunungsitoli
(2015).
10
REGIONAL DISPARITIES
In the far north, where the relief is more favourable, colonial plantations had
developed, with the first foreign settlement of people from Atjeh, Malaysia, Sumatra,
China, etc., whose presence facilitated Dutch colonization. Gunungsitoli is the capital
and only city of the island and has been the administrative centre ever since the arrival
of the Dutch. The numerous official buildings and barracks, sometimes inspired by the
local style, underline this specialization. A second-rate harbour and a small airport
enable daily contact with Sumatra. The Muslims and the Chinese have established
themselves nearby on the east coast. Some trade between the east and the west coasts
already existed in precolonial times. The Nakko islands to the west and the area of
Sirombu were and are still important producers of copra. As the west coast has no
sheltered port, goods were man-carried through the island as far as Gunungsitoli. This
axis (Sirombu/Gunungsitoli) was therefore subject to exterior influences early. The
former civilization of the east of Nias is particularly well known, thanks to the reports
of the missionaries who settled in that area from l865 on, before going down to the
Centre and South at the beginning of the XXth century. Strangely, they seem to have
had little interest in architecture, which makes information on this matter scarce.
The Centre has great mythical importance for the Ono Niha. According to tradition,
the founding ancestors of the different clans of the island originate from Sifalag
Brnadu on the Gomo river. In spite of it being their ancestors birth place, the people
from the other parts consider its inhabitants primitive and dangerous, possibly even
bandits and headhunters. The historical roots of this idea go back to the times of
slavery and are probably related to geographical isolation and poverty resulting in
lesser schooling and sanitary developments. If the latter are limited at the scale of the
island to Gunungsitoli and Telukdalam, only few small health centres exist in the
Centre. Cholera in particular is endemic in this part. So, paradoxically, the Centre is
felt positively as a symbol and negatively as far as its present population is concerned.
The region of the South merges with the Telukdalam district19. The two most
populated parts are the Toene Asi and the Mazin Lawa areas, near the east coast. The
Onolalu area, in the hills of the Centre, only has a few large villages and the north-east
is practically uninhabited. The main locality of the South is Telukdalam, behind the
bay of the same name. The administration, police, Catholic and Protestant missions,
church and state schools from the primary to the upper levels and numerous shops are
established there 20. The inhabitants are mostly Ono Niha who have come to "town" in
order to start a small business or be employed by the administration and also
Indonesian civil servants and Chinese tradesmen. The harbour is visited by small
freighters and trawlers and twice a month by the "government ship", which links the
town with Padang, Pulau Tello in the Batu islands, Sibolga and Gunungsitoli.
The buildings of Telukdalam are large wooden and metal barns, with small open shops
looking onto the street. Some two or three storey brick houses are starting to appear,
19
It counts 53 villages. The largest is Hilisimaetan with 5'894 inhabitants (1985). The smallest is Sisobambowo
with 228 inhabitants. The average is about 800 inhabitants per village.
11
symbols of their owners prosperity. Saturday market is an important meeting occasion
for the neighbouring villagers, who come to sell their products: areca nuts and betel
leaves, sago flower, sugar canes, cassava and sweet potatoes, some peppers, fruit and
vegetables and of course the essential pigs. The copra is brought straight to the small
and ancient oil works, the only local "industry", with a labour integration capacity of
ten people at the most. In return, fish - usually dried - salt and tea are purchased, as
well as all kinds of manufactured products, from machetes for farming to batteries,
radios and plastic buckets. Telukdalam is not only an attraction for the South, but also
for quite a large part of the Centre. It is a good example of present agglomerations in
Nias: administrative centres without any industry and with an immigrating or
commuting population. The southern Nias population clearly feels its homogeneity
through language, customary law and habitat, and even though each village keeps its
specificity, the certainty of having the same historical roots prevails.

Traditional house at Hililewu village, Gomo, 1970
12
Chapter 3
THERITUALOFTHEPIG
A
s in many other traditional societies, there is a strong interdependence between
the different elements of Ono Niha culture. For our purpose we could approach
the latter through following themes: social and political organization, myths of
creation and cosmogony, traditional and present day religious beliefs and practices,
the system of feasts and the use of wealth. Dissociated for the need of analysis, they all
in part determine habitat and dwelling. In spite of the general oneness of the island's
civilization, its regional or even local differences make it most complex20.
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
The clan - mado - is the largest reference unit. Then comes the extended family,
embracing the nuclear families. These levels of social organization are intersected by a
system of social categories: "noblemen" - this approximation at least indicating that
they perceive themselves and are perceived by others as being of a superior rank -
commoners and, up to the beginning of this century, slaves. If everyone in Nias affirms
that slavery has totally disappeared, which is true in the sense that people are no
longer sold or bartered, it has been noted, particularly in the Centre, that some
"servants" live in conditions that cannot be very different from those of the slaves of
previous generations. In the South, although one uses expressions in conformity with
Christian and Indonesian ideologies21, the former slaves or their descendants are still
pointed out and differentiated. They seem to be kept away from the discussions of the
village assembly and have more difficulties in marrying. The situation of the debtor,
which used to reduce him to slavery, is still highly uncomfortable. He is obliged to
work for his creditor, for instance in the latter's coconut plantation, under harsh
conditions22.
Every Ono Niha belongs to a clan going back to an ancestor who, if he is not mythical,
is at least mythified. The importance of this adherence is underlined by the fact that
every Ono Niha knows his clan and his own genealogy in regard to it. He always adds
the name of his clan to his own, when he has contacts beyond the village.The most
prestigious clans are the ones which claim to be direct descendants of the founding
ancestors, the eponymous ancestors of the clans. From these, the other clans have
issued by scissions and subdivisions and their prestige is proportional to their age.
20
For more details, see the articles written by Arlette Ziegler on the subject of feasts hierarchies.
21
At the time of the writing, the Indonesian ideology was expressed through the Pancasila of which the five
principles are: belief in a single God, sovereignty of the people, nationalism, social justice and humanitarism.
22
In the usual leasing, two third of the crop are for the owner, and one third for the worker. From this last third,
the creditor-owner will deduct again two thirds for the reimborsement of the debt. Finally therefore, the debtor
will keep one ninth only of the total yield or its equivalent.
13
As far as territorial organization was concerned, the clan had its importance too, as
originally villages descended from one clan only. Clanic cohesion was expressed and
reinforced by spatial cohesion. The term meaning village, banua, refers to both world
and homeland. Demographic excess or rivalries between the candidates for the
position of chief, often led to the creation of new villages, and sometimes of new clans.
Presently most villages have representatives of several clans, although usually one has
supremacy. The banua, however, is still an indispensable frame of reference.
In the South, the clan seems more important for the life of the village in the form of
gana. This word refers to the group of members of a clan living in one village.
Therefore more than six gana could be in one village and as many gana of the same
clan as villages where this clan is represented. The gana, as a social unit, is associated
with feasts and particularly with marriages, of which it is one of the redistribution
structures. The gana is where a man can borrow some of the "bride price". These
functions of the gana explain why in the South, when a man settles in a village where
he is the only member of his clan, he affiliates himself to another established clan for
entering into a gana.
The nafulu is another cog of the institutions. It is a functional unit of usually ten men,
whose role is to assume the collective chores of the village. The number of nafulu
varies according to the size of the village, each man being compelled to belong to one.
The upkeep of access to the village, the baths, in short of all public facilities, is their
duty23.
The first level of social organization is the family, both extended (sagambat sebua)
and nuclear (sagambat). Formerly, the rule was for all the generations of an economic
unit to live in the same house, under the authority of the father, whom everyone had
to obey. Filiation being patrilinear and residence patrilocal, the sagambat sebua
gathered the men of a lineage and their wives over two or three generations.
Marriages are often exogamous to the clan; however this is only a strict rule in the North
and the Centre. In the South, the preference for a marriage between matrilateral cross-
cousins (a man marrying the daughter of his mother's brother) is clearly attested. These
marriages still exist but have become rarer for two reasons: the first is that they are
forbidden by the Catholic church, to which about one quarter of the population belongs,
and also that these, mostly arranged if not imposed, marriages are no longer as easily
accepted by the young people of today. When a marriage is between members of two
different social categories, the hypergamic rule prevails: a "noble" man can - possibly -
marry a commoner woman, but the contrary is prohibited. Matrimonial relations create
networks between the villages at different levels, but they modify neither organization nor
territorial occupation.
Inside the house the domestic unit (production-consumption) is expressed by the presence
of a single hearth for preparing meals, and by the father's supervision of the rice stocks in
particular.
23
Although these two institutions, gana and nafulu, have totally different functions, in the most modernized
villages they are now sometimes confused.
14
In recent decades, the nuclear family seems to have become more self-sufficient, even
though it is still very integrated in the extended family. Possibilities of economic
independence (gains exterior to the family production) as well as scholarization and
greater mobility are the probable cause of this. Such autonomy may be expressed by
several hearths in one house or by distinct residence units.
Another factor tending to the dissolution of the extended family as an economic unit
was the introduction - first by the Dutch and then by the Indonesian State - of land
and succession rights different to customary law. Traditionally land was not owned,
but belonged to the village or the clan, the granting of its use falling within the
competence of the chiefs. Each family could dispose of land which it did not in fact
inherit, but for which the right of use was renewed as long as its exploitation lasted.
This distribution - as to the nature, surface and location of the land - also largely took
into account the internal balance of power of the village. Therefore, the "noblemen"
and the eldest residing families were allotted the best soil for culture. The marking of
these territories was done by planting trees, which stayed the property of those who
had planted them.
Inheritance rights therefore only concerned goods, mainly the house and gold, in form
of jewellery. The dwelling stayed the undivided property of the male descendants who
lived there, the women having no claims to it. However, the women did get their share
of the gold24.
Now, because a cadastral survey has been imposed, private property has theoretically
replaced the former law, although in practice, the latter is still in use. In the same way,
in spite of national law giving equality to the sexes, as far as inheritance is concerned,
customary law still prevails in the villages.
A VERY HIERARCHIC SOCIETY
Intersecting the clans, the social categories are organized differently in the South,
North and Centre of the island. These categories are closely linked to the political
structure.
The South
The society of the South is divided into "noblemen" - si'ulu - and commoners - sato or
ono mbanua (literally children of the village). The distinction starts in genealogy. The
si'ulu make theirs go very far, managing to count up to forty or fifty generations.
Reinforcing birth and wealth, bravery in war and knowledge of customary law, adat,
play their part. Even if the title of si'ulu is hereditary, it still has to be confirmed by the
necessary feasts.
24
The daughters inherit their mothers jewellery (coming from the previous generation or gifts from her husband)
and the sons share their fathers. Together, these ornaments can represent considerable wealth. The richest
families own several kilos of gold.
15
The sato are by far the largest group in the village. They have few rights and many
duties, in spite of belonging to the class of free people. The sato used also to give
feasts, which however did not enable them to attain a high rank. The short series they
were allowed could not give them a new name.
Supreme power belongs to the one who, among the si'ulu exclusively, has obtained the
title of chief of the village, bal zi'ulu or salawa25. This title is in principle not
hereditary. Among all the si'ulu of the village, the man to become village chief was the
one who had given the most numerous and sumptuous feasts prescribed by customary
law. All the examples nevertheless show that once established, a chief used every
opportunity to accumulate goods attached to his rank26, in order to give more feasts in
the name of his son, thereby ensuring the latter his succession.
To take decisions and administer the village, the chief is assisted by the other si'ulu
and si'ila, an intermediary group still important nowadays, but not really a closed
social category. They are counsellors who act as intermediaries between the chief and
the villagers or between the villagers themselves. The si'ila are selected in the sato class
for their knowledge of adat, their wisdom, and formerly their merit as warriors. They
are appointed for life by the chief and their title, but not their function, is hereditary.
The access to the latter demands gifts - gold or pigs - to the chief and the si'ulu. The
si'ila must also give feasts and they are the ones who name the bal zi'ila according to a
criterium of age, the eldest being chosen.
Every si'ila holds one or several functions, which each have their own name, this of
course much complicating the census27. The he si'ila's role is considerable in the
villages of the South: he acts as intermediary and witness. In this society with no
written language, the si'ila are the memory of transactions and agreements concluded
and of justice rendered. The si'ila of a village can be quite numerous28, this status also
applying to their wives and daughters, which has its importance in matrimony. It
creates another grade in the case of hypergamic marriages: a si'ila girl can be wedded
to a si'ulu, but the contrary is prohibited.
This hierarchy, village chief - si'ulu - si'ila, has a counterweight: the village assembly,
orahua to which all the men of the village belong. These assemblies settle current
matters and dispense justice.
Owing to more recent Christianization and colonization of the South, this system of
partition and organization survives even today to a certain extent. The competition
25
Nowadays the traditional chiefs are called salawa on the whole island.
26
A village chief has the right to a share of the crops, to gifts of gold and pigs when feasts and marriages are held
in the village, to the fines charged for disrespect of customary law and- in the past- to the war booty, both in
goods and slaves.
27
For instance the siila nafulu, responsible for the nafulu, makes the latter do the work decided upon. The
tambalina is the direct counsellor of the village chief. He can simultaneously have other functions. Siila sio siseise
is the name of the siila takes when he is intermediary for arranging a marriage. The bal gana (chief of the gana)
is often siulu, but can also be a siila.
28
In Bawmataluo for example, 5 % of families are siulu, 15 % are siila and 80 % are sato.
16
between si'ulu is no longer the same, as the village chief is part of the new Indonesian
administration. The elected chief's main duty is to represent the State apparatus
towards the village and vice versa. Nevertheless, there is still a chief of traditions in the
village, this function being assumed by a si'ulu with everybody's accord. His role is to
see that customary law is applied in all matters where it rules community life. The si'ila
go on playing their part as intermediaries, while the orahua deliberate over internal
village affairs.
This social and political structure can be clearly seen in the layout of the village. The
villages of the South are independent, without any organic link between them. They
are morphologically closed units, strongly structured by the square, and the house of
assemblies, as well as by the house of the chief, in the centre of the village.
The North and the Centre
The societies both in the North and Centre have other social and political
organizations which are more difficult to detect. In the North, a hundred and twenty-
five years of Christianity and a century of Dutch occupation have rather weakened
traditional organization. In the Centre however, these influences were less important
and the isolation of the valleys caused the emergence of patriarchal type systems easier
to adapt to territorial splitting and to small population groups, therefore enabling
traditional organizations to survive.
The North and the Centre are characterized by the primacy of the clan as a mark of
identity. In the North, this reference was related to a physical and political territory,
the ri, whereas in the Centre it did not imply any territory larger than the village.
Society is always divided into social categories, but here they are ranks, with an
opportunity of upgrading. The total number of grades available, nine, ten or twelve,
varies according to the clans and was decided on when they were formed and the
conditions of passing from one rank, bosi, to another were established. The three
highest ranks, - twelve si felendrua, ten, si fulu, and nine, si siwa (for the eleventh is
never counted) -, correspond to the upper category. Then come the ranks eight, si
walu, and seven, si fitu, which correspond to the commoners. If a commoner satisfies
all the conditions by giving the necessary feasts, he can, in principle, attain the upper
ranks of his clan. Slaves used to occupy the ranks six, or five of this hierarchy. They of
course had no right to give a feast. It is interesting to note that on the abolition of
slavery, their master's way to bring them to the category of free men was by giving
them pigs, thereby enabling them to organize a feast, the indispensable passage rite to
acquire the status of free man.
The eldest clans dispose of a maximum of twelve grades, but the more recent ones only
reach nine or ten bosi. The bosi (literally rung) can be increased and must at least be
confirmed. In either case it is done by feasts, owasa. A high bosi is never given by birth,
it has to be obtained. Therefore the son of a man who has a bosi ten or twelve will at
his birth be only bosi eight. The customary law establishes the precise rule for each
clan, but the principle always stays identical. Only the confirmation of the rank after
17
validation enables the individual to enjoy the rights attached to it. This procedure is
essential, as all the exchange practices in the wide sense must conform to bosi; the
higher the latter, the more expensive its cost.
The particularity of the traditional political organization of the North is its complexity,
mobility, and close relationship to the clans and their territorial influence. To make
things easier, we shall start from the original mythical situation. In their creation
myths, the Ono Niha claim to descend from four sons of gods, who are the founders of
the four eldest clans. Those ancestors settled in the different parts of the island, had
descendants and created groups of villages. Each group belonging to the same clan
constituted a territorial unit called ri (literally ring, circle, and by extension unit,
group of villages). At this level, the ri is the territorial equivalent of the clan. The
founding of an ri is validated by a fondrak ceremony, as much a feast as an act
instituting a customary law and sealing a defensive and economical alliance. It is
during the fondrak that the chief of the new ri (the new clan) is installed.
Each village has a chief, but inside the ri all the village chiefs do not have the same
status. The chief of the eldest clan has the highest position; he is the Tuhenri or
sanuhe - the one who is above - and his village is the main village of the ri. The other
chiefs are hierarchically organized according to the age of their villages, and the ranks
they have obtained by feasts29. Each one of them is head of his village, although he
stays subordinated to the ri whose government is assumed by the assembly of all the
village chiefs under the authority of the tuhenri. Inside each village the chief governs
by himself, without the assistance of an assembly. The office is hereditary providing
the required feasts are given by the future chief.
So far it is easy to understand that by referring to the same customary law the clan
binds the villages, and that the assembly of village chiefs can settle matters concerning
the whole clan, providing its size enables it to be mastered. The difficulty starts when
the clans split - Mller counted one hundred and eighteen in 1934 - and new ri are
created, inevitably derived from the first ones.
The main characteristic of this system is that its social mobility is intrinsically linked
with spatial mobility. When a man in a village wishes to attain the highest ranks, he
can do so by creating a new village - of which he will become the chief - the final stage
being to become chief of an ri by founding one. Beyond the social and spatial
dynamics of this system which valorizes scission, the originating of new ri is also a
means of keeping them within dimensions compatible with good inter-social
relationships. The establishment of an ri can take one or several generations. The
territories involved can fluctuate between the beginning and the end of the process,
the bonds with the villages of origin weakening with time.
29
They follow each other in this order : first the tambalina, a sort of second of the tuhenri, then the next chiefs in
a decreasing order of importance : fahandrona, si dafa (the fourth), si dalima (the fifth) and so until the twelfth si
felendrua.
18
The double aspect of the ri, territory ruled by a same customary law and territory of
the pig's exchange cycle is expressed in different terms according to the aspect
considered: ri huku in the first case, and ri mbawi in the second.
This power structure is very attached to territory. Contrarily to what occurs in the
South, creating a new village has a positive connotation, being part of a system and not
the result of dissensions. Visibly, it has influenced the morphology of the villages of the
North, which present a more open and fluid aspect. First referring to the ri, the
villages are not inward looking, but partake in a political organization favouring
interdependence. Lastly and mainly, the flexibility of the global system has not, within
the village, encouraged a type of building expressing the village entity and its internal
hierarchy: neither squares for assemblies, nor any other monumental megalithic
creations.
The Dutch administration - whose whole colonial approach relied on the existing
power structures - thought the ri was a paradigm valid for the entire island. They
were therefore inspired by it and remodeled it according to their needs, by establishing
ri no longer corresponding to the territorialization of the clan, but to the new division
into districts, applying the system to the whole island30. This deprivation of the ri 's
most symbolic meaning, the relation to the clan, perhaps explains why today the
memory of the traditional political structure remains only very fragmentarily, whereas
the feasts to which it was associated prevail, being linked to the pig's exchange cycle,
which is still perfectly comprehensible and present.
The Centre and particularly the area forming the present district of Gomo, functioned
according to a patriarchal system which overshadowed the clan. The villages,
independent from each other, were ruled by a chief, the balugu, whose office was
hereditary. As in the North, social mobility was associated with spatial mobility. If one
did not belong to the line in power, to become chief one was obliged to start a new
settlement and at the same time found a new line. This system is therefore similar to
the South as far as the independence of the villages is concerned, but related to the
North for its political structure, ri excepted.
It is very difficult to see the reasons which generated this specific and original system,
combining aspects of North and South. Let us first be reminded of the topographic and
environmental constraints. The difficulty of clearing the forest and the scantiness of
good soil only allowed small villages, with a maximum of ten houses. It is easily
conceivable that at this scale only a patriarchal power could take place. The size of the
village in itself - demographically speaking - did not encourage the type of rivalry
current among Southern chiefs. On the other hand, the political form of the ri could
not emerge here for two main reasons. The first is physical: the numerous and strong
natural barriers absolutely prevent controlling several villages - and even easily
communicating between them - and so do not permit a territory of a certain
30
By doing so, different clans found themselves in the same ri, the chief of which reported to the Dutch
administration. This altered form of ri survived until about 1960, when the Indonesian government introduced a
national system of desa and kecamatan.
19
importance. The second is that this area was the centre of head and slave hunting. It
was really difficult for the clanic structure in the territorial form of ri to evolue in a
warlike and conflictual context. Paradoxically, the creation of a new settlement did not
establish particular links between the village of origin and the one from which it was
issued. On the contrary, conflicts of interest were so frequent that one could say that
all villages lived in a semi-permanent state of war. The morphology of the villages
perfectly expresses this situation. As in the South, they are closed as if besieged, and
generally built on steep mountainous sites. The village itself is strongly structured by
its megalithism. The absence of a village square or an assembly house, and the
presence of a chief's house, confirm the predominance of the patriarchal system in
terms of space display.
MYTHS OF CREATION AND COSMOGONY
In this field confusion is total. Most of the myths were collected and recorded by the
missionaries and mostly reinterpreted to serve as Christianization tools. The accounts
now obtainable are distorted by nearly a century of Christianization31. Sthr (1968:89)
noted that "the variants and fragments known are so complicated, so irreconcilable
and often so full of contradictions, each in its own way, that we can only give some
broad lines."
Some constants can however be noted. The Universe is made of three superposed
worlds. The Upper world, Teteholi Anaa , is the model, the place of origin of the gods,
in the sky, in the clouds, and long ago near the earth. That world has several villages
with different people who are often opposed to each other. Lowalangi is the god of this
Upper world. Silewe Nazarata, his sister and/or wife, gave knowledge to humans: she
taught them how to cultivate fields, build houses and carve statues.
The Underworld is dark, sometimes identified with a cave or a large hole peopled with
evil spirits. From it come earthquakes. It is the home of Lature Dan, the elder brother
of Lowalangi.
The Middle world, or world of humans, was created by the gods or in certain versions
by one of them by means of their skin scales.
The origin of the Ono Niha is often expressed in the following way: Sirao, the supreme
divinity, lives in Teteholi Anaa. He has three wives, who each give him three sons: Lature
Dan, Lakindr, Lowalangi; Lasore, Gz, Hia; Lahari, Daeli and Hulu. Sirao is looking for
a successor and decides to test his sons. The one who can stay on the point of the spear he
has driven into the ground by its handle will succeed him. Lature Dan, the eldest, has
failed and will be banished to the inferior level, where he will carry the earth. Lowalangi is
the only one to stand the test and therefore succeeds Sirao at Teteholi Anaa.
31
Furthermore the Niha language uses a lot of peotical metaphors in this type of account, each narrator thereby
having a certain power over his audience. This does not make the transcription of the facts any easier and has
contributed to the numerous misinterpretations of certain authors.
20
Hia, Gz, Daeli and Hulu have come down to the Middle world, Earth, by a ladder of
fourteen rungs and they are the ancestors of the Ono Niha. One version has Hia to
descend first, in the South. But he and his belongings are so heavy that the South is
nearly engulfed. To make up for this, Gz goes to the North. The result is that the
Earth swells in the middle so that the North and Gz are immersed. To rebalance the
situation, Hulu and Daeli come to the Centre. Now Earth is nice and flat.
Another version says that these four patriarchs descended to the Centre, at Sifalag Gomo-
Br Nadu, still considered the place of origin of the Ono Niha. The southern Ono Niha
complete this account by referring to Hia's descendants. Hia had a son, Sadawa Ml, who
came from Sifalag Gomo-Br Nadu and settled in the South, near Onohondr. The
water of the Gomo river (which flows by Sifalag Gomo- Br Nadu), a branch of the fsi
tree (a sacred tree symbolizing the Ono Niha), and an ancestor figure he had taken with
him enabled him to recreate a territory for humans there. Sadawa Ml's five sons (Fau,
Dakhi, Boto, Maha and Hondr) founded the eponymous clans, still effectively the main
clans of the South32.
We do not intend to develop comparisons between the different original myths. The brief
indications just given are sufficient to show how rich they are. We have mentioned them
because they have sometimes been used for a symbolic approach of the house and the
organization of space33.
BELIEFS AND RELIGIOUS PRACTICES
The Ono Niha's awareness of the divine was expressed through molohe adu, the system of
traditional religious beliefs and practices interpreted as "veneration of idols". The divine
appeared in various manners in all circumstances of life.
The presence of ere,, priests and priestesses, was indispensable for communicating with
the Beyond. The ere were not really a special category34. Neither social rank nor sex were
criteria to accede to this status. Mostly of plebeian origin, the ere led the life of any Ono
Niha, except for their ritual functions, which were not hereditary.
32
A different version alludes to an origin outside the island. Long ago, on the other side of the sea, lived Siraso, a
noblemans daughter. As she had sinned, she should have been killed, but out of pity she was placed on a ship, set
adrift on the water. She gave birth to a son, and they ran aground near the mound of the Susua river (on the east
coast of Nias). The child was to be called Telgu, in memory of the upturned boat which sheltered them. When he
grew up, Telgu went and discovered the island, the trees, the plants and the animals and gave them names ; but
he met no human beings. At the end of his trip, he discovered a woman, it was his mother Siraso, but he did not
know it. They had a son, Hia. Siraso went up the river Susua and settled on the Gomo river, whereas Telgu stayed
near the mouth. In this variation, Telgu and Siraso are the ancestors who give birth to Hia, who also appears in
the other versions.
33
This problematic has been developed by Suziki (1959), whose arguments were refuted by Feldman : What
Suzuki did was to assemble the existing literature on all the areas of Nias, to mix it and extract a social structure
there from. Such a culture does simply not exist in Nias (1985 :643). Also see Schrder 1917, Sthr 1968,
Hmmerle 1982.
34
In the South, a priest had a particular position, he was Br Nadu. This word means the beginning of the
adu , in this case the ancestor. It also means the statue representing the ancestor, the place where the latter
arrived, the feast which cyclically gathers his descendents and lastly, the priest in charge of the rituals of this
ceremony, who is supposed to be the living expression of the Br Nadu.
21
The ere intervened at every stage of both daily and ceremonial life. One of their tasks
was to carve the adu, the wooden sculptures the missionaries considered "idols". In fact
they are ancestor figures, and therefore to be venerated, or statues materializing a
spirit, for instance the spirit of a disease. Understandably the large number of adu
struck the first visitors. One of the ere's activities was to ensure the rituals during the
feasts and beat the drum fondrahi to call the ancestors, whose presence was absolutely
needed for the satisfactory progress of the ceremony. On the whole, these practices
aimed at tightening the bonds with the ancestors, to keep them ever present.
Nowadays very few of the traditional religious rites have survived. As seen earlier, Nias
was Christianized by the Protestant missionaries since 1865 and by the Catholic since
1939. They were fairly successful, even if there are still a few pockets of resistance,
particularly in the Centre. The first missionaries translated the Bible into Niha
language and attempted to find equivalences in the local pantheon to make the
translation easier. God became Lowalangi, but this does not allow us to speak of
syncretism between Christianism and molohe adu, for the zeal of the pioneer
missionaries forbade it. Let us just remember the destruction of most of the adu, and
how thereby Ono Niha culture was deprived of a priceless patrimony.
Since the thirties however, the sects stemming from Protestantism have developed.
The most important one is the Fa'awsa church. Without it being a syncretic religion,
Fa'awsa has not only retranscribed Protestant principles into specifically Ono Niha
ways of thought, but has also generated community cult practices which have
borrowed many rites from traditional religion. It nonetheless stays in the Protestant
sphere of influence and is statistically attached to the latter.
It may seem strange that although Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the
world, Islam never managed to be introduced in Nias. The main reason for this
impossibility is... the pig! An Ono Niha will never give up breeding and consuming pigs
because of all it means in his life. Even if there are occasional attempts, Islamization is
rendered very difficult35.
Finally, the privileged relationship with the ancestors has not yet died out, in spite of it
no longer being expressed by the adu, but rather by the songs to the forefathers' glory,
essential to every feast. The beating of the fondrahi can always be heard in the village,
resounding in the mist at dawn. Do the ancestors still hear it?
SYSTEM OF FEASTS AND UTILIZATION OF SURPLUS
All early visitors were struck by the mass slaughter of pigs which took place at the Nias
feasts. The formal quality, the diversity and profusion of megaliths (monuments and
monolithic statues) these ceremonies generated, impressed them and even today
leaves no one indifferent.
35
At Telukdalam there were 23 % Muslims in 1985. A considerable number due to the civil servants and
Indonesian businessmen. In spite of this the livestrock counted 16 cows, 58 goats and 850 pigs.
22
Most often, only one type of celebration is mentioned, usually under the name "feast of
merit"36, or "feast of honours" (Modigliani 1890), "feast of rank" or even "feast of
citizenship" (Schrder 1917); there is no report or text not writing about them in some
way. Under one denomination or another, all authors have classified the feasts
involving megalithic production and pigs.
This categorization may not be pertinent, for it implies a generalization not taking into
account the distinctions between the different areas of the island. It is rash to put all
the feasts which formally look the same into one category, when they have different
functions and objectives. Also, to consider the ostentatious slaughter of pigs as a
criterion of differentiation much surprises the Ono Niha, for no type of festivity could
take place without pigs, from honouring one guest to the gathering of hundreds of
participants in a major celebration. Briefly: no pigs, no feast. What is more, if some
ceremonies or rather some sequences of them required erecting a megalith, this is not
so, in most cases, either in the North or the South.
In reality, the Ono Niha have37 an elaborate system of feasts. Their main function is to
reinforce cohesion and encourage social reproduction38 at different levels and by
different means. Each of these ceremonies concerns another group of specific actors
and creates the spatial practices of the Nias "landscape"39.
There are two levels of feasts. The first concerns the ceremonies relating to the
individual and his family (birth, wedding, funeral) and those intended to express
concretely the successful insertion of an individual in his community, at the rank he
may or must occupy according to customary law. In other words, the highest stages of
these feasts were also means of access to power. Globally, these feasts comply with the
logic of giving and taking40. Everyone is socially compelled to give - and therefore to
take - and obliged to give back the equivalent of what he has received. This exchange
process prevails during the entire life of the individual41. Therefore it is the absolute
duty of each member of the community to create surplus, so that he can redistribute it.
The prestige of a man or a family is not measured by the wealth accumulated, but by
his capacity to produce it for redistribution. Thereby he ensures the functioning and
reproduction of the community, through the obligations which form its dynamic
structure.
The second level of feasts refers to the clan: they are mainly the fondrak (in the whole
island), and in the South the Br Nadu feast.
36
See Schnitger 1939, Frer-Haimendorf 1939, Suzuki 1959, Birket-Smith 1967 and many other authors.
37
One would be tempted to use the past tense, but there are still enough ceremonies, particularly feasts
concerning individuals, to apply the present.
38
In the sense of Pierre Bourdieu in Le sens pratique, Editions de Minuti, Paris 1980
39
Landscape which, to use Raffestin and Bressos definition, is nothing else than the projection into space and
time of social actions the group achieves through its work (1984 :44)
40
on the subject refer to Mauss Essai sur le don, forme et raison de lchange dans les socits archaques , in :
Sociologie et anthropologie, Paris PUF 1960
41
the time scale of observation and analysis is important: although during a sequence of feasts one has the
feeling that the individual has given more than he has received, in reality, when examining the whole cycle, the
mode of exchange is well balanced.
23
Br Nadu feast
In regular cycles of seven, ten or fourteen years (Mller 1934:131), this celebration
gathered a group of clans claiming to descend from the same ancestor. In the South,
where this feast could still be observed in 1914 (according to the old chief of
Onohondr42) it called together the five clans descending from Hia through Sadawa
Ml. It was essentially a ceremony of recreation of the World, the last sequence of
which took place at the spot symbolizing where the ancestor had arrived. In the South,
there is only one Br Nadu place near the village of Onohondr43.
During the time before the feast, two wooden effigies were prepared, one of the tiger
harimao and the other of the woman sembu. Accompanied by the Br Nadu priest,
they were to go to the villages of the five clans and thereby symbolically take over all
conflicts. The journey ended at the Br Nadu spot where, in front of all, the figures
were broken and thrown into the river.
That truce-feast could only take place if all disputes were solved, and its function was
to reaffirm the cohesion between all the Ono Niha claiming the same ancestor. One
can conjecture that if in the South the Br Nadu feast was periodically necessary to
placate the conflicts between villages - everyone being independent from the other - in
the North this ceremony was not essential as another structure, the ri, resolved the
clashes.
The importance of the Br Nadu feast in the occupation of territory is clear. First it
recalls the symbolic original spot marked by the fsi tree and then it reinforces
relations between villages and appease conflicts. The ritual route taken by the statues
acts as a visible bond reaffirming lineage relationships.
Fondrak feast
The fondrak is a ceremony by which a new clan and its ri, or an ri associating
several clans since the end of the last century, or even a village, are founded.44
In the South, no particular testimony recollects this event, as the village through its
own existence testifies to fondrak. In the North, the erection of a menhir in the village
where it took place sometimes went with a fondrak creating an ri.
The customary law of the new group was determined during the fondrak. It settled all
the aspects of life and the boundary of the ri or village. The measures for rice, pigs
42
He attributes the small destruction of the traditional culture of the South to this interdiction, the big one,
in his opinion, dating back to 1928, when all non Christian feasts were forbidden. This seems a rather pessimistic
point of view, considering recent realizations.
43
The spot was marked by the fsi tree, which represented the whole population. A broken branch, or any other
damage, would mean the death of a chief or some calamity for the community.
44
The fondrak can only be held at this occasion, although it may be repeated if essential for some of its contents
to be modified.
24
and the alloy for gold were set. A standard for each was made and kept by the chief of
the village or ri. Each ri had its own system of weights and equivalence (gold/pig,
pig/rice, etc.) fixing the norms for the exchange. On this occasion, the bosi in the clans
were established. The obligations and limits of each party were determined as to the
"bride price" and the holding of the feasts. The rules of communal work and of
behavior and the fines (in case of transgressions such as theft, insult, brawls,
abduction, etc.) were also all laid down precisely.
Nowadays, no more new clans are created and the villages are stabilized as to their
locations, except for those which go and resettle on an old site. The fondrak feasts
very seldom take place. However, by having formed territories reflecting the clan, the
ri, or the village, the fondrak feast has much affected the Ono Niha world, in terms
of spatial organization.
Marriage as a "feast"
Among the feasts concerning the individual in his family and community, marriage is
without exception the most often quoted, and even today implies great expense. It
should be remembered that in Nias - as in many other cultures - the concept of the
individual is not valued, and that a man or woman only "make sense" through their
family and their community. He or she are positively recognized solely by their
descendants, once their continuity is ensured.
In the whole island and for all social categories there is the bw "bride price". The
amount of the bw is set by the customary law of each clan and each village in the
South. It varies according to the category and rank of the families concerned. There is a
theoretical bw for each marriage. It is always negotiated and is expressed in units of
about 10 grammes of gold, the batu gana'a. In all cases, the bw is very high in
comparison to the income. To use western terminology, one could say that it is at the
maximum rate of effort a bride-taking group is ready to conceed to a bride-giving one.
On his own, an individual could not raise a sum amounting to several years of income,
which makes the direct family's and village's participation indispensable. Therefore
marriage concerns families and villages, through the actors intervening in the
constitution of the bw on one side and the beneficiaries on the other.
THE CYCLES OF THE FEASTS
Apart from marriage, a man must give some other feasts during his lifetime. On the
whole island, these feasts must be held in a precise order. If it is sometimes possible to
group several celebrations into one feast, it is out of question to change their order.
Feasts always offer prestations of two sorts: the pork cooked and eaten during the
ceremony, and the urakha, the hunk of raw pork each guest receives and takes home to
eat later. The urakha must always be given back, in the form of an equal sized piece of
pork, but this can be done only during a feast. The gift of pork is the main act of the
feast. In this sense, the first logic of these practices is the participation in an exchange,
25
though deferred in time45. So the more feasts achieved and the more participants at
them, the more pork received in return. It is inconceivable for an Ono Niha to kill a pig
for his own use, if he has not given at least one feast.
The purposes of these feasts can be defined in the following way: to enter into one or
several pig exchange circuits; to raise social position; to confirm a position already
acquired; to attain a social level where obligations are no longer only "returning" hunks
of pork, but also include more gold.
It is out of the question to explain all the possible variants of feasts here. We have
therefore chosen one example from each region to show the principle. The themes and
even the sequences of the ceremonies are recurrent, although linked together
differently according to the villages.
1. A cycle of feasts in the South
The following series of eleven feasts corresponds to the life cycle of a traditional village
chief in the South46; only the first ones are achievable by all villagers.
1. faulu: gathers the village and the family. An adult can give it for himself or for a child
of whom he is father or paternal grandfather. The whole family must participate with
rice and pigs, in particular the husbands of the donor's sisters. The feast is
commemorated by the erection of a megalith, batu nitaru, in front of the postulant's
house. The number of cooked eaten pigs and raw distributed pigs, established
according to rank and "financial"capacity, must be of at least three. The pieces of pork,
cooked or raw, are given to the gana to be redistributed. The largest portions will go to
those who have already had a faulu feast, middle size portions to the people who will
be giving one soon and small ones to those who look as if they will never hold one. The
megalith is always shaped by men from the village and they get pork for doing so. From
the river where it was found and carved, the stone is brought to the village by all the
men of the community, without exception. It is then carried round the village nine
times to symbolize pregnancy, before being erected in front of the house. The day of
the feast, which is the day the megalith is moved, the pork distributed and the meal
offered, is also the day of the intervention of the ere in charge of the ritual part of the
ceremony.
2. simbot: this second feast is again a reunion of family and village. No megalith is
erected, but a great meal of pig and hunks of raw pork are handed out, the
principle of discrimination always being respected in the sharing between those
who have held simbot and the others.
3. folau omo: the third feast concerns all the festive customs associated with the
construction of a traditional house These festivities go on during the whole
building period.
45
If the donor could not fulfill this duty during his lifetime, his son had to do so for him. The exchange process
therefore lasted for the whole life of an individual or his family.
46
Testimony recorded in the village of Hiliamaetaniha.
26
4. folau ana'a: the feast is given when the first gold ornaments are made: ear rings,
necklace, tiara or headband, bracelet, clothes ornaments, fake moustaches47. Again
the ceremony includes a meal and the distribution of hunks of pork.
5. famondri ana'a only takes place once all the gold ornaments required (according to
social category) have been fashioned. This feast is double: a first one is held when
the man's ornaments are completed, the second when the wife has hers. Again
there is a meal and a distribution of pork.
6. folau simbot a meal of pork exclusively reserved to those, in the feast giver's
community, who have already held the simbot feast.
7. foere: is the feast of the blessing of the megalith erected during the first feast. From
then on, those who have not yet given foere may no longer sit on this stone. Meal
and pork distribution also ends this ceremony.
8. fo ere ba gana: is in principle given at maturity and means the return of the pigs.
Everyone who has already taken part in the feasts, and has therefore been given
pork, must return it. The feast is announced in sufficient time to enable all
participants to raise pigs. The day of the feast all the pigs are measured alive, and,
once slaughtered, the necessary shares are presented to the recipient. This feast
relaunches and diversifies the exchange circuit at the village scale.
9. fali ono or mamowat ono: is offered for the wedding of a son or daughter. It is the
only feast which can be given several times and have its order changed.
10. fambalaia: like the next one, it is strictly reserved to the highest ranks of social
hierarchy. It can be given only by a si'ulu and implies the sharing of a large pig
(cooked and raw) between the village's family chiefs.
11. fondrli daro-daro: is the feast of "long time" and is exclusively for village chiefs. It
is held shortly before their death and a megalith (daro-daro: stone seat or bench) is
carved by a few men of the village, but carried by all and placed in front of the
chief's house. It is the biggest feast which may be offered, and corresponds to a
double obligation: for the feast giver to return everything he has received from the
villagers before dying, and for the latter as well as for his family and allies to pay
him homage with m bw, "the debt of gratefulness" materialized by a great
number of pigs. This feast lasts several days with large banquets and ends with a
distribution of raw pork, the main share going to the villagers, who then give a new
name of honour to their chief.
12. fanaro daro-daro, or funeral feast. If held for a chief, the latter is first exhibited on
his stone for a few days, to enable his allies, family and the villagers to be present.
They all come with food, pigs are of course slaughtered and this time everything
47
The number and weight of the jewels required depends on the social rank and varies according to the
customary law of villages.
27
must be eaten. On this occasion no new stone is erected. For the others (si'ila and
commoners), the daro-daro can only then be put in front of the house of the
deceased, man or woman. In all cases, the bodies are buried outside the village. The
children of the deceased provide the necessary pork. In the case of a chief, raw
meat is also handed out to the villagers, always through the gana who will do the
sharing.
In a temporary or permanent manner, all these feasts occupy or lay out the territory.
First, there are the two stones, batu nitaru and daro-daro representing every man in
his village, whereas only the daro-daro recalls the woman and this in her husband's
village. In this sense, megaliths are the memory of the village.
The feasts permeate the space of the village. The dancing and preparing of the pigs fills
the street. The guests sit on the stones or benches; they talk, laugh or sing, but mainly
carefully evaluate the pigs... One never eats on the street, so the houses of the village
are used for meals and if necessary the guests will sleep in them. In the whole village
ties are tightened and relations strengthened by a feast.
2. a feast cycle in the North
In the North, the feasts are attached to the notion of bosi. Feasts are held to maintain,
reaffirm or raise one's bosi.48 To keep his position, a man must give feasts throughout
his life. He shall do it in the following circumstances: at his marriage, at the death of
his father and mother, when building a house (in the village), to mark the
manufacturing of gold ornaments for his wife and for himself, for his daughter's
wedding. To honour his deceased father, he may erect a memorial stone which is
usually a non carved menhir.49 These feasts take place in the village context, and are
part of its organization through the construction of houses, and through the megaliths.
In the second case, the feasts are indispensable for access to power. Let us remember
that in the North, the access to a higher bosi implied the creation of a village, so as to
become its chief, or the founding of a ri. In this connection there are three feasts,
each with numerous sequences. In our example, we mention all the feasts a commoner
(bosi seven) must hold to reach supreme power.
1) owasa fama'oli zi fao ba gahe: enables to reach bosi eight and become an elder of
the village, satua mbanua. It also signifies "to start opening the road for creating a
new village". The feast giver must bring together twelve men, si fao ba gahe, the
core of the future village. This first step demands the gift of a pig, which will be
eaten by the twelve men together. Another sequence will repeat the first, but with a
larger pig. A third, where the chief will be informed of the intention to hold this
48
Testimony from Gunungsitoli area. The description given by R.R. Laoli (1981) correspond to our own
observations in that region as well as in other villages of the North.
49
Even if their result is a higher bosi, the feasts a son must give to attain the same level as his father, also enter
into this category. For instance, when an eldest son becomes family chief, at the death of his father, he must
organize a feast to acknowledge publicly his new status.
28
feast, will require the gift to him of gold and pork. The final ceremony is a reunion
of family, si fao ba gahe, and villagers. As token of honour, the chief and twelve
men each get a jaw.to hang in their house. Each of them is also given an uncooked
pig, whereas smaller hunks are offered to the villagers. This feast raises one's bosi
by one rung. Through the part he takes in the village assemblies once he is an elder,
the donor can show that in due time he will become a respected chief.
2) owasa fanaru' banua: is the feast organizing the construction of the new village.
The first stage brings together the si fao ba gahe to plan the future layout and begin
the clearing and building. The second stage decides on the place for the baths,
which involves more pigs. The third stage is the ritual announcement to the village
chief, that the new settlement is materializing. He must be presented with an
important gift of gold and pigs, which may be understood as a return of all the
benefits owed by the people leaving the exchange circle. A megalith, gowe tandra
mbanua is put up in the new village to establish its existence, requiring another
meal of pork offered by the postulant, who is promoted new chief. The last
sequence is a large feast bringing together not only the inhabitants of the new
village, but also of the neighbouring villages and the allied ones. Now the feast is at
the scale of the ri. Many pigs are eaten and handed out raw. This big feast
consecrates the new chief in the ri. His bosi is now at rung nine.
If he wants to raise his status further, he must offer another feast where an
anthropomorphic megalith, gowe salawa, will be placed. The largest stones of the
island are of this category. Some gowe salawa measure up to 4,20 metres and are
beautifully carved. They are set in front of the house of the feast giver, who will
now be called balugu50. Of course, the ceremony celebrating this passage implies
the slaughter of masses of pigs and brings the whole ri together.
3) owasa famasindro ri: if he has the financial and political capacity to do so, the
promoted chief can yet have a final celebration, the "feast to establish an ri", by
which he will become tuhenri, chief of the ri. He will then obtain the highest bosi
in his clan. At this stage, the tuhenri can also found a new clan, by splitting the
clan he belongs to. As cohabitation takes precedence over kinship, the village will
belong to a single clan, that of its chief. In certain ways, these festivities are similar
to fondrak. One might say that the owasa famasindro ri is both the festive part of
fondrak and its initiator's access to the supreme bosi. These different interwoven
aspects are probably realized in one feast only, similar to the others except for a last
sequence where the donor is carried through the village on a wooden seat, osa-osa.
The future tuhenri will have organized the village chiefs according to a hierarchy
specific to the ri. He will have chosen the tambalina, fahandrona, etc. A megalith
will have been erected for this feast, a simple menhir called gowe nri. Each
sequence will have demanded the usual numerous pigs.
50
The title of balugu is honorary and refers to the status of the person. It has no direct relation to the power.
There can be several balugu in one village. This being said, if all the village chiefs are not balugu, few of them are
not. Often, by the way, the name balugu is used as an equivalent of salawa (chief of the village).
29
When analysed, these feasts show the different territories and social spaces, from
the village to the ri, among which they take place and which they legitimate. The
flexibility of the social and political system which generates them is underlined by
the small number of really monumental works, such as entirely paved village
streets, major access stairs or groups of megaliths. The large chief's house, the
unique "strong" component, was only in the head village of the ri. As we shall see,
there is no layout of the village space through megaliths, such as in the South and
Centre. The few megaliths, compared to the recurrent pig offerings, confirm that
the latter are the real core of the feasts.
3. A feast cycle in the Centre
In the Centre, particularly in the present district of Gomo, there was a festive system
differing from what has been described previously, mainly in the number of megaliths
and their correlation with patriarchal organization. From one valley to another there
are variations as to the quality of the megaliths, but everywhere the recurrent themes,
other than marriage, were the feast for the woman, the feast for the man and the feast
for the parents.
Here again, according to rank (commoner, notable or chief), the number of feasts to be
held and the amount of pigs to be slaughtered change. At Orahili Gomo, the
commoners had up to three feasts, the notables six and the chiefs had to complete a
series of twelve. In this last series, described below, the final rungs imply establishment
of power.
As elsewhere on the island, marriage involves paying the bride's family bw in gold and
pigs, as well as giving more pigs to the villagers. Naming the first child entails a small
contribution of pigs too, but does not demand a megalith. These first two feasts are the
indispensable base for the coming ones, among other reasons because the amount of the
bw will be the measure for the future ceremonies. The following feasts will have another
name: from the third they will be owasa, in this sense meaning "feast to find a title, a
position".
l st owasa: the woman's feast. This ceremony is marked by the erection of a megalith
ni'ogazi, a round table with a central foot. On the day of the feast, the woman sits on the
ni'ogazi and enters the village singing in this position, carried by the men who place the
megalith in front of her house. The husband informs the village and the woman's family
who have all gathered51, that he is having his first owasa. The woman's father proposes a
new name of honour for his daughter, to be used only during feasts. The pigs, six at the
most, are eaten and shared raw among the guests. Gifts of gold are presented to the wife's
family, as an extension of the "bride price".
2 nd owasa: the man's feast. Another stone seat is carved, osa-osa ni'obh (seat with one
stag head). The progress of the ceremony will be the same as above with the same guests.
51
The guests are assembled before entering into the host-village singing. The women walk in front. The
procession has to be preceded by a living pig.
30
3 rd owasa: house building's feast. This ceremony takes place as soon as the dwelling is
completed, the construction having been punctuated by other festive performances
which are not owasa, in particular when building started and certain pillars were put
up.
4 th owasa: feast for the donor's father and mother, for himself and for his wife. This
ceremony is held about fifteen years later, the time needed to raise enough pigs and to
fatten two particular pigs sufficiently (sinuturu)52. It demands four megaliths, two osa-
osa si tlu bagi (seats with three stags' heads) one for the donor's father and one for
himself, and two ni'ogazi, for his mother and wife. On the day of the feast, the four
stones will be carried each with its recipient, who will respectively receive a new name
of honour. Hundreds of guests, from the village and allied villages, will be divided
among the houses of the village, where every group is allotted its place.
5 th owasa: feast of the man's and his wife's gold ornaments. It is the most important
ceremony as to the amount of pigs and expenses, as well as the number of megaliths.
In the course of years, all the required gold ornaments53 will have been made, for this
feast cannot take place before the series is complete. The number of stones and their
size is decided on. There will be a behu (an enormous menhir which needs hundreds of
men to transport it), an osa-osa, and a ni'ogazi, in total a maximum of six. The donor
will enter the village on the most important one, the behu. Two human heads, a male
and a female, must be buried at the base of this megalith. During the whole feast, the
couple will sit on the ni'ogazi placed in front of the behu, against which they can lean.
Again, they will receive new names of honour. In the course of this ceremony, masses
of pigs (ideally hundreds) are slaughtered and shared between the the villagers and
allies. Two sinuturu pigs are offered as during the former feast54, with a gift of gold
symbolizing that "the house is made", this as much to remember the factual
completion of the building, as to mark that, thanks to the erection of the behu, the
man has become balugu.
6 th owasa. It is held to mark the completion of the megalithic terrace harefa55, the
place where justice will be rendered and sentences applied. This for instance is where
the pigs corresponding to fines for transgression of customary law are slaughtered.
Two human heads must be buried under the harefa. During the feast, the balugu
52
The raising of a sufficient herd in one family is practically impossible, as much because the lack of land, as
because of the work implied in the fattening. Therefore, more than three to five pigs are rarely bred at once. As
the festive system can only function if a man can, at the right time, dispose of the necessary number of pigs, the
process instituted is borrowing against pig interest, through which the number of livestock can be made up
according to convenience.
53
These ornaments are usually :
for the woman : two earrings, one diadem, one necklace, one bracelet and a sarong embellished with gold leaves.
For the man : one earring, three head ornaments, one necklace, a sarong with a gold motif, a knife with a handle
and sheath, also enhanced with gold.
54
If the people they should have been presented to have died, their descendants will receive these signs of
honour.
55
This terrace is sometimes called osali, in reference to a round building formerly standing there, where the
debates concerning justice used to take place. This type of assembly hall, also noted in the North, has totally
disappeared, but the osali is still the symbol of Nias on flags and official stamps.
31
himself will kill the pigs to be eaten and shared, thereby symbolizing his power in the
implementation of punishment, particularly capital. Only the elders from the
neighbouring and allied villages, as well as the villagers and the family, will partake of
this feast.
7 th owasa, fondrni huwa, feast of the balugu's "white hair". The progress of this
"before dying" ceremony is very different from the former owasa: no stone nor other
material testimony, no particular gifts for the father, the wife and the maternal uncle
(or their descendents) no more name of honour. Only twelve pigs are shared raw
among the guests, the same who attended the 6th feast. The villagers will cook the
meat they have received and add rice to it, so as to render the required hospitality to
the balugu's guests, who will go away with their shares of raw pork. The whole village
will be host, in the balugu's name.
8 th owasa. This feast is identical to the previous one, but for the donor's wife's "white
hair".
9 th owasa fondrni mboha "he has no more teeth", can be compared to the two last
ones, but all the guests are relations. Only six pigs will be shared and unlike the other
ceremonies, will not have to be given back: they are "pigs for honour".
10 th owasa, fangazkhi hasi, feast for the "preparing of the coffin". When he feels he is
near to his grave, the old balugu holds this last feast, which brings together the people
from his village and allied families. Twelve pigs are necessary. The carpenter who has
made the coffin - which is kept in the house until the death - gets a pig's jaw. When
the balugu does die56, no new stone is carved and no tomb will mark the spot where he
is buried.
The description of this series of feasts explains the role of megalithism in the Centre. It
plays a capital part in the lay out of the village, where the dwellings are secondary. The
stones indicate everyone's status. Through them the Ono Niha of the Centre, more
than the others, express the "long time", the importance of the succession of
generations reunited in the megalithic corpus.
From a purely morphological point of view, the harefa terrace clearly structures the
layout of the village, being attached both to power - through justice rendered by the
balugu - and to alliances concluded, as seat of honour for the neighbouring visiting
chiefs.
56
Before the balugu dies, the family gets the two human skulls (male and female) required for the funeral. The
night after his death all the village gather to sing the praises of the deceased and dance. The next day, the corpse
is taken out of the house- through the opening of the roof- and laid in its coffin. After being walked round the
village nine times, accomanied by dancers, i twill be left on a wooden construction outside the village, until the
flesh has decayed. The skull is then taken back, washed, oiledand set on a dish or in a stone urn, and put in front
of the behu. The body is not buried but abandoned outside the village.
32
Another characteristic is that the megaliths are not concentrated near the chief's
house, but found throughout the village, for in the Centre the passage from one
category to another was possible. Those who were capable of producing the surplus
indispensable to hold feasts and of getting the approval of the villagers, could become
elders, and, circumstances permitting, to the rank of balugu in spite of their birth. The
Centre's spirit of creation appears in its stones, some of which are the finest works of
art.
Through the feasts we have attempted to consider both the structural mechanism and
more specific aspects. They seem flexible, some being modified according to
circumstances, others having completely changed or disappeared, replaced by
ceremonies inspired by Christianity or Indonesian nationalism57.
The traditional feasts are closely linked to a type of megalithism one might call
memorial. All megaliths are erected during these celebrations, except for the ones we
called urban furniture, sometimes noted in some villages of the South. However, as we
have seen, not all ceremonies engender megaliths. Although they are their most
spectacular expression and one lasting over the years, it should be remembered that if
stones mean feasts, they do not mean all feasts. The latter are intrinsically associated
with the social life of the village, as a means of insertion of the individual into the
group and a means of obtaining economic and political power. A feast cannot be
prepared within a few weeks or months, it needs years. If the final event only takes a
few days, it is simply the focal point of a long process. In the same way, the global
coherence of feasts can only be visualized over a long period, the lifetime of a man or
the history of a village or clan.
The establishment of space - village and house - materializes through the festive
system. On the whole island, at some time or other of the feasts, this theme appears. It
is not trivial and is sufficient to explain to what extent the Nias feast helps determine
space. In the corpus of feasts, their chronology and different sequences establish the
hierarchy and classification of places. The fondrak feast founds the village or the ri.
Within the villages, it is always feasts that produce megalithism, the main structural
element in the South and Centre. Feasts cannot be dissociated from the building of
dwellings either. They participate totally in the "landscape" of the island, which they
create and to which they give sense, they are the way by which Nias culture is built
both in reality and symbolically.
57
Like the National Day (August 17) which does not affect the Ono Niha space. It is mainly an administrative
commemoration and only celebrated by and for the children and to a certain extent the civil servants.
33
Fig. 2
Measures based on the human body:
fa okh (fa turu/Idangawo): size of small pig
Lito: hand extended/
Lito sakhi: thumb to last finger
Lito mani: thumb to 3third finger
nd
Lito lawa: thumb to 2 finger
st
Lito luo: thumb to 1 finger
Siu okh: arm hand closed/ sinadl: arm hand open
Sara taio: arm extended
Dfa gokh: two arms extended, hand to interior
Dfa nirau: two arms extended, fingers closed
Dfa adl: two arms extended, fingers extended
Differences can take place from one region to another, for example:
Dfa gokh (Idan Gomo), dfa deh (Idan Susua).
34
Chapter 4
HABITAT,SIMILARITIESANDDIFFERENCES
A DEFENSIVE HABITAT
T
he people of Nias Ono Niha were warriors, it is important to emphasize the fact.
Farming, of course, has always been practised on the island, either by free men
or slaves but, on the scale of traditional values, warlike qualities came first: the
concept of war before the concept of soil, manufacturing weapons (spears, swords,
shields, armour, etc.) before manufacturing tools, developing defense systems before
developing agriculture.
Unlike most other areas of Indonesia (particularly Bali where the most elaborate
system, subak,58 can be observed), planned paddy lands or other fields, and irrigation
systems are rare in Nias. Little importance given to agriculture in social practices also,
and there is no sequence dedicated to fertility rites59 in the cycle of feasts. Social and
political organization have no specific function associated with farming (as again in
Bali the head of the irrigation network, klian subak).
In consequence, soil is seldom predominant - practically never part of the description

of the village - on a spatial and structural plan, and on the whole island there are no
granaries. This is all the more noteworthy considering the importance (in every sense
of the word) of this type of building in most traditional villages of the archipelago,
whether Batak, Toraja or Balinese.
A warlike people, the Ono Niha showed genius in the lay out of their village space, but
did not develop their agriculture in any significant way. Land and dwelling are often
dissociated. The fields are distant from the village for several reasons: to allow a
defensive zone, to give the pigs roaming space, and because of the extensive and even
movable cultivation system.
However interpreted, the defensive factor is constant throughout the whole island. The
plan of the villages and conception of the houses reflect it. Nevertheless, the village
morphology only becomes clear through the approach of the social and political
structure, different according to the regions, as seen above. In the North, the
compulsory founding of a new village for anyone wanting to reach an upper rank, as
well as the links established with other villages of the same clan, generated an open
system of small groups all over the territory. The protection was perceived as a whole,
each unit only reinforcing its fortifications sporadically, when necessary. In the Centre
58
A subak regroup the rice terraces irrigated by one dam feeding a main canal, territorially, and all the farmers
working on this irrigated surface, socialy. This system has been widely studied (Geertz 1959).
59
Although there was the offering of the first rice to the statue of the ancestor, sometimes with a family feast.
This practice still exist, but modified, the first rice being presented to the priest for the Christian church.
35
and the South, each village is closed and permanently fortified almost as if
beleaguered. Small in the first case and medium sized in the second, the villages are
always separated by a relatively large territory. In each of them, from North to South, a
chief's house indicates authority.
As for the houses, if not fortified they are built to be defensible. On the entire island,
the oldest dwellings present the same characteristics. The pillars are two to three
metres high; the entrance is reached by a movable ladder leading to a strong trap door,
firmly shut at night and in case of danger. The living area level is inaccessible; its front
opening has sturdy bars through which the enemy's movements can be observed.
Ready for any eventuality, the young men used to sleep in this public room. A
barricaded door separated it from the private part, where the master's room was. Shut
and windowless, the latter was protected, as were the goods stored in it.
THE HOUSES: SIMILARITIES
Certain characteristics of all Nias traditional houses testify to the uniqueness of their
architecture. All the dwellings are in wood, built on pillars, have large two sided roofs
and slanted facades. They are all clearly divided into a public space (always frontal)
and a private space (in the back and sides). This constant can be observed in the oldest
houses as in the more recent ones, and even in the non traditional examples60.
The other factors common to Ono Niha, buildings are the way they are adapted to
earthquakes and climatic conditions, the choice of materials, the measuring system
and the tools used.
Adaptation to earthquakes
To resist the frequent tremors in the area, the Ono Niha have found an original
solution, unique in the world of vernacular architecture, as far as we know. All the
houses are set not only on a series of vertical pillars, but also on slanting piles (ndriwa),
thereby creating a very resistant three dimensional structure which, not being
anchored into the ground, allows the necessary flexibility.
In the South, the slanting piles lean against each other at their base and at their top fit
into the horizontal beams placed under the floor of the house itself. They are set both
along, and across the building. A similar structure can be noted in the roof, but only
transverse oblique purlins, crossing in their centre, lean at their upper and lower ends
on the vertical and horizontal parts of the framework. If the soil moves, the slanting
elements of the superstructure and of the understructure will strengthen the
construction and ensure the stability of the whole61.
60
This bipartition is relatively frequent in the archipelago, but far from generalized. On Sumatra the Karo Batak
dont have it.
61
We were able to check this at the beginning of 1985. An earthquake had just shaken the South of the island and
several administrative buildings (in cement, bricks, boards) had been severely damaged at Trelukdalam. The police
station even collapsed. Not a single traditional house had the slightest injury.
36
In the Centre, the system is much the same, although often there are no raking shores
in the roof.
In the North, the slanting piles do not lean against each other but cross in the middle,
and their base stands on a stone. The top ends are embedded in the horizontal beams
which support the floor of the house. This two way oriented system - transverse and
longitudinal - functions in a rather different way as on the rest of the island. The
oblique piles behind the facade are placed lengthways. The slanting piles under the
middle of the house are often placed crosswise, and above all are ballasted in their
centre by logs or blocks of stone, so as to increase the stability of the whole. There is
no wind bracing in the roof.
This resistance system nevertheless has its limits and some accounts of the XVIIIth and
XIXth centuries mention villages totally destroyed by violent earthquakes (Modigliani
1890:112).
Adaptation to climatic conditions
The frequent rains and constant humidity (Nias is on the Equator) would render
unadapted dwellings most unhealthy. Over the whole island, the houses are built on
high pillars standing on stone slabs and therefore less liable to rot.There are no
foundations, the slabs are just laid flat on the ground. A wide overhanging roof
protects the space round the house, which is slightly higher than the natural ground,
cobbled and delimited by a paved ditch ensuring the rain drainage. The steep roof
ensures a fast flow off of water, and the overhanging, less sloped part, makes it fall at a
distance. Thanks to several thicknesses of leaf covering, the roof cladding is quite
waterproof.
At village level, in the South the central street between the houses is partly or even
completely paved. In the Centre, it usually has at least a paved passage in its middle, so
as to allow crossing the village without going through mud. In the North, such
solutions are seldom found.
A good ventilation inside the habitable part of the house avoids humidity. Movable
panels in the roof control the quantity of air and light entering the house. The upper
section of the walls is often openwork, and the long frontal opening, although it does
not let in much light, permits air flow. As humidity is likely to favour vermin and
parasites in the organic cladding and woodwork of the roof, its volume gets continually
smoked, thanks to the indoor hearth with no chimney. Finally, the free space between
the piles enables the bottom of the house to be aired.
The small openings in the facade, the large overlap and the movable panels of the roof
also protect the inside of the house from the sun. The large volume of continually
changing air inside the roof keeps the hot air from stagnating. The difference of
temperature inside and outside is only a few degrees, but with good ventilation and
shade, it is enough to feel comfortable.
37
Throughout the island the roof ridges are reinforced by crossed poles of wood or
bamboo attached to the roofing material for wind resistance. The many rafters and the
battening on which the roofing panels are tied ensure the cohesion of the whole roof.
What is more, the steep angle of the latter prevents the panels being lifted in case of
strong wind.
Materials and their use
Traditional houses are entirely built from vegetal materials and their use shows a deep
understanding of their properties. The wide variety of woods used hardly vary from
one area to another. Everywhere, the manawa dan, a very dense timber, is preferably
chosen for pieces needing to resist strong vertical pressure, whereas the afoa seems
more appropriate against fire. Bamboo or palm tree ribs are selected when flexibility is
required. Among the vast choice of leaves, only sago is used out for the roof cladding.
On the whole island, the latter is made of preassembled panels, and not of sheaves
attached to the framework. The construction of a traditional house excludes nails and
screws; the different parts are joined and pegged, binding being applied exclusively for
the roofing.
Measuring system and tools
Measures are expressed by units relating to the human body, a practice found over
most of Southeast Asia. They therefore refer to the men of Nias, whose average height
is about 1,60 metres. Simple when only using one dimension, they can also combine
several62.
The carpenter uses rather basic tools: a separator, zuzu, as a wedge to open the logs;
long saws to cut up the boards; a hatchet, fato; a long machete, belewa, to carve beams
and boards; an adze, rimbe; a plane, sundru; wood scissors, fah, to cut the joints; a
hardwood mallet, bagowah, to peg and embed; a mallet, fanutu laso, to fit in wall
panels vertically; an ink string, kaka mbana or omo mbana, both marker and plumb
line.
These tools, still used nowadays, are certainly not all local inventions, be it only
because the Ono Niha had no iron ore. Most of them were probably borrowed from the
European stock during the early contacts. However, they are now so well integrated
that their different origins are lost and all the tools are considered traditional.
62
The smallest correspond to the width of a palm, the largest to open arms. This method of measuring is only
used in construction.
38
THE HOUSES: DIFFERENCES
Certain architectural features show variations in the interpretation of the common

cultural background. If some differences look purely formal - oval house in the North
and rectangular in the South and Centre - more important dissimilarities appear after
an analysis of their layout. In the North, a dispersed location of the buildings seems
perfectly appropriated to the oval, and in the South the quadrangular compatible with
adjoining houses, but why in the Centre, where the houses are independent, does the
rectangular plan prevail? As social practices do not justify these building methods, the
explanation must come from the conception itself. Therefore we have established
typologies, taking into account both the construction principles and the decoration of
the houses.
The selected criteria for the model type of Niha house construction principles are
those influencing the conception and the statics of the building: the pillar
understructure, the walls, the framework, the roofing ridge pole and its method of
bearing. To simplify, we shall use the terms house of South, Centre and North to
design the different types drawn from the analysis, thereby largely covering the main
geographical areas previously defined.
pillars' understructure
In all cases it is braced, but there are slight differences in the layout of the wind braces.
In the South, the floor never extends beyond the vertical pillars. The lateral rows of
piles end under the floor and support all the gables. There is no line of piles in the
central lengthways axe of the house.
In the Centre, the floor extends laterally beyond the pillars. Every other pile of the
crosswise lines goes up to the first level of the framework at the outside of the latter, to
prevent the gables from tipping. There is always a middle longitudinal row of piles.
In the North, the floor only overhangs the pillars to mark the oval curve. The piles end
under the floor, except for the four main supports, the silal yawa of the central
nucleus, which go through the floor itself and up to the framework.
walls
In the South, the walls carry the framework extending the side piles, they are
components of the gables.
In the Centre, the walls are eccentric both in regard to the pillars and the framework,
and have no supporting function. They are just partitions on a frame.
In the North, the walls do not bear the framework; they are made of panels disposed
like a rigid independent basket between floor and framework.
39
structure
In the South, the structure is entirely carried by the lateral walls. The side frames are
components of the gables, and the central frames rest on transverse beams held by the
lateral walls. All the frames are braced.
In the Centre, the structure is carried on by a frame fixed on the floor, inside the lateral
beams, and directly supporting the side frames. The central frames bear this skeleton
by transverse beams. The frames are sometimes wind braced.
In the North the framework is carried on by four pillars, silal yawa, starting from the
ground. Four other piles, standing on the interior floor, contribute to bearing the load.
The frames of the structure are not braced.
ridgepole and its bearing method
In the South, the gables carry the ridgepole, by means of a median kingbolt fixed at the
top of the upper frames.
In the Centre, the ridgepole is supported by two median piles, starting from the
interior floor of the framework skeleton.
In the North, the ridgepole rests on two piles set at median axis on the interior floor,
inside the square formed by the silal yawa.
As we can see, the architecture of Nias is strongly structured, although the

construction methods vary.
In the South, the gables could be considered bearing walls, from a static point of view.
This is a limit case of skeleton structure construction.
In the Centre, the skeleton is easier to define, as the framework is carried by the entire
pile understructure, forming a sort of base with the floor.
In the North, the construction is structured with punctual loads, the framework mainly
resting on the silal yawa.
There are three distinct methods of building. These different types are stressed by the
decoration, which is usually on the visible parts: the facade and public hall.
In the South, there is an evident difference between the highly ornate chiefs' houses,
and the far less adorned commoners' dwellings. The understructure has no decoration
at all.
In the Centre, the difference between chief's house and commoner's dwelling is not as
striking. They are both lavishly embellished, including the pillars of their
understructure. On the whole, the dwellings of the Centre are the most ornate.
40
In the North, the understructure of all houses is usually decorated. The difference
between commoner's and chief's house is the latter's indoor carvings, and a more
profuse general motif.
In spite of many common characteristics, the houses of Nias, considering their

different building, decoration, and layout concepts, must be classified in three
categories, North, Centre and South. This explains the division of the present
publication in three separate descriptive parts.
41
42
Second part:
HABITATINTHENORTH
CHAPTER 1
THE VILLAGES' OPEN LAYOUT
T he villages are generally small (from a few houses to a few dozen), but more
important settlements do exist.64
The oldest ones are distant from the roads, built on small hills and nestling in thick
vegetation. They used to be surrounded by a triple fence for protection. This enclosure
was made first of a high bamboo wall, then of thorny bushes and finally a line of
closely planted trees, occasionally replaced by an earth wall. The entrance was guarded
day and night and sheltered by a prickly bush65 These defenses disappeared relatively
early, which made visitors at the beginning of the century think that the North was
peopled by former slaves escaped from the South and looking for distance and
quietness (Schrder 1917: 94). One may nevertheless wonder if the ri organization -
the village only being part of a more important whole - is not more likely to explain
why these fortifications were less developed than elsewhere and to justify their early
removal.
Most villages one comes across today are recent (a few generations only) and are
settled along the roads. Generally, their limits are not physically determined. Some
houses may be clustered together, others being a hundred metres or even further.away;
therefore they stay open, extensible according to need. They can lie either on top or
along the hills and sometimes even on flat land near the rivers.
ORIENTATION OF THE VILLAGES AND HOUSES
Topographical constraints determine the orientation. Neither in practice nor in speech

does it emerge forth that the direction of the village has any symbolic connotation. The
villages on top of hills are generally displayed according to the line of the crest.
64
Onolimbu Lahmi, the largest village of the western part of the island, has 1750 inhabitants and over a hundred
houses. Onowaembo Tlamera on the Idanoj river south of Gunungsitoli, has 600 inhabitants living in several
hamlets. The old core has only 21 houses (1980).
65
Few authors mention these fortifications (von Rosenberg 1878 : 148), whereas the testimonies concerning the
South insist on this characteristic.
43
Those built on hillsides may be oriented east-west, or south east/north-west66.
Nevertheless, houses must be oriented, which is not the case in the South; if they were
not, "people would become ill and be unhappy". To avoid this, it is forbidden to place
the rooftop east-west, in other words in the sun-rising sun-setting axis, or at right
angle to it. An intermediary position should always be found, for instance north-
east/south west.
MORPHOLOGY OF THE VILLAGE
Layouts can be multiple. Several villages can be gathered on the same site. For
instance, Onolimbu Lahmi and Sisobambowo, although politically distinct, form one
big dwelling unit. On the other hand, groups of buildings on a relatively vast territory
can belong to a single village.
The oval houses are set close to one another, their semi-circular ends facing each other
and their facades opening onto the main street, which for the Niha is more like a
square. It is rare to find more that half a dozen such oval dwellings in one village. The
central space of the square is seldom paved, often muddy and overrun by high grass.
The houses are built on small mounds or on oval cobbled platforms bound by
rainwater ditches (eno'o). The surface sheltered by the roof is used for domestic tasks
or as storage space. In front of the duct is the social space with the megaliths. These
usually uncarved stones are of three types: menhirs (simatua gowe) for the men ; large
flat slabs (si'alawe) for the women and high (up to three to four metres)
anthropomorphic figures (gowe ni'oniha-niha) for the chiefs who acceded to the
supreme title of balugu. The latter megaliths are often on funerary terraces (lewat) for
the balugu, who were the only ones to rightfully be buried inside the village 4. Finally,
the entrance of the village used to be protected by two wooden or stone statues, one
male and one female (Modigliani 1890:639; Rosenberg 1878:148).
The large chiefs' dwellings, standing approximately in the centre of the villages, were
recognizable by their size and the numerous carvings on the piles (sometimes fluted
and of a greater diameter that the other pillars of the structure) supporting their
fronts, as well as by the importance of their megaliths very old - between five and nine
generations - they have decayed through lack of upkeep. The last one was in Onolimbu
Lahmi, in the west part of the island. Those houses were at the same time citadels,
arsenals, assembly houses and temples. The quality of their construction, their
resistance, the sumptuousness of their ornamentation and the profusion of statues
inside them much impressed early visitors or soldiers whose task was to destroy them
(anonymous, 1880:748-51; Kramer 1890: 473-4; Fehr 1901: 11; Wegner 1915:35). The
present chiefs' houses, even though they still have certain of the required attributes,
are no longer as monumental.
66
Out of a selection of 24 villages, 14 are oriented North-South, 6 East-West, 3 follow the axe South/East-
North/West and only one oriented North/Est-South/West.
44
The descriptions of last century (Fehr 1901:10) and the analysis of old photographs
show other components of the villages which have now disappeared.
On the megalithic terraces there were wooden statues with forked headdresses
stuck in the ground or set in front of the stones.
In the middle of the square, on a mound made of logs and stones, there was a
small construction, the osali. A row of statues, both stone and wood, stood under a
palm-roof (Wegner 1915:33)67.
Near the chief's dwelling, was the assembly house called ar gosali or osali68. It was
a round building without walls, differing from all other constructions by its unique
central pillar, carrying the conically disposed rafters of the roof and therefore
without any ridgepole, unlike the other Niha structures. Nowadays, the assemblies
are held in the chief's house.
In the area of the river Moro', on the west coast, there was a typical tomb called
simalao in front of the chief's dwelling (Donleben 1848-180; Von Brenner Felsach
1890:305; Schrder 1917:305 and fig. 211-213, 215; Schnitger 1941-42: fig. 22).It was a
house in miniature, with an oval roof sheltering the coffin which could be placed
either under or in it. The building, without walls, was painted in bright colours.
The motif consisted of a frame of triangles (bola nafo, symbol of tradition) with
rosettes (niobawa, symbol of society), and stylized trees or human figures in the
middle. Inside the construction stood numerous statues describing the life of the
man and his wife, according to Schrder, but guarding the tomb, according to
Brenner Felsach69. This may have been temporary funeral architecture, comparable
to that of the Toraja in Celebes or the Dayak in Borneo, and very frequent in the
Indonesian archipelago.
Another unit of a modern village, if it has a weekly market, is a place dedicated to it

outside the village, usually near one of its entrances. Shelters are sometimes built to
display the travelling merchants' and farmers' goods. Finally, not far from the village,
there is always at least one church, if not more, to satisfy the proselytism of the
different communities, as well as a school, which may serve several villages.
67
Contradictory information do not enable to specify if it was an altar, a temple for an ancestor figure, or a
memorial connected with feasts. According to Palmer Van den Broek, the chiefs were buried under the osali
(Schrder 1917 : 306).
68
The same word osali designs two different buildings, thereby creating a certain confusion for many writers who
assimilate them both as a temple. To make things even more complicated, in the South the assembly house is
called bale whereas the cemetery is called osali.
69
Nowadays Christian chiefs tombs are found in the same place. They may have a similar symbolic signification in
the organization of the villages space.
45
THE VILLAGE AND ITS TERRITORY
Formerly, when new villages were created by the splitting of old ones, there was still
free land available. As soon as there was a settlement in a new area, the territory was
recognized, and coconut or banana trees were planted to bound it. The families then
cleared the fields of the area, according to their needs. The farming zones, taken from
the wild forest, grew little by little. The ground was used for only one crop and then
left to lie fallow for seven years. A tree was planted to mark one's right of use.
Now that the population is more important and the villages settled, the whole territory
is cultivated and the plots determined more permanently. If someone needs fields for
his subsistence, he can either ask the chief of customs to give him a vacant piece of
land for a short period, and in exchange do certain tasks for the community, or directly
acquire the land from a villager.
Near the villages are the gardens, often fenced. The paddy fields may be many
kilometres away, compelling the peasants to stay there for several days at a time, so
they erect small temporary sheds, halama. During the rice harvesting, granaries (ose)
are build in the fields. Then the rice is transferred to the stocks of the village houses70.
In the extreme North, crops are particularly well protected, and in general farming
more efficient than elsewhere on the island. The gardens and fields are carefully
enclosed. There are two types of palings: one for the paddy fields made of woven
bamboo.for the purpose of supporting the earth to limit erosion; the other for the
village, gardens or possibly nearby fields, made of bamboo or wood, as a protection
from wandering livestock. For the same reason, low barriers close off the access paths
to the village.
Bamboo conduits sometimes convey the water needed for domestic use from a spring
to the village. Usually however, water is fetched at the place where one bathes, the
men upstream and the women downstream from the nearby river.
70
In fact, rice was seldom eaten but kept for feasts or exported. The everyday food was cassava and sweet potato.
46
47
48
Fig. 6 North Nias, ri organisation (according to Samson 1936)
Open system in continued evolution through time.

ri huku composed of:
ri A: Red: Mother village (tuhenri village), give way to ri B1 and B2 new villages.
ri B1 & B2: Red/green: daughter village A & mother village B2; daughter village A (salawa) &
mother village B1. Give way to villages B1 & B2.
ri C: yellow: one B2 daughter village becomes C mother village and thus a new ri C is created.
In which daughter villages will be created.
49
50
Chapter 2:
OVALHOUSE:ASOLUTIONUNIQUEINTHEARCHIPELAGO
T
he house of the North is different from those of all other areas, both in shape
and building conception. It is oval - a unique structure in the archipelago, the
only other few examples being Oceanic - and often has subsequent rectangular
extensions adjoining the semi-circular sides or the back. Sometimes a storey has even
been added inside the roof. These developments are possible without modifying the
skeleton of the basic oval, as the original unit's walls have no bearing function. The
framework and whole roof rest only on the four central pillars going up from the floor.
This mode of construction, with point load, allows structure or walls to be modified,
thereby enabling alterations required by the family.
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
Old documents show that such houses existed all over the north of a line between the
rivers Gid and Gawo in the east, along the river Lahmi to the west, and between the
rivers Oyo and Moi in the centre. Although most dwellings of the area were of that rare
oval type, few authors having worked in Nias give information on the architecture of
this part.71
The dimensions, in particular the height of the pillars, the layout and the decoration,
vary with the location, the period of construction, and the rank of the owner. The
oldest houses of today, now often in a poor state, date back to eight or nine
generations (about two hundred years). They are built on piles up to three metres
high. The entrance is under the building and closed by a sturdy trap door, reached by a
ladder. There are still such intact or slightly modified dwellings in the villages near
Gunungsitoli (Siwahili, Hiliana'a), in the central hills (Lalai Satua, Onowaembo Idanoi)
and along the rivers Oyo (Llzirugi), Moro' and Lahmi (Onolimbu, Sisobambowo).
71
Let us mention von Rosenberg (1863 :31-34, 37), Modigliani (1890 : 177, 570, fig. 11, 12, 150, 151), Kramer
(1882 : 5-6), Fries (1915 : 152-3), Schrder (1917 : 122-123, 126-127), Fisher (1909 : 24-26, fig. 3, 4), an anonymous
article describing the destruction by the Dutch troops of a big vhiefs house near Gunung Sitoli (1880 : 749), and
Feldman (1977 : 72-78).
51
The most recent oval houses are about fifty years old, as, considering their cost and the
lack of necessary dimension and quality wood, no more are built nowadays. They are
strong and well maintained, with piles between 1.20 and 1.60 metres. The access is
through a verandah or a ladder along one of the half-round sides of the building. Such
houses are rare north of Gunungsitoli (in some villages there are none), whereas
around Gunungsitoli and up to the Idanoi river basin to the east, and along the Moro
and Lahmi rivers to the west, there are many more. In the areas between
Gunungsitoli and Alasa, and between the Moi and Oyo rivers, they are again less
frequent.
The oval dwellings lie mainly in the interior, on the heights, near the remaining
forests. The houses on the coast are mostly Malayan type72, due to a long period of
diverse peopling - Acehnese pirates, Malay and Chinese merchants, European colonials
- who imported other living customs.
PRELIMINARIES TO THE BUILDING
The new house will be built on a free plot of land inside the village or nearby. If the
future owner is a member of the village, he must ask his family for the use of an
allotment; if he is foreign, he must first ensure his integration by offering the required
contributions in feasts and pigs. The builder gathers all the male members of his family
and informs them of his plan. They beg the spirits of their ancestors to intercede with
the gods for the success of the enterprise and each one's contribution to the
construction (money, rice, pigs or labour) is discussed.
The builder then finds a suitable spot. This must be done on an auspicious day,
according to the moon cycle73. He clears a small space, plants a stick of green wood
and prays the gods to tell him if the place is suitable. What he dreams of during the
next night will be determining; clear water and coconut trees will be positive, for
example, whereas floods, earthquakes or snakes, to mention only a few possibilities,
will be negative. In the latter case, he will be compelled to find another plot. (Kramer
1883).
Once the spot is chosen, the builder and his son go to the forest to choose the trees for
the four main pillars (silal yawa) which are to bear the house. When the trees are
selected, they call for the villagers to fell them and bring them to the village. This
operation must again be done on a favourable day74 and the logs transported then and
there, whereas the trees used for the other elements of the building can be cut down
anytime.
72
By Malay houses we mean the square dwellings in planks or cement, standing on the ground or on low posts,
covered by a two side roof in corrugated iron. The doors and windows are shut by movable planks vertically
assembled. This type of building is found all over Southeast Asia.
73
On the 8th or 12th day of the lunar month (Modigliani 1890 : 506)
74
on the 4th, 8th, or 12 day of the lunar month.
52
Back from the forest, the builder invites the villagers to a meal75, and asks for the
carpenters to be fetched from the village or the neighbourhood. For this first common
celebration, four pigs are killed. The first one of 45 kilo, is for the head carpenter and
his assistants. A cooked half is served to them, and the legs they take home. The
second one, smaller, is devoted to the gods; to do so it is cooked and eaten by all
present, the jaw76 being shared between the village chief and the chief of customs77.
The third swine weighing 120 kilos is shared, cooked, among the villagers. This time,
the jaw is given to the chief of traditions only. The fourth pig, the same size as the
previous one, is for the sisters and married daughters (therefore living in another
village), whose husbands are going to help in the construction. Half of it is cooked and
eaten, and the other half taken home raw. After the meal, the men gather with the
chief of tradition, who acts as intermediary to fix the salary of the head-carpenter and
his assistants, in keeping with the rank of the client. The latter will also give some
money for their respective village chiefs78.
Once the gods have again been called upon to bless the enterprise, the head-carpenter
divides the tasks of felling and shaping the pieces between his assistants. First they
square the logs for the silal yawa, but all the parts are prepared before the assembling
starts. When everything is ready, the head-carpenter informs the owner, who then
gives the order to start the construction on the suitable day, depending on the moon
cycle, and according to the time when the trees were cut down79.
CONSTRUCTION
The day before the construction starts, the owner and his family, the chief of traditions
and the head carpenter all go and look at the chosen allotment. The latter asks the
proprietor where exactly he wants his house, and the spot is marked by four stakes
joined by a string, held both by the chief of tradition and the carpenter, who now
shows the owner where the silal yawa will be put up. Flat stones from the river are
placed at these four points. The complete operation is called fondrl tali.80
75
Information given by the chief of Onowaembo Tlamaera village and refers to a chefs house, as far as festive
requirements are concerned.
76
The pigs jaw is the morsel offered to a high ranking guest, to whom respect must be shown.
77
In present day villages, ehen the chie fis not sufficiently familiar with customary law, one of the elders acts as
chief of tradition .
78
all payments involving tradition cannot be given directly. They must be settled through an intermediary, in this
case the chief of traditions.
79
For instance, if the trees have been cut on the 4th day of the lunar month, the construction can only begin on
the 8th or 12th day.
80
The fondrl tali was 5 grammes of gold for the head carpenter and for the chief of tradition and 2 pigs of ten
kilo each (for the construction of Onowaembo Tlamaera chiefs house).
53
The next morning very early, the carpenter and the men of the family and village
gather by the future house. Before dawn, they must erect the central nucleus of the
framework. The different components, the silal yawa, and some of the ehomo and
silt are pre-assembled and temporarily tied together on the ground, before being set
up and fixed by shores, dolo-dolo. Then the laliw are laid onto the silt, to
strengthen the whole structure.
The women and the guests come at the end of this first stage, demanding that the
owner kill and share six pigs81 The gods are again addressed to protect the carpenters
from illness and accidents during the building (Kramer 1883). The owner gives the
latter two and a half grammes of gold, before they go home to wait for the next good
working day, at the earliest four days later. After this rest, the head-carpenter and his
assistants begin the assembling, a task they will do on their own.
understructure
The last ehomo pillars are then placed, starting with those on the outside and their
respective silt. The ehomo are notched at their top, to enable the housing of the
silt on them; they rest on flat stones, dao-dao gehomo, to make up for the
unevenness of the ground.
Joists, laliw, are fixed by halflap joint crosswise on the silt - in the sense of the
depth of the house - together creating a rigid frame. Bracing the whole structure, there
are two types of diwa [ndriwa], the ones set behind the faade, diwa fatuwua, and the
ones under the centre of the house, diwa sonoro.
This three dimensional skeleton is very resistant, both to side pressure due to
earthquakes82 and to vertical load83.
superstructure
The four pillars silal yawa form the framework of the central nucleus, from the
ground to the first level of the roof structure; they go through the floor and in fact
support the whole building, this adding a symbolic aspect to their static role. From the
floor up, the framework is also borne by four angle posts, tarunahe, and two central
posts, tarumbumbu, onto which the ridge pole, botombumbu, is embedded. Transverse
joists, alisi, are pegged onto the top of the silal yawa and tarunahe. Longitudinal joists
of different lengths, sanari, determining the curve of the side ends of the roof, are laid
on the alisi, above the two rows of pillars.
81
The first pig weight 25 kilos and will be shared raw among the villagers. The second one will be cooked for
everyone to eat. The 4 last pigs are cut up and raw meat given to all villagers, the husbands of the sisters and
daughters of the owner, and the carpenters.
82
This static characteristic is well known and applied by the Niha at least since the beginning of the 19th century.
83
one hundred and fifty men could move in quick time without creating any vibrations in the building. It is a
proof not many constructions in Europe could bear (Anonymous, Das Ausland 1880 : 748-751)
54
Two purlins running lengthways, buat, are assembled at halving joint onto the front
and back ends of the crosswise joists resting on the silal yawa. They act as pole plates
and carry the pegs of the straight sections of the roofing. Thereby a first roof floor is
obtained, often to be used for stocking boards, mats or small bark silos. The
framework's number of levels depends on the rank of the owner; generally there are
between three and five, but the old large chiefs' houses have up to seven.
The two central posts, tarumbumbu, are now placed; they lean onto the thick floor
plates directly supported by the laliw. Finally the ridgepole is adapted84 after which
the two gables of the frame are mounted at right angle of the tarumbumbu. They
consist of vertical puncheons, famani, embedded in the inferior joist and carrying the
joist of the upper level, called buat famani from the second level of the roof upwards.
The buat famani, becoming shorter and shorter, are strengthened by longitudinal
buat (thereby creating a frame at each level) which bear the pegs.
Crosswise to the buat famani and resting on the latter at every level, a series of
lengthways joists, sanari, of different sizes draw the roundness of the roof. Once all
this heavy structure is settled, bamboo dies of thick diameter famah, curved to fit the
side edges of the roof, are attached to the end of the sanari and the buat at every
level.
intermediate structure
Now the facades are put up. The oval is obtained first by the understructure's laliw,
their different lengths determining the limit of the semi-circular sides. Secondly, pieces
also called laliw, embedded in the vertical face of a longitudinal plank, folang85
contribute by their different joining angles to rounding the front and back facades.
Four low dies, two lengthways siba and two half-round famah join the heads of the
laliw. The semi-circular shape of the dies is obtained by halving joint assembly of
several units. The vertical frames, tuwugahe, and the carved front pieces, tuwugahe
ni'olasara, are housed on these dies.
Between these frames the horizontal boards, assembled by tongue and groove joint,
form the wall, bagol, and the battens of the lengthways window, zara-zara. Finally, an
upper longitudinal die, henede'u, and another half round one, famah, are fixed on top
of the frames of the walls, and give rigidity to the whole construction.
84
at this stage of the building, the carpenter is paid again : 2,5 silver coins when the taru mbumbu is erected and
5 silver coins and a pig when the ridgepole is placed.
85
The folang (folan) is in fact a laliw of the understructure, enabling to differentiate the front platform from
the central part at the level of the upper floor.
55
covering
Now the pegs of the roof, gas matua, are set, crossing at the top and resting on the
ridgepole. They are of thick bamboo and their flexibility enables them to curve86. The
bamboo belt of the roof, timba gahe zag, is tied to the bottom of the pegs. A
battening, lahare' gas, is attached to the pegs, spaced according to the roof panels'
width.
When the covering of the roof starts, lasagi, the whole village, men and women, are
invited to help. The panels, bulu zaku, are made of folded sago leaves sewn onto split
bamboo; this ensures their stiffness and enables them to be fastened onto the
battening with rattan ties, mosu-mosu. To render the covering waterproof, double
panels are placed overlapping, both vertically and horizontally, the result being six
layers thick. Due to the rain, the panels rot, and are therefore perishable. They require
periodical replacement; the ones of the slightly slanted bottom part of the roof are
changed every three to five years, and the others every twenty to twenty-seven years. It
needs about three thousand panels for the complete roof. The inside of the dwelling is
now sheltered87, and to thank everyone for their assistance, the owner offers a meal at
which pigs are shared88.
interior fitting out
Once the building is under a roof, the interior arrangements can begin. The floor
panels are laid, fafa or salo, with an hole for the access trap, bagi nora, and its ladder,
ora. Next, the floor of the platform, sinata, and then the walls between the rooms, oto-
oto, are placed. The public front space, sibaulu or talu zalo, is thereby created, as well
as rooms for the family, sibakha or bate'e. The carpenter provides openings in the roof.
Movable parts, tuwutuwu, will close them at night or when it rains. He then adjusts the
end of the panels of the overlapping roof, to give it a regular shape. He installs the
kitchen, naha nawu, and its hearth, awu89. Finally, he places the bench, lawalawa,
along the facade of the front space. The house can be lived in. The head-carpenter now
gets a salary, for himself and his assistants, for all the work done.Furthermore he
receives 20 grammes of gold and other gifts.
86
In a steep slope for the upper part between the ridge and the pole-plates, and in a slight slope for the bottom
part.
87
unlike the custom in the South, no temporary roof is put up when the construction start.
88
The owner kills 8 pigs: one is for the carpenters, half of it raw the other half cooked. The pieces are packed in a
banana leave with rice. The 7 other pigs are slaughtered and cut up. 24 kilos of raw pork are given to the chief of
the tradition and 1 kilo to everyone who helped to fix the roof covering. The remains are cooked for a meal shared
by all present.
89
During this last stage, the head carpenter receives a special gift at each step of the construction. When he has
finished the ladder the owner gives him 5 silver coins. For the roofs movable panels he receives another 5 and a
pig of about 10 kilos. After straightening the roof covering he gets 2,5 silver coins and a small pig. Finally when
the hearth is installed, he is given another small pig or a chicken.
56
necessary construction time
Between the time the silal yawa were erected, and the completion of the building, a
year at least has passed. Of course it may take longer, depending on the financial
means of the owner, for the feasts which must accompany the work demand a lot of
pigs, rice and palm wine. The owner may have to stop the work for several months or
even years, until he has managed to gather the required goods for the next step.
Sometimes he never manages to finish his house.
HOUSE OCCUPANCY CEREMONIES
Before the family can live in the dwelling, the carpenters must sleep and prepare a
meal in it. Women are banned from the new house before the occupancy ceremony
has taken place.
The owner gives the carpenters a ten kilos pig and rice they may not redistribute.
Before dawn, on the day of occupancy, they must get rid of the left-overs and banana
leaves, used as plates, in the forest. In the afternoon, the owner comes to his house.
The head carpenter will be waiting at the door, on top of the ladder. He holds out his
hand and takes him inside, then does the same for the owner's wife and finally for the
rest of the family. In the evening, the family "warms" the dwelling by preparing a meal.
A ten kilo pig is killed and eaten with the carpenters, after which everyone sleeps in
the new house.
The next day, the proprietor invites his family and the villagers and kills six pigs90.
When the rice is ready, family, villagers and carpenters all eat together. Only the
family and the carpenters now stay in the house for the consecration ceremony. For
this ritual, the owner takes a plate and puts boiled water and twenty pieces of silver or
ten grammes of gold into it. Everyone sits around him and he asks the carpenters to
pray the gods for himself and his family. The head carpenter takes the plate, sprinkles
water onto everybody and then into every room, begging the gods to bless the dwelling
and its inhabitants. The water left over is thrown outside and the carpenter takes the
money. The owner then calls his maternal uncle who repeats the procedure. He gives
him a plate with water and five pieces of silver or two and a half grammes of gold. The
uncle blesses the family, throws the left over water outside (through the opening in the
roof), and takes the money or gold. This rite is renewed by the father of the owner. The
ceremony ends when a last pig of about sixty kilos, and a share of rice for each, have
been offered to the carpenters.
90
A pig, of which half is cooked, is given to the carpenters. A second one is cooked and eaten by the villagers. 4
are for the owners family, half a pig being cooked and eaten. The other half, raw, is taken back home by each
member of the family.
57
Comparing the old writers' accounts with our information, has enabled us to confirm
certain facts.
According to Kramer (1883), the finished house is inhabited only by men during the
first seven days, because the presence of women would soil it. Only at the end of this
time can the family move in. During the first two days, neither pepper (which would
keep the pigs from fattening), nor sugar cane (which would make the pigs ill), nor
uncooked rice (which would bring bugs to the mats), nor cooked rice (which would
bring a rapid destruction of the roof covering by vermin), may be taken into the
dwelling. The house is then consecrated by the carpenter, who sprinkles it with water,
calling for the blessing of its new residents. The inauguration of the house will only be
fully accomplished once the first guests have come, once the family has "socialized" the
dwelling. Only then can the figures of the house gods, buaya hor, the protectors of
family and guests, be placed. A pig is killed in honour of the guests, and a symbolic
share of it offered to the gods, by tying pig's bristle to the statues. Everyone then eats
and dances in the house.
The missionary Fries (1915) mentions the consecration of the dwelling and the
involvement of the carpenters, who receive gifts and a pig's jaw. Water is therefore
necessary for consecration ceremonies, and this surely very ancient practice of
aspersion probably has nothing to do with Christian influence. The first missionaries
were Protestant and did not use holy water. The carpenter's role is essential in
preparing the house for its future inhabitants, he serves as intermediary between the
world of humans and the world of spirits.
LAYOUT OF THE HOUSE
Usually the oval house consists of a central rectangular part and two half-round sides.
In fact, at floor level, the shape varies from rectangle to circle, and the curve of the roof
is what gives the illusion of a perfect oval. No evolution of shape from rectangle to
oval, or the other way round, which might relate to the dwelling's age, can be noted.
We could venture a categorization by location: the houses bordering the areas of the
island's centre, like those of the extreme north, tend to be rectangular, whereas the
ones in the west are nearer the round. The really oval examples are by the east coast.
However, these variations are more often due to the head-carpenter's capability or the
client's wishes. They represent freedom of creation, in regard to rules.
The following model applies to interior distribution: a large always frontal public space
takes up half to two thirds of the building, on the entrance side. The rooms occupied
by the family are in the last third, on the opposite side from the entrance. Sometimes
rooms have been built at the back side of the main public hall, but it never has a
hearth. The latter is always in the private part or a back extension. This layout is
seldom modified.
58
The house often opens on the left side, although this is not a fixed rule91. A ladder or a
staircase leads to a trap in the floor, or a side verandah for the most recent dwellings.
One enters into the main space, used both for receiving foreigners, villagers or
relations, and as a reunion, working or resting place for the family. Guests, male
children and unmarried men sleep there. On the street facade side, a bench and a
window, protected by open work, run all along the length of the room. Generally the
men sit on the bench, talking together and looking outside. The guest of highest rank
or the eldest one sits on the right side of the bench, the other guests, and the men of
the family, to his left. The women mostly sit on the floor, in the back, near the doors
going into the private section.
At the back of this private section, there are sometimes chests, rice containers, a
hearth. Before Christian times, numerous statues of house gods and ancestors were
fixed to the pillars and walls (Fischer 1909; Kramer 1883). On the right hand wall, near
the long frontal bench, a shelf where the ancestor figures formerly stood now displays
family photographs, saints images and a crucifix.
The number of rooms and hearths varies according to the nuclear families living in the
house. In the past, a large room bate'e sebua, was reserved to unmarried women and
female guests. Another room, bate'e zatua, was for the master of the house and his
wife, and sometimes for the grandparents. In it a large chest, tabla, where the family's
belongings were kept, stood opposite the entrance, at a safe place. When the family
grew, more rooms could be provided.
Nowadays, there is no more strict spatial hierarchy, as insecurity has disappeared. The
distribution foresees a room for the master of the house, and one each for the
grandparents if there are still any, the single sons, the daughters. In reality, they seem
to be indifferently occupied by one or the other members of the family, depending on
needs and circumstances.
When a son gets married, he is given the boys' room, and they go and sleep in the front
space. If a second son marries before the first one has had the money or the wish to
build a house, a new room will be made by putting up a partition in the main one.
The kitchen, naha nawu, is arranged at the back of the house, or below in an extension.
It can be a separate room or a specialized space. It contains the rice chests, the utensils
(pestles, mortars, winnowing baskets), the stocks of perishable goods (bananas,
vegetables, sweet potatoes). The hearth, awu, is a wooden box filled with earth, on
which the fire is made and where three cooking pots are disposed, for water, rice and
vegetables. It is surmounted by a wooden structure with shelves, fulawa. On the first
plank, the heating wood is dried; the cooking pots, food prepared in bamboos and
unripe bananas are kept on the second one; the seeds are stored on the third.
Preserved by the smoke of the hearth, the dried and salted strips of pork also hang
here, rolled in areca leaves.
91
Some houses do have stairs on the right side : Siwahili (Gunungsitoli), Hilianaa (GS), Tuhemberua (Oyo), Hiligoe
(Moro), Onolimbu (Lahmi).
59
The rice containers can be either chests, kota, like the ones in the rooms, or large
cylindric receptacles, lo'ulo'u, made of bark sewn with a bamboo needle and rattan
thread, tutura, the bottom and lid being basketry. The pig and chicken sheds are
behind the house, sometimes just built of piled up logs, kandra mbawi, and other times
made by the carpenters in shape of a small house, aga mbawi. Animals can also find
shelter under the house, in which case a wooden enclosure is provided, kli-kli.
Traditional house [Omo Sebua] at Llzirugi village, Mandrehe, 1980
60
Omo Hada in Lllakha Village
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
Traditional house at Llzirugi village, Mandrehe, 1980.
72
Chapter 3:
THECHIEFS HOUSES,REMAINSOFPASTSPLENDOUR
T
he "big" oval houses have now all disappeared. They made a great impression on
the Dutch soldiers, who in 1857 brought back the following description
concerning the north of Gunungsitoli: "One should imagine a building similar to
a temple, resting on a forest of wooden columns of over two feet diameter. Each of
these pillars, lined up in five symmetrical rows, was covered from top to bottom by
sculptures in high relief. The two large pediments, opening above the main entrances,
were decorated with superbly carved wooden figures in luminous colours, representing
a whole series of symbols and placed in an order that gave the illusion of them being
the coat of arms of a castle. The large hall, apart from its religious functions also served
as an assembly space for the people. Inside it, among other ornaments, there was a
beam, twenty feet long and three feet wide, in black wood with red glints like iron,
carrying two beautiful life size crocodiles fighting each other. In all large villages of this
area there were similar buildings, even if not always as vast"(anonymous, 1880: 748-51).
The last big oval house was in Onolimbu Lahmi, one of the important villages in the
west of the island, former head of an ri of twenty-four villages.92
THE CHIEF'S HOUSE OF ONOLIMBU LAHMI
The village of Onolimbu Lahmi is oriented north-west/south-east. It follows a long

curve in the slope of the hill and goes on as far as the village of Sisobambowo by the
river Lahmi. This village of the Daeli clan was founded thirteen generations ago,
springing from Durunaia, nearby. The Daeli fraction who created these settlements
originated from the Idanoi river and more precisely from Onowaembo Tlamaera. The
dozen anthropomorphic statues of Onolimbu are very similar to the characteristic
production of the Idanoi river. They date at the earliest from the period of the village
creation, only a few of them having been brought from the previous site, where there
are still some figures, megaliths and several carved slabs.
The big house was in the centre of the village and, astonishingly, had not the slightest
stone nor statue in front of it, although the megalithic tradition is well attested there.
The dwelling was 17 by 13.5 metres. It rested on 84 piles 2.95 metres high, standing on
stone bases of 35 cm. The very regularly spaced peripheral ehomo gave the building a
really imposing aspect, all the more so as the front facade piles had a diameter of 65
cm. The habitable nucleus was therefore 3.30 metres from the ground, or rather from
92
The house crumbled in 1984 destroyed by termites and lack of maintenance. Other big houses in this part of the
island were destroyed by the March 2005 earthquake.
73
the flagged terrace which gave the whole structure a platform. The bracing of the
understructure consisted of nine transverse and four longitudinal rows of ndriwa.
The construction corresponded to the North's model type, except for a third
tarumbumbu, supporting the ridgepole in the middle of the public room. This unusual
disposition was possibly a later reinforcement. The seven levelled roofing framework
was proportional to the building's size The layout of the house itself was similar to that
of a chief's house of the island's western area, published in 1883 (see Fischer 1909, plate
IV), except that the central part of the Onolimbu dwelling had a room in its back part,
probably a later modification. In 1980, three families lived in this house, which meant
three private sections and three hearths. Originally, there was probably only one
central public space - corresponding to the strongest area of the structure - and two
private side parts, the hearths being behind the public room.
For structural reasons, there were two platforms, one in the front and one in the back
of the public space. A narrow bench ran along the front facade. Four roof-openings
gave light. Like in the oldest houses, the access was by a ladder under the building, and
a trap door into the side of the public room. The house had no decoration, either on
the facade or inside. However, the outside line of ehomo, the silal yawa and the
tarumbumbu were fluted. Purity of lines and monumentality, that was the impression
the last big oval dwelling of the island gave.
THE OTHER CHIEF'S HOUSES
The remaining chief's houses are not as impressive, being mainly noteworthy for the
importance of their megaliths and statues. Most of them are half in ruins or have been
altered by numerous additions. Practically nothing is left of the sumptuous ornaments
so praised by visitors. In the rare dwellings still to be seen, only the centre of the facade
and the public room are decorated, the motifs mostly referring to a symbolic code.
The piles of the facade are sometimes fluted. Some have sculptures such as
outstretched arms with an open hand, or hands offering a bethel cup, tokens of
welcome for the foreigner, invitations to stop and enter. Others have carvings showing
a head with a necklace and breasts, or a small, usually squatting, figure. They are
symbols of the chief and his attributes, the bosom meaning he is a mother for his
people, protecting and feeding them.
The facade can have a decor of small humans or heads in high relief, a safeguard
against the enemy. Its slanted frames are cut out in a stylized dragon head motif,
referring to the unity of the village and the family, and also keeping away aggressors.
Inside the house, the pillars, silal yawa, tarumbumbu and tarunahe are embellished by
hooks, saita, fluting or motifs representing chiefs' necklaces and headdresses. A central
pillar, tarugadi, stands in the main front room, going from the floor to the first joists of
the roof. This vertical beam has a hook, onto which the gold ornaments and the arms
of the chief were hung. It is surmounted by a wooden element, ni'obh, with another
hook in front, ni'obgi-bgi, and a crude sculpture on its back side. Anthropomorphic
or zoomorphic, this open armed figure, saita gana'a, symbolizes the chief protecting
74
his subjects (see Fischer 1909:24, n871/fig. a & b). We therefore see that architectural
ornamentation is limited, and that the houses no longer have statues completely
covering the walls, as reported by writers in the past.
In fact, the facade, or rather the piles supporting it, express the specificity of the chief's
house, thanks to their elaborate treatment. They are the scanty remains of past
splendour.
TOWARDS THE MALAYAN HOUSE
The oval houses have been abandoned due to their high cost, lack of the suitable wood
required for such constructions, and often also because of a seeking of modernity,
avoiding shapes with archaic connotations.
In most cases, building a traditional dwelling today would represent a price out of
proportion with the means of the people or even of a village chief. The average annual
income of a middle rank chief's family is around 700,000 Rupiahs93, not counting the
self consumed production. To achieve a dwelling of this standing, the salary of the
head-carpenter and his assistants would be about 1,800,000 rupiahs. The pigs and the
gold demanded for the different offerings would double this cost, which already means
3,600,000 rupiahs, without mentioning the construction wood94, the roofing materials
and the carpenters' meals during the construction. The total price of a medium size
and rank chief's house would therefore correspond to about 7,000,000 rupiahs,
equivalent to ten years income.
In the total cost, about one quarter would be sumptuary outlays. In proportion with
the income level, the earning possibilities and indispensable expenses, this expenditure
would be quite disproportionate, even spread over several years.
Due to the extension of farming, the formerly abundant building wood must now be
fetched from far away and high up, in what remains of the forest. It must be purchased
in the villages which still own some or produce it on their territory95. Therefore, like
everywhere in Southeast Asia, houses are built of cement, planks and corrugated iron.
The necessary quantity of wood is minimal; the walls only require a frame and planks,
the joists of the roof can have a small diameter, several being produced out of a single
tree trunk. Although for the construction of these modern houses ceremonies have
been reduced to the strict minimum, they still survive. At the beginning and end of
the building, there is a celebration for the family, a few friends and the builders for
which a small pig is killed.
93
1000 Indonesian Rp were roughly equivalent to 1 USD in 1980.
94
Wood is expensive. A tree trunk can cost 50'000 IRp (1980) and such a house needs at least 50 trunks.
95
Lack of good quality wood led to plantation of simalambuo, a straight-grained tree.
75
Present day construction does not seem to comply to customs, but paradoxically one
still knows exactly how a traditional house should be built. The rituals to be
accomplished, the woods to be used (the children learn the species and their
utilization), the building process, are known and passed on. One could say that this
knowledge in itself has taken the place of the built object and wonder if the learning of
the rituals has become a finality in itself. In this sense, to "tell" the dwelling would be
to symbolically achieve it. The head-carpenter has an ambiguous role in this
proceeding: depository of the customs as to rituals, rules and construction
technologies, as well as artist through his carving work, he is therefore honoured and
respected. However, when no longer engaged in building, he becomes an ordinary
man, going about his occupations like every other Ono Niha.
Nevertheless, inside the "modern" buildings the field is vast for social rank differences.
There is a great distinction between the small Malay house on short posts, with badly
joined walls and a single window closed with planks, and the cement house with a
verandah, glass windows and numerous furnished rooms. The latter will often be
decorated and, in front of its facade, it may well have a bench, a tomb, even sometimes
a moulded statue, all in cement.
In these houses which obviously seek for prestige, the model is no longer Niha but
Indonesian. The cement tombs or sculptures are nonetheless there, attempting to
relate these dwellings to Nias.
76
77
78
79
80
Hiliamaetaniha Central square (Viaro 1979)
The bale is on the corner between the main south-north and the side east street. On the east
side of the corner has been built today a new chiefs house (2015).
The assembly square is on the north, surrounded with stone benches.
81
Hilinawal Fau central square (Viaro 1979)
The chiefs house is on the left (west side of the square)
82
Third part:
HABITATINTHESOUTH
CHAPTER 1
STRONGLY STRUCTURED VILLAGES
T
he villages, often distant from each other, are independent "republics" under the
authority of a chief. They are morphologically shut and well structured units.
Contrary to the rest of the island, where human settlements are rural and small,
they have a nearly urban aspect. This impression is reinforced by their importance
(hundreds of houses and several thousand inhabitants in some cases), their
stereotyped layout and their equipment making them look like small towns. From a
functional point of view, they however are rural, living mainly from farming and
having no important business enterprises.
A typical village of the South has the following components:
a straight paved street with stairs at one or both ends;

two continuous rows of houses looking at each other;
a zone of megaliths between houses and street;
a chief's house, an assembly house, a plaza and a jumping stone together form the
heart of the village, the public baths, churches and schools being outside it.
SITE AND ORIENTATION
The villages generally lie on a flat spot of the shoulder, ridge or top of a hill. They can
be spotted from far by their coconut trees. The choice of the sites shows a concern for
defence, the need of a spring or river with a regular water flow, and of a large flat
space, easy to level and build on. Some villages are attested for several centuries, but
their location may have changed in the course of time. Numerous reasons explain this:
interior conflicts, wars, fires, epidemics, drying up of springs or impoverishment of soil
due to demographic overload, just to mention the most frequent. Sometimes the
houses are dismantled and reconstructed on another site. The historically most
important megaliths of the village can also be moved, either at the same time or later,
depending on the required pigs being available for the feast which will be part of the
transfer. Although left to the jungle, the former site and its name will be remembered
by the later generations. When a village is displaced it takes a new name, making
83
identification difficult for observers. For instance, Hiliamaetaluo was displaced about
eighty years ago and became Hiliganw; Hiliamaigila changed site a first time to
become Bawsaodan, before being called Bawgosali after another reestablishment in
the forties. In spite of staying at the same place, a village may also alter its name,
possibly for political reasons: Bawmataluo was Hili Fanayama for a few years (Von
Brenner-Felsach 1890:302). Modigliani's explanation is the following: "a custom in the
country requires that one change the name of people and things at the occasion of any
important event" (1890:299).
New traditional villages are no longer created. Extensions and modifications of their
core little by little alter the existing ones, the old dwellings being replaced by similar
ones or more often by Malay houses. Here again, topography rules the orientation of
the villages; out of a sampling of twenty-three, eleven are oriented north-south, seven
north/east-south/west or north/west-south/east, four on an east-west axis, and the last
one, developed crosswise, lies north-south and east-west.
VILLAGE FOUNDATION RITUALS
When a Southern chief wishes to create a village, he has a meeting with his counsellors
and people. The decision taken, customary law is put into effect and the community
job of clearing and levelling (or rehabilitating if an old site is chosen) is divided up. The
commitment is sealed by a feast, with the same requirements of sharing and offering
pigs as in the North.
Once the clearing and cleaning of the site accomplished, it is levelled, after which the
dimensions of the village are defined: standing where the future doors will be, the chief
and the priest hold a rope at each end and fold it in half, to determine the middle.96 In
the villages founded by the Hondr clan, an elaborate ritual emphasizes the
importance of this centre: the spot is marked by a hole, all the social actors of the
village contributing to the digging. In this hole the priest deposits: earth and water
from the place of mythical origin, Sifalag Brnadu-Gomo, bits of different metals, a
plate with meat from a white pig and a white rooster, a piece of white and a piece of
red cloth, and finally nine grains of rice symbolizing a gestation. In the presence of the
chief and the eldest counsellor, the priest then addresses the gods and ancestors. Next,
a temporary shelter is built, to allow the chief and priest to meditate on the spot for
eight days. At its the four corners, posts of the fsi tree97 are put up with measures for
gold, rice and pigs hung on them. The men watch the site and dance for the eight days.
The meditation period past, the hole is closed up. Through this ritual, all the elements
of the Ono Niha world, social actors, gods and ancestors are brought together in a
symbolic foundation of the village. The myth of creation is recalled by the water and
earth from the place of origin, and by the posts of the fsi tree. This ceremony, and its
last components, may explain the name of this spot, marked by a stone: fus
newali,"the navel of the village".
96
See Arlette Ziegler 1992
97
the sacred tree, supposedly planted by the primordial ancestor, representing the Niha people.
84
The centre being established, the gates, bawagli, the central lane, iri newali, the
assembly square, ewali gorahua, and lastly two statues (one male and one female),
lawl, placed at the entrances of the village, are completed. At each stage, the chief
must give the villagers raw pork and a meal. Only when the total structure of the
village is achieved, can the construction of the dwellings start. Until then, the people
live in temporary shelters. The village therefore comes "before" the houses, underlining
the pre-eminence of the village-world concept in the South.
LAYOUT OF THE VILLAGE, MODEL AND EVOLUTION
Following Suzuki98 one has often said that the plan of a Southern Ono Niha village is
absolutely rigid: two rows of houses with the chief's dwelling at the top, on the
opposite side from the entrance, the settlement plan being oriented with precision,
without any regard for topographical constraints. This model is however more of a line
of thought. The type-village certainly has a straight street, in some cases several
hundred metres long, with a continuous row of houses on each side. But out of twenty-
three villages, eighteen actually have a single lane, two have a T shaped layout, one a U
layout, another is set crosswise and the last in draughtboard. These variations are
either due to intra-muros developments around the core of departure, or the result of
the founder's will.
The former Orahili had a street at right angles with the main one.The chief's dwelling
was placed at the intersection of the two, thereby controlling the whole village
(Nieuwenhuisen and Van Rosenberg 1863:148; Van Rees 1866:71). Fadoro and Botohsi
presented parallel lanes and paths going from one to the other (Nieuwenhuisen and
Von Rosenberg 1863:34; 1878:148). Speaking of Hilisimaetan, being built at the time,
Modigliani (1890:307) mentions a crosswise layout. Bawmataluo was planned in the
same way (Thomas and Fehr 1882:94; Von Brenner-Felsach 1890:300; Rappard
1909:540-1; Wegner 1916:195), the chief's house isolated at the centre of the crossing. In
the morphological evolution of the villages, the role played by temporary habitations,
similar to the poorest houses and only made to shelter the villagers during the
construction, must be taken into account. The precariousness of these buildings could
much alter the aspect of a village from one year to another. The village of
Bawmataluo, for instance, appears with a plan like a cross of Lorraine on an old
undated photograph (Schnitger 1939: fig.24). The layout of the village is evolutionary,
new streets are created and others disappear, thereby modifying the initial scheme.
ACCESS AND PROTECTION
In the past, to control an endemic state of war, villages were fortified. The Dutch
troops, in charge of reducing the area at the end of the XIXth century, greatly admired
98
Peter Suzuki is a scholar from the Leiden School of Anthropolgy, who published a PhD thesis in 1959. He mainly
based his work on documents, in particular missionary reports, and probably never travelled to Nias. His theory on
the functioning of the Niha society is not supported by field observation. However, his simplified and attractive
model was adopted later by other scholars, without being really questioned.
85
the intricacy of the defence system.The first outwork was a fence of sharp bamboo,
placed about one hundred metres from the houses, to keep them from burning, in case
the enemy set fire to this barrier. Then came a ditch as deep as a man, with more sharp
bamboo and high walls, forming a second protection.
At the village gates, the wall was surmounted by a dragon's head, ni'obawa lawl,
supposed to scare the adversary. There is still such a head at the eastern entrance of
Bawmataluo, and, in 1985, new dragons' heads were put up at the entrance of the
villages of Orahili and Hiliamaetaniha.
Large stone stairs of several hundred steps, bosi mbawagli, lead to the villages. The
last flight is built more carefully than the others, and its strings are decorated by low
relief animals (monkeys, lizards, crocodiles), and motifs of plants and weapons. At
Hilinamzaua, the access is by a stone ladder, exact copy of a wooden one. Even today,
getting to the village of Hilinawal Fau is difficult: the defences remain and are even
kept up. A first series of steep stairs leads to the last flight, with steps each at least 50
cm high, made of large piled up blocks. The immediate surroundings are carefully
cleared, to make lookout easier. On top of the stairs, a gate, bawagli, was watched day
and night by armed sentinels. Behind the door stood stone benches, darodaro zanaa
or sanaa sabl, and vertical slabs used as shields, ni'orane. Although these devices are
no longer in use nowadays, the entrance is still often guarded and rounds are
organized at night to supervise the village and prevent fire99 In the South, the risk is
greater because the houses are semi-detached. Fires are more often due to the use of
oil lamps during the night than to the open hearths.
CENTRAL STREET AND MEGALITHS
Once through the gate, one emerges in the village street ewali. A distinctly paved main
lane, iri newali (iri signifying symmetrical), divides the space in half. It is the path
through the village, the public passage, about one metre wide. Sometimes low relief
carvings adorn it: a bearded head and a foot in Bawmataluo, crocodiles and monkeys
at Botohilitan, a crocodile devouring some animal at Hilimondregeraya, etc. In this
central path or nearby, lies the fus newali, a circular slab representing the navel of the
village. At Bawmataluo, it is set in front of the chief's house, at the intersection of
three streets100
On both sides of the central lane, the space, paved or not, is striated by paved
crosswise paths leading to the dwellings. This semi-public area is where laundry, rice
or patchouli leaves are left to dry... Between the facades of the houses and the street,
two socially significant zones follow each other. The mbelembele, a raised "pavement"
protected from the rain by the overhanging roof, is a private area used mainly by
women for domestic chores. The footbridge giving access to the house opens onto this
zone, which on the street side ends by a ditch for water drainage, elea. The latter is
99
A village can be destroyed by fire even several times as was the case in Siwalawa.
100
According to Schrder (1917 : 81, fig. 70) this stone indicates the four cardinal points. According to Mller
(1976 : 49) a sun or a star was represented in the centre of the flagstones, no longer visible now. The fus newali
of Botohilitan has a star in his centre.
86
carefully built in paved stone and slightly sloped towards the village ends, to ensure
water evacuation. At regular intervals, stone slabs, ete gelea, make crossing it easier.
The li batu, literally "stone wall", in front of this canal on the street side, is the social
representation space, showing the rank of the house owner. The different megaliths,
the feast memorials stand there, either at street level or on a carefully built platform.
The size of this section varies according to the villages; it can cover both sides of the
street, or only one side; it can run along the whole length of the village, or only along
its central plaza. In all cases however, the largest and most numerous megaliths are
there, the village generally developing from the chief's dwelling and the houses of the
oldest families established around it.
The main types of megaliths are rectangular or circular benches or tables, darodaro,
beautifully carved and adorned with low relief sculpture, and pillars, batu nitaru'. At
Hilimaenaml and Bawmataluo, the large tables in front of the chiefs' houses
measure two metres on four metres, and at Bawmataluo and Hilinawal Fau, the
columns up to 4.5 metres. The monolithic benches usually rest on three low stones,
whereas the round seats, darodaro nikholo, are carried by three high feet, when they do
not take the shape of a drum. Small circular seats reproduce the common wooden
model.
These different megaliths are either rough or finely carved with designs of fish,
monkeys or crocodiles, stylized plants, tools (hammers, pincers, scissors, etc.)
weapons, sometimes chests with their locks or, for the more recent ones, the names of
the honoured person and the date of the stone's erection. Their formal register is
sufficiently free to allow the use of non-traditional motifs, for instance representation
of foreign arms, tools or epigraphs. If in the past the megaliths were respected - to
sharpen blades on the edges of the stones, for instance, was severely punished -, it is no
longer the case. Laundry is dried upon them and children draw on them with chalk...
Megaliths are still placed in front of houses nowadays, but to a lesser extent and only
in some villages. When put up during the life of their recipient, they are testimonies of
feasts. If made after his death, they are considered a remembrance, a sign of respect to
the deceased. Tomb stones can be sufficient memorials on present burial sites, so we
may be observing a change from megalithism to funerary monument. The obstinacy to
perpetuate a tradition barely tolerated by religion and involving an ostentatious
expense in pigs, stresses its importance even today. A derived practice consists in
putting cement furniture or small monuments in front of one's house. Megaliths can
also be moved to another part of the village101. Megalithism therefore proves itself
essential for the structuring of the different components of the village. It is not just a
decoration, a kind of furniture, but the spatial expression and the physical translation
of the social organization of the village. The social categories, ranks and status of its
inhabitants are clearly indicated, and registered within time, along its streets.
101
In Bawmataluo a rectangular seat and a circular one, with a naha gamagama pillar for the chiefs ornaments,
were moved from the mens bathplace to the bottom of the village entrance stairs in 1979 to express the power of
the chief.
87
ASSEMBLY SQUARE
The most important megalithic element is the square, ewali gorahua, always opposite
the chief's dwelling. Quadrangular, carefully paved and surrounded by stone benches,
it has the largest and most beautiful megaliths. This representation space is linked
with the chief's house, with power; it is where the feasts and dances take place, justice
is rendered, and the village men's assemblies, orahua, are held. On its side, a pyramid
of stones about two metres high, hombo batu, was used in the past for training warriors
to jump over fences. In front of this pyramid, a slanted stone, tarahs, serves as
spring-board. Near the plaza, the assembly house confirms the site's function.
A particularly elaborate example is Hilinawal Fau. Paved with large flagstones, its
square forms a terrace slightly below the street, with stone benches on all four sides.
Some of the latter stand on the ground on a base of flat stones, others, with carved
sides, rest higher on vertical slabs. Carved stone menhirs, about four metres high, have
been raised on either side of the site. In front of the chief's house, there is a series of
pillars one to two metres high, and two large flat tables, commemorating the feasts
given by the chiefs. On their right side, a large rough block, probably of coralline
origin, is supposed to represent the tiger harimao "the judge of the village"102.
Hilimondregeraya is another example, dating from the nineteen twenties. Except for a
passage left for the central path, a small wall forming a continuous bench limits three
sides of the square. The fourth side has a terrace of dressed stones, once the
foundation of a large chief's dwelling. A bench runs along the foot of this terrace, using
its wall as a back. The side ends of the terrace are adorned by two sikhli, stone
reproductions of the pillar bearing the house, and lavishly covered by relief fern and
other foliate designs. The wall on the plaza side is adorned by a frieze with alternating
rosette and chief's headdress motifs. The strings of the central staircase are
embellished by interlacing twigs with a fish at their top.
On the opposite side, the chief's throne has a pedestal with a decor of geometrical
motifs and plants. The lateral parts of this seat are adorned by a figure holding a sword
and standing on an animal resembling a dog, in a cartouche of branches and triangles.
The armrests are in the shape of arms with closed fists, the right wrist carrying a
bracelet. The top of the back represents a kalabubu103 necklace, between two curls and
more foliate motifs. The back side shows three helmeted warriors holding
blunderbusses, their imposing headdresses surmounted by palms in a frame of
leaves104. In some villages one finds a pillar, naha gamagama or gowe faulu salawa,
where the gold ornaments and ceremonial costumes of the chief used to hang during
the meetings.
102
The only example I know in the South of the island is a large rough stone, acting in some way as the village
tiger. When the chief left his dwelling and sat on this stone, it meant death of some kind : war, expedition against
another village, human sacrifice. Therefor one may say that the cheif takes the role of the tiger, that he is the tiger
of the village (Hmmerle 1983 : 34).
103
A necklace each young warrior received after cutting his first head. This gave him a seat in the assembly house
and a say in public decisions.
104
Such seats can be seen in Hilisimaetan, Hilifalag, Hiliamaetaluo and Pulau Tello (Batu Islands).
88
It symbolizes the chief (Von Brenner-Felsach 1890:300; Schrder 1917:867) and acts as
his substitute when he is absent (Feldmann 1977:132).
LOCATION OF THE CHIEF'S HOUSE
The site of the mythical village of Teteholi Ana'a is terraced and the chief's house, omo
nifolasara, stands at the top. If this layout is often found in the Centre, it is rarer in the
South. Researchers, and in particular Suzuki, have however generalized this plan to
elaborate a theoretical model of society based on a principle of binary antagonism:
high-low, noblemen-commoners, upstream-downstream, east-west, right-left, etc. Did
this model ever exist? It certainly does not take into account present reality nor
historical evolution. The location of the houses has varied with time, old sites staying
exactly as remembered by the inhabitants. In a sampling of twenty-one villages, the
chief's house had the following situations:
at the centre of the village, with a crosswise layout: one case
at the top of the village: one case
formerly at the top of the village, then rebuilt in the middle of a row of houses:
three cases
in the middle of a row of houses (with or without displacement in the past): sixteen
cases.
Seen from the main entrance of the village, they are set indifferently in the middle of
the left row (ten cases), or right row (nine cases). This central localization seems due
to practical concerns: protection by distance from the gates, supervision of the whole
village, faster gathering of the men if necessary. The chief's house is always next to the
assembly square. For the only one standing at the end of the village, on a terrace above
it, the reason given was that it is the first to get the morning sun, and therefore a
symbol of the chief's power.
Only four large dwellings remain in the South105, evidences of the very high ranks of
the chiefs who owned them and therefore proof of their power. They are distinct from
the other buildings not only because of their size, but also of their luxurious
decoration, bearing symbols relating to society and its chief. Their front halls, used for
village assemblies, were part of the public space.
ASSEMBLY HOUSE
An important component of today's village life - the meetings are held and the men
talk or rest there during the hot hours of the day - the assembly house seems, in the
past, to have been used only on specific occasions. Few writers refer to this building.
The scarce archive photographs show low rough constructions, more like shelters than
houses. Their functions were religious and social. Modigliani's description of the bale
(assembly house) of Hilizihn in 1890 is particularly vivid: "I got near a house of
105
In Bawmataluo, Onohondr, Hilinawal Fau, Hilinawal Mazin.
89
strange aspect, for although it was built on piles, it was lower than the others, square,
and had a gently sloping roof. No interior division, as in other houses, could let one
guess how many inhabitants it could have. As a matter of fact, there was nobody and
inside all that could be seen was a big idol with a few smaller ones106, all attached
either to a central pillar or to pillars at the angles. Outside, the roofing was decorated
with numerous human skulls, twenty-one skulls, of which nine hung on the front and
the others on the sides. It was an assembly house where the oldest warriors met with
their chief, to discuss the questions of interest to the whole village, like declaring war,
concluding peace, rendering justice. It is where the corpse of a deceased chief is kept,
until his heir has brought together the required number of pigs for the funeral feast. It
is also where the skulls of the enemies killed in combat are hung, as well as the first
head cut by the young warriors, in homage to their bravery"(1890:209). If some of these
functions have been maintained, the ones relating to war and religion have of course
disappeared. The few traditional bale still in use a few years ago, have now been
replaced by modern constructions107.
Built at the end of the XIXth century, the only assembly house left is the one in
Bawmataluo. Its dimensions, quality and mode of construction set it apart and make
it a model of its type. Set at the south-west angle of the central plaza, the assembly
square extends it, on the east side. The architectural characteristic of the building is, as
conception, comparable to that of the oval houses of the North. A central nucleus and
four angle pillars form the bearing structure, whereas in the South, the framework is
usually held by the walls, embedded in the side floor beams, themselves tailed on the
piles. At the centre of the construction, four pillars, osali, stand on the ground, go
through the floor and carry the central roof structure. Their diameter is about 80 cm,
and they play the same role as the silal yawa in the Northern houses. At the four
angles of the building, there are similar pillars called ehomo mbanua, "pillars of the
village and of heaven"108, supporting a frame on which the structure's lateral parts are
laid. At the centre of the small facades, east and west, a pillar carries the ridgepole.
The understructure is composed of eleven rows of seven ehomo piles; as in the

traditional Southern houses, slanted braces are placed in front of the facade piles on
the short sides, and behind them on the long sides: two pairs on the east and west and
three pairs on the north and south facades. Finally, the understructure is trussed by six
pairs of slanted braces, ndriwa, under the central part of the construction. Most of the
piles just rest on the paved floor, and not on a stone base.
Long beams, silt, are fitted into the upper ends of the piles, supporting the crosswise
joists, laliw, as well as the lengthways floor beams, sikhli. The large size of the
building not rendering a single piece of wood possible, the sikhli are made of beams
assembled by lengthening joint. On the east side, the ends of these sikhli are curved
106
According to Schrder (1917 :90) the wooden statues represented the gods of the village, adu ndraama
and lawl ndraama, and the protective figures bal ziila and bal zato. Bal is the generic term for protective
figure.
107
Simple wooden constructions survived at Orahili until 1977, in Botohilitan until 1980. They were later
reconstructed in cement.
108
See Feldman (1977 : 148) for a symbolic interpretation tentative of these pillars.
90
upwards to form voluted crooks, thereby marking the main facade on the assembly
square side. On both narrow facades, floor beams are pegged in the sikhli, forming a
cover strip which hides the ends of the joists. The interior floor, 11 metres by 15 metres,
is made of large wooden polished plates, resting on the beams and pressed between
the planks embedded in the north and south floor beams, which create frames. The
construction has no walls. A bench runs all around the inside, only leaving space for
access by four stone ladders. Two are placed street side, on the northern facade, one
behind the building, on the western side, and one on the eastern side, opposite the
plaza. The roof structure rests on the large piles and on a series of thin vertical
supports fitted into the floor beams. Two lengthways and two oval slopes, each
forming a vast overhanging roof, are supported by raking shores. The covering is held
by light bamboo rafters.
Inside the building, four stone seats, one at the foot of each osali pillar, are reserved for
the chief and the highest rank si'ulu. The chief's chair is recognizable because it is
round and has a bulge for holding the ceremonial spear. The other si'ulu sit next to the
pillars bearing the ridgepole, whereas the si'ila settle in the four corners. In Nias, the
place of everyone is always accurately defined whatever the situation. In the past, the
standards for measures were also kept in the bale. One can still see the hooks used for
this purpose on the south-east pillar. Next to the latter, a stone with circular holes of
different sizes, served to measure gold powder.
In most Southern villages, the present bale is a square building without walls, encircled
by a wall about one metre high, used as a back for the bench running all along the
inside. There are two or four entrances, but never more than one per side. This bale is
covered by a roof of four corrugated iron slopes on a light framework, supported by
thin pillars. The floor may be either cement or wood on short piles. Now exclusively
devoted to meetings, formal or not, one might say that the modern bale has replaced
the chief's house for this use. Power, formerly totally in the chief's hands, is now shared
between the latter, for questions concerning customary law, the governmental head of
district for administrative matters, and the churches for religious ones. Previously
exercised from a single place, power has passed to multiple locations, thereby
requiring the present bale for community practices.
SOCIAL CONTROL OF VILLAGE SPACE
In a society where the limits of the village are the limits of the world, where public and
private spaces are strictly defined, the control of what happens in the village, and who
passes through it, was, and still is essential. The watch takes place through the
windows of the houses; because of their overhang, they open onto the whole village,
including the bottom part of the houses. To cross the village, one must take the central
path and walk quietly without running, or one will be suspected of having committed
an offence. The people one meets will ask "Haega gmi" (where are you going?),
which demands a accurate answer, out of courtesy of course, but mainly because of
control! It is not possible to keep dry from the rain by going along the houses, this
space being strictly private. To call on a neighbour, one must first reach the main path
91
and then come back to the house one wants to visit. Before entering, one must shout
to announce oneself, and ask for permission to go in. If no one answers, one must
rapidly get back onto the main path109.
baths
Another important traditional component of the village life is the public bath, hele, a
place with stoned floor and walls and a pool. The water, - usually from a spring -runs
into this basin from a raised stone or bamboo pipe. The men's and the women's baths
are strictly apart, and when it is not possible to build two, each sex has separate times
for washing110. One goes to the hele in the morning, before setting out for the fields,
and in the evening, after preparing the meal. People leave for the hele with a towel in
one hand and a pail and soap in the other. The girls carry long hollow bamboos, in
which to bring back water for domestic use. Anyone you meet may then ask: "Ba
Hele?" (are you going to the baths?), a way of starting conversation, of saying "I am
coming with you". Bathing hour is relaxing, laughing and joking time.
churches and schools
Churches and schools obviously have nothing to do with the traditional village, but are
an essential part of today's social life. Private schools depending of the missions
dispense most of the education. Although the churches are generally built at a short
distance from the village, inside the village itself there is often a small wooden belfry
with a bell. Each community, Protestant and Catholic, has its own church. On
Sundays, the villagers, particularly the women, spend most of the day following
services and sermons, and singing hymns that now replace the traditional songs.
School is a large wooden shed, with separations for the classes. One school may serve
for two or several villages; in this case it stands half way between them. Since l984,
primary school has been compulsory for all boys and girls, but they only have access
providing their parents can afford the obligatory uniform and indispensable
equipment.
constructions outside the village
At present, few villages are still limited to their initial nucleus. The extensions are of
three types:
Rows of houses, sometimes several hundred metres long, along the access roads to
the village. As everywhere else in Indonesia, they consist of all sorts of buildings,
going from solid concrete constructions to small sheds serving as grocer's shops.
An extension of the central street by moving the village gates. The new houses
continue the original rows. The street is usually narrower than in the centre of the
109
This procedure observed by Marschall (1976 : 53) in Bawogosali village, was confirmed by our observations in
the southern villages.
110
In the past, for a man to enter the womens bathplace was severely punished, sometimes even by death.
92
village. If a straight line extension is not possible because of the geographical
situation, one or several crosswise streets are created. Therefore L or T shaped
layouts, with houses at their ends, can now be seen. As the extensions are
practically always non-traditional constructions, the limits of the old nucleus
however stays clearly visible.
Extensions on the hillside, outside the gates, near the access path. The houses, also
non-traditional, have small individual terraces which one reaches by stairs. If the
hills are too steep to permit this solution, a flat spot on a nearby hill, or next to the
village, is chosen to build a new street, with houses on each side. The layout
becomes more complicated: U or X shaped, in draughtboard, etc.
At first sight, farming looks wealthier111 and more intensive in the Southern triangle
than on the rest of the island112. The fields and gardens are surrounded by wooden or
bamboo fences, to protect them against animals. Another technique, in the past also
applied for village fortifications, is to plant a close row of trees; by interweaving, they
will form a most efficient barrier. The further advantage of this second method is to
produce timber for construction in the long run.
Every field or paddy land has a simple shelter, ose, to protect the farmers from sun
during hot hours, as well as from rain. This quadrangular construction is covered by a
single sloped roof of palm leaves. Its split bamboo floor is raised and a rough shelf runs
along its long side. Three stones in front of the ose serve as a hearth. For the garden
ose this is all, but the rice-paddy ose is completed by a drum made from a hollowed
log; one strikes it with a stick to scare away monkeys and birds. Each village owns
extensive land and sometimes farming plots far off; they can be at an hour or two
walking distance. In the past, peasants went back to the village every night for both
security and symbolic reasons: the village is the humans' world, as opposed to nature,
even mastered. This is not quite the case anymore now. In addition to his village home,
an Ono Niha may have other houses built in remote fields or, more often, close to a
good road, near the plantations. His time will be divided between field, plantation and
village. This new mode of residence, only common to a small percentage of families,
could be the first manifestation of a radical change in the occupation and perception of
territory. From a system with a central supremacy - the village - one is passing to a
network, tending to a lack of differentiation. This shows a weakening of the village in
its symbolic sense, but also as a morphological unit, a process already begun with
multiple extra-muros extensions.
111
Excepting the northernmost part of the island.
112
Along the southern coasts were vast coconut plantations. To the west a large plain of paddy rice fields goes
down to the sea. Dry rice and sweet potatoes are planted on the hill sides. Hevea growth in the south-west and in
the north-east hills. Patchouli (nilam) is abundant. More and more cloves trees can be seen everywher. Cassava,
banana, papaya are produced all over the island.
93
The Village of Bawmataluo
94
Village of Onohondr
95
Village of Hiliamaetaniha
96
Village of Hilinawal Fau
97
Village of Botohilitan
98
99
100
Chapter 2:
ADEFINEDARCHITECTURALTYPE
T
he commoners' traditional dwellings are called omo hada "house according to
custom". They are rectangular, narrow, deep (4 metres by 12 metres) and usually
semi-detached. A small footbridge links them and they stand in rows on each
side of the street. These habitations are specific to the South, although isolated
examples are found along the communication axis going towards the north-east up to
Lolowa'u, on both sides of a ridge way crossing the scarcely populated massif of the
Aramo, to Sifalago Susuwa. Others can be seen along the path following the east coast
up to the border of the Lahusa district. The construction quality varies according to
region but even though often simpler, the mountain houses have identical building
principles. Unlike the oval houses of the North, omo hada are still made in many
villages, but sometimes with adaptations due to lack of massive timber. From 1840-50
on, descriptions and engravings showing dwellings similar to today's are numerous.
The information and plans used here mainly date from 1979-1980; they have been
completed by research in the Dutch archives and other evidence.113
CONSTRUCTION PRELIMINARIES
A house can only be built by a member of the village. In the past, and even now,
joining a village community implies being accepted by it, which involves gold and pigs.
The price of a typical plot of 60 square metres varies: inside the village of
Bawmataluo, the cost was 120,000 Rupiahs, whereas at Onohondr, the same plot
only cost 60,000 Rupiahs (in 1982).
The quality of the soil is tested by planting a branch of tugala tree in the middle of the
chosen plot. If after one day "the branch has become longer", that is to say if the earth
has pushed the branch upwards, the place is considered good. Once the definite choice
is made, near and distant family, woodcutter and head and assistant carpenters gather,
in order to fix the workmen's salary and the family's contribution in goods, money, or
assistance. The future owner kills pigs and shares the meat.
The construction starts on a favourable day of the lunar cycle: growing or full moon.
The trunks for the understructure are felled at full moon or the fourth day of the lunar
cycle. The different stages of the building are interrupted by feasts, to thank villagers
and family for their help. These various celebrations require about fifteen pigs of fifty
113
Some writers who have described South Nias houses : Anonymous/ Jack & Prince (1822), Niewenhuisen & von
Rosenberg (1863), von Rosenberg (1878), Modigliani (1890), Schrder (1917), de Boer (1920), Suzuki (1959),
Marschall (1976), Feldman (1977), Viaro (1980).
101
to sixty kilos each, not counting the salary and food for the workmen114. Building lasts
six months to a year, or longer, according to the owner's means. The workmen work
every day, or a few days a week, depending on the food available.
CONSTRUCTION
- understructure
First the spot is levelled and the flat stones, batu gehomo, going under the vertical
pillars, ehomo, are fetched at the river. Starting by the exterior ones, the piles are then
set up, the front and back rows being made of larger regular diameter trunks than the
intermediary rows. There is a relation between the number of transverse lines of
vertical piles and the levels of the roof framework. The omo hada have five lines of piles
and five levels of framework, whereas the large chief's houses have nine of each.
The silt beams are embedded in the gashed top of the ehomo, in the house's width.
Pairs of slanted pillars, ndriwa, standing on stones, batu ndriwa, are tailed against the
silt at their top. A peg, os-os or fanusu, fixed into the ndriwa, ensures the cohesion
with the silt. Two pairs of ndriwa, placed in the depth of the house, brace the rows of
ehomo. End joists, laliw, are then fixed or just laid crosswise on the side ends of the
silt. Two rows of ndriwa, behind the second and fourth line of ehomo, are set in the
width, and lean at their top against the joists, laliw. On both front and back facade,
a pair of ndriwa is put before the ehomo and tailed in the end joists. These ndriwa have
a much larger diameter than the others, and are carved in straight and regular trunks.
The stone supporting them is well squared off and sometimes carries symbols, when
for a chief's house.
These facade ndriwa, in front of the ehomo, are typical of the South. In all other areas,
they are usually placed behind the first row of ehomo. The ndriwa's role is to
strengthen and brace the understructure. Once loaded, the whole construction is very
sturdy, but allows play between the different elements.
All the ehomo and ndriwa are put up in one day, the workmen being assisted by the
members of the family and villagers. When the job is achieved, the owner gives a feast.
All activity stops for four days, to rest and wait for the next favourable lunar day115. The
laliw, beams of different lengths, at least the size of the distance between the two
lines of ehomo, are then laid or assembled halving-joint onto the silt, forming a
working floor for the next stages of construction. The series of laliw jutting out on
the facade are set as evenly as possible. Their front end is chamfered on the bottom
side. A transverse piece of wood, balobalo, notched on the top to hold the facade
panels, rests on the laliw, thereby acting as cover-strip. A second feast now takes
place.
114
For a chiefs house each feast requires 6 to 12 heavy pigs.
115
At this stage, the carpenters get an advance payment ( to carry on with the construction ) of one to four
units of ten grammes of gold according to the type of house.
102
At this stage if not earlier, a temporary cover is put up, supported by the roofs or walls
of the neighbouring houses or by bamboo shores. The building site is now sheltered.
The understructure is completed by large lengthways beams, sikhli, on which the
whole upper part of the construction will rest. About ten men are needed to haul up
the sikhli onto the floor, and then adjust them with precision in the lateral ehomo's
top notches, thereby giving the understructure rigidity; after this it is time for a third
feast. The carpenters then finish the structure holding the interior floor, ahe mbat.
Slab boards are aligned on the laliw, in the sense of the house's width, creating an
infill and insulation under the floor. Frames are set onto these planks and pegged to
the sikhli. The perfectly polished floor-boards are carefully fitted into them, in the
direction of the house's length.
- intermediary structure
The next step is to put up the side walls of the house, towa. Each wall is an
interdependent bearing unit116, made of horizontal beams, with vertical panels
embedded in them. These panels are of two types:
"mother" panels, ina laso or laso sebua, 40 cm wide and morticed;
"child" panels, ono laso, 10 cm wide, inserted between the former ones.
At their base and top, the first ones have a tenon, to tail them to the sikhli and the
laglag117. The definite putting up of the walls requires a fourth feast.
- front facade
The overhanging facade, looking onto the street, is just the other side of the indoor
benches, and consists of slanted wall panels. The horizontal elements, balobalo, into
which the vertical panels are fixed, have two further functions:
they stiffen the side walls, by going through them, pegged from the outside;
they support the boards of the inside platform and bench.
The platform, bat, has similar boards to the floor. The bat's bench, farakhina, is a
transverse plank pegged at its ends from the outside of the lateral walls; its back is
fixed in the same way. A small plank under the window, salogt, also pinned to the
wall, serves as an armrest for the people sitting on the bench, and looking out. On the
exterior facade, bench and armrest are held by five slanted elements, ta'io, resting on
the balobalo of the platform's upper level. The window, zarazara, is barred by three
horizontal laths, held by five vertical stiles extending the ta'io. A shelf, harefa, is
provided over the window. It is made of narrow planks or slab boards, laliw harefa,
disposed on a frame, handroma harefa. A last component of the wall, vertical and not
slanted, closes the facade between shelf and roof. Its upper part, fangali gas, carries
the rafters of the roofing. The front end of the side walls is a triangular panel, ta'io,
emphasizing the slanted profile of the facade, between the sikhli at its base, and the
laglag at its top.
116
Equivalent in principle to a plate girder.
117
The laglag is embedded in the vertical panels with a special mallet (fanutu laso).
103
- back facade
The room in the back of the house frma, is the private area for the family. A
platform, bat, taking up one third of its depth, serves as a collective bed. Over it a
chest, tabla nulu or laowo, provides a bench. A third level of shelf, harefa, is used to
keep mats and for storage. The components of this back facade are the same as the
front ones, the last level supporting the roof rafters. Only the making of the bench-
chest requires a feast.
- interior subdivisions
In the centre of the house, the wall between the public area and the space dedicated to
the family, is closed at its top by a transverse joist, pegged to the lateral outside walls,
and acting as stiffener. This median wall carries the loads of the lengthways beam,
fanila, base of the roof structure placed in the median axe of the house. A narrow
passage connects the front and back rooms, at the opposite side from the house
entrance. Interior devices such as kitchen and hearth, are seen to after the completion
of the roof covering, at the end of the building process.
- superstructure
The timber frame is made of three groups of components:
vertical/lengthways frames, serving as trusses over the side walls, and in the central
axe of the building;
transverse beams carried by these frames, the end ones serving as purlins;
transverse slanted beams, resting on the vertical frames, and ensuring the bracing
of the timber frame.
The gable frames start from the lengthways beam, laglag, topping the side walls. The
first framework level is built like the lateral walls. The vertical planks, laso mbat, are
embedded at their bottom end in the laglag, and at their top end in a lengthways
horizontal beam, fus mbat, playing the same static role as the laglag.
The front and back parts of this first framework level, corresponding to the respective
depths of the platforms, are made in a different way. A slanted beam, ete de'u,
reinforces the wall at mid-height. The vertical planks between the laglag and this
beam form a blind wall. On the contrary, the planks between the ete de'u and the
slanted end rafter, gas matua or fanimba, over it, are spaced to allow a lateral
ventilation of the building.
For this first framework level, the transverse joists are of different types. They are all
pegged on the outside of the lateral walls, and contribute to strengthen the whole
structure.
104
topping the front and back facades, bearing the rafters of the overhanging roof, the
fangali gas, serve as pole plates;
over the ete de'u, a plank, bat newali, is used to store mats and tools;
at the ends of the fus mbat; the famalo mbuat serve as pole plates for the rafters
of both roof and overhanging roof;
the silt mbuat carry the fus mbuat and the frames of the upper levels.
In the median axis, a lengthways beam, fanila, at the same height as the fus mbuat,
and also carried by the silt mbuat, supports the median frames of the upper levels
The second, third and fourth levels of the framework consist of:
lengthways beams (buat for the gables, and fanila for the median axe), carried by
spaced stiles, laso mbuat.
transverse beams, laliw mbuat, and stiles, laso buat, forming frames serving as
trusses;
slanted transverse joists, ndriwa mbuat, bracing the frames.
The fifth and last level of the framework is limited by the upper part of the fourth level,
edge and median rafters, and ridgepole. The latter, folan mbumbu, rests on the stiles,
laso mbuat. The rafters cross over the ridgepole and are held by a second ridgepole of
small diameter on top of the first, mbumbu. They are tied to both these beams, not to
slip. The placing of the ridgepoles is another festive occasion.
There are two types of rafters:

the gable end and median rafters, which are made in two parts. The strongly sloped
upper section, is tailed at its base to the famalo mbuat, and leans on the ridgepole on
top. The bottom section rests on the famalo mbuat at its top and the fangali gas at its
bottom. Furthermore, they are held by the stiles of the frames.
the intermediate rafters, gas, cut in flexible bamboo, rest on and are attached to the
transverse purlins. There are six or seven rows of them, in the house's width.
To keep the right spacing between the gas, the end and median rafters are linked through
a small board or bamboo, pierced at regular intervals.
The advantage of this type of framework is to keep the habitable space free from any
vertical bearing posts; its disadvantage is to require a great quantity of massive wood118.
- roof cladding
Tradition demands that the whole village take part in preparing the roof panels and fixing
the roof-cladding. The roof panels, sagela, consist of a bamboo stick, gela, around which
sago leaves are folded and sewn with vegetal fiber, turatura [tutura]. Once these panels are
made, they are dried in the sun, and the spare ones stored under the house, thereby
enabling a fast replacement of a roof section, when necessary.
118
For a chiefs house this structure, even more bigger and complex and therefore very heavy, is carried along the
lateral walls by pillars extending the ehomo up to the first level of transverse beams.
105
A double layer of overawing panels ensures perfect water-tightness to the covering,
tied to a bamboo lathing, itself attached to the rafters. The ridge covering is an
elaborate superposing of panels, maintained by bamboo pins. Furthermore palm-rib
crossbraces, lazilazi mbumbu, keep the panels from getting detached, in case of stong
wind. Once the roofing is finished, a last celebration takes place119.
The gables are also covered by panels fixed to the piles of the structure. Other panels
cover the space between two houses. When the houses are isolated or at the end of a
row, the side of their overhanging roof is supported by raking shores, entailed at the
inside of the laglag, and rests on the exterior piles of the verandah. This overhanging
roof is slightly oval.
The bottom part of the roof has two openings, one in front and one in the back, to provide
light and ventilation inside. The movable panels, lawalawa, closing these openings turns
on a hinge, attached to the upper part of their frames. The latter, gas lawalawa are fixed
between the famalo mbuat and the fangali gas. In the axis of the opening, the median
rafter has a hole for the stick, tuwutuwu, serving to open the panel. Once the roof is
finished, there is a last celebration.
The interior arrangements follow: the hearth awu, leans against the median wall. Its frame
bears the shelves, fanuna, for the kitchen utensils and the fire wood. A board, fo, closes the
upper part, and is used to dry green wood. The gashed stiles of the hearth, ora vo, give
access to it. The bamboo water containers, plates and glasses are kept near the hearth, in
the kitchen area. Above the latter, there is a shelf harehare, closed by a wall of vertical
openwork batten, kolukolu, to store tools, food supply and seeds. The whole of this section
is shut off from the public hall by a wall going up to the first roof beams.
At last the house is ready to be lived in.
MOVING-IN CEREMONIES
When the house is completed, a ritual takes place, rather similar to the one in the North.
The carpenters sleep in the new dwelling for seven nights, and during that time nobody
else is allowed in. Then a feast is organized for the whole village, the head carpenter
calling the owner, his family and the villagers from inside. He announces that "the house is
beautiful, it is healthy, there is no disease, there is peace". Each visitor receives betel as a
welcome. Inevitably, a meal of pigs and rice follows, everyone also getting a hunk of raw
pork.120 The owner has a si'ila ask the carpenter how much the outstanding balance for the
construction amounts to, considering the advances made. He settles the carpenter either
immediately or later.
119
If it is a chiefs house, a very special ceremony takes place. The head carpenter puts a white pig, which should
have neither black bristle nor spots, into a rice sack. He then carries it up to the ridgepole and lets it roll down
over the roof, to fall in front of the building. There, the chief slaughters it and shares it among the villagers.
120
Later, the new owner is invited by his family. He receives, mainly from his maternal uncle, a capital of gold and
pigs, to help him recover the expenses for the feasts given during the construction.
106
The building of a Malay house does not imply feasts. However a pig will be shared as a
moving in ceremony, after a Christian blessing.
For a chief's house, the ceremonies were more complicated and demanded human
heads. The chief sent warriors to cut the required number, and paid them three units
of ten grammes of gold each. The amount of heads necessary, the time and
circumstances of their use in the ceremonies, and the role they played, varies
according to the frequently exaggerated accounts. Some heads were however buried:
under the four corner ehomo of the building, female heads to the left, male ones to
the right,
another at the base of the front ndriwa,
and a last one in the centre of the house.
One or several heads were attached to the top of the roof, after having been crushed
against the facade lasara, the protective figures to which they were supposed to give
their strength. Later they were buried, and therefore no visible skull remained in the
house, named omo nifobinu, the the house of the heads.
As for a people's dwelling, before the house can be inhabited, the carpenters stay in it
by themselves for a few days. After this time, the village gathers in front of the house,
the chief standing in the first row with the carpenters next to him. Then everyone in
procession enters the building .The carpenters show the chief the back area for his
family, and inform him that it is ready to welcome him. After returning to the front
public hall, the carpenters sit on the left and right of the bench, while the chief places a
bowl full of water at the centre of the platform. The carpenters each hold three tools (a
plane, a hatchet and a chisel) which they dip into the water, one after the other, before
sitting down again.121 This aspersion ritual may be repeated by the chief's maternal
uncle122.This ceremonial may be repeated by the father of the chief's wife.
Twenty-four pigs are slaughtered for the feast which follows, famewuasi, with the
indispensable redistribution of pork. The chief gives the carpenter a twenty-fifth pig,
which must be white and fifteen to twenty years old.
Once the meals is over, the carpenters and their assistants stay in the house for three
more days. When they leave it, the chief ties a white cloth band around their foreheads
to mark the end of the ceremonies.
121
Once this ritual is acomplished, the chiefs wife gives 24 units of gold (240 grammes) to the carpenter sitting at
the right (12 for himself, 12 to share between his assistants). She then gives the same amount of gold to the
carpenter sitting to her left.
122
He is given 12 units of gold to thank him.
107
USE OF THE HOUSE SPACE
From the street, a few steps give access to a raised gallery, serving for two houses. On
the backside, this transition space leads to the unpaved and muddy area, where the
domestic refuse for the pigs is thrown. If the house is isolated, the gallery will become
a verandah, edu, sheltered by an oval overhanging roof. The house entrance is
through one of the side walls. There are usually two doors, one opening onto the
tawolo, the other onto the frma. Sometimes the back end of the passage between
two houses is shut, either to enlarge the back space, or to make two houses belonging
to a same family communicate.
The space under the dwelling is used for storage, and sometimes fenced for pigs and
chicken. The area in front of the house, protected by the overhanging roof, is for the
women. Large rectangular chests, standing on stones to avoid dampness, contain the
rice stocks. If the rice is kept inside the house, it is either stored under the floor boards
of the back section, or in a built in chest, laowo sebua, on the rear platform123. After
harvest, before being stocked, rice is put out to dry in front of the house. If the
production is for the family, its chief controls and manages the paddy stocks.
Inside the house, the communal room, tawolo, is the centre of the family's social life
and where foreign visitors are received. During the day, men and women work and
watch the children there, when they are not in the fields. At night, mats are unrolled
on the platform, for the unmarried men and male guests. The door is closed by a
strong wooden bar every night.
In this empty public hall, the most convivial part of the house, each person has a
determined seat on the bench. What goes on in front of the house and in the village
street can be discreetly observed through its long front opening. The shelf, harefa, at
the top of the front wall, permits climbing through the opening of the roof, to put
laundry and mats to dry. From the main room, a narrow passage leads to the back, at
the opposite side from the main entrance. It can be shut at night by a panel. In the
simplest case, the separation between communal and private sections contains the
hearth and kitchen space, where the women prepare meals. The private area, form,
is occupied by the platform, where the head of the house, his wife, his unmarried
daughters and the female guests sleep. Sarong are hung up as curtains, for privacy's
sake. Behind this platform, a bench serves as chest for the family's clothes and other
belongings. As in the front room, the mats are kept on the harefa. Wooden hooks are
often fixed on the wall panels, to hang tools, clothes or weapons. When one or several
married sons live with their parents, partitions sometimes provide extra rooms.
123
Only rice is stocked. Other products like cassava, sweet potatoes and taro are eaten as soon as they are
gathered.
108
Extensions when made are always at the back, and lower than the dwelling. Either they
are on short piles, or built straight on the ground. Nowadays, they consist of concrete
bricks up to one metre, and thin wooden walls above, supporting a corrugated iron
roof. To avoid fire, the hearth has often been moved into such a shed. Behind the
house are the pig shelters, made of logs and a palm-leaf roof, just as everywhere else on
the island.
DECORATION AND SYMBOLISM OF THE HOUSE
Unlike the chiefs' dwellings, those of the people have practically no ornaments. The
only noteworthy decorations are paintings on the facade and the particular treatment
of the ewe, the curved end of the sikhli. They can be either painted in bright colours
or carved, according to the owner's taste. The symbols of the ewe vary. At
Bawmataluo, they figure a crested hornbill, a large and powerful bird, whereas at
Onohondr, they represent a serpent, raising his head and whistling to scare away
enemies. In other cases, the ewe is a stag's head, a proud and strong animal. The most
constant symbol is therefore strength.
The houses of the South, and by methodological reduction, all the houses of Nias, have
been interpreted by Suzuki (1959:ch.5) in particular, as a cosmological representation.
According to him, the understructure would symbolize the Underworld, sphere of the
god Lature Dan. The sikhli would figure the serpent carrying the world; like him,
they bear the house, earth. The tips of the sikhli, painted red and black, colours of the
Underworld, would tie them to the latter. The lasara figures124, having attributes both
of the Upper and Underworld, would represent the inevitable bond between the two
concepts. Their presence is therefore indispensable to justify the habitable nucleus,
itself identified as the surface of the earth, the sphere of humans. The superstructure
would belong to the Upperworld of god Lowalangi. Complementary to this vertical
tripartition, a bipartition would attribute the front of the house to the male, and the
back to the female.
Although very attractive at first sight, these interpretations become problematic when
confronted with the comparative study of the houses.
First, it appears that only chiefs' houses have lasara heads, and this only in the South.
The lasara, link between the Upper and Underworlds, therefore not being constant,
Suzuki's interpretation is not justified, and the relevance of tripartition in its symbolic
acceptation can be questioned. For if one may deem the dwelling to have three levels
(understructure, habitable nucleus and superstructure), nothing in the components
and terms of construction, or the ceremonies punctuating them, or in the
representation the Ono Niha have of their houses, permits to assert that these levels
have a symbolic value, and even less to attribute them to a cosmogony.
124
The lasara is a decorative motif found on the whole island. It represent a mythical polymorphic bird with a
stags head and boars tusks. He protects the hous agains the enemies. The motif can either be a carved head set
on top of chiefs house facade, or an openwork board in the dwelling.
109
As for the male-female distribution of the house space, it is true that mainly men sit
and talk on the platform, while women are near the hearth in the back room. Again
however, this has no symbolic justification, but conforms to a sexual division of work.
Although symbolism and cosmogony certainly have their place in Nias, their
interpretation through the house structure should not be privileged. They could rather
be looked for in adat (tradition, "what has always been done"), and its dialectic in
practices. The house as such is only one component of the village, the identity
reference of the social group. Outside the house, but inside the village, are the
megaliths. Through them are expressed, to a certain extent and on a material level, the
relation to ancestors, and to life and death, these successions of times which partake in
the Ono Niha's cosmogony. Perhaps the Ono Niha's vision of the world can be found
in the hoho, the long speaches on themselves they repeat at each feast or ceremony. In
this non literate society, the hoho are a means to create and recreate, whenever
required, the cosmogony organizing mankind, space, and time.
The front yard of noblemans house at Hilimondregeraya village, 1979.
110
Plan variation of Omo Hada
111
Traditional house at Botohilitan village.
112
South Nias Botohilitan village
Omo Hada
Survey: Alain Viaro 1980
(Published in Indonesian Houses Vol. 2, KITLV Press, Leiden 2008)
1. Ndriwa (oblique post) 27. Os-os

2. Ehomo (vertical post) 28. Fanuna
3. Silt 29. Fo
4. Laliw 30. Ora Vo
5. Sikhli (upright of the hearth frame)
6. Balobalo 31. Kolukolu (lattice wall)
7. Lattice ender the floor planks 32. Laglag
8. Floor frame 33. Fangali gas
9. Ahe mbat (floor) 34. Laglag sagt bat
10. Ora (stair) 35. Ete deu
11. Edu (porch, veranda) 36. Gas matua / fanimba
12. Bawagolu (door) 37. Laso mbuat
13. Bat (sleeping platform) 38. Buat newali
14. Farakhina (bench) 39. famalo mbuat
15. Salogot 40. Silt mbuat
16. Baabaa Duhasa / zarazara 41. fanila
(window) 42. bat / laglag mbuat
17. Harefa (shelf) 43. laliw mbuat
18. Passage between front and 44. Ndriwa mbuat
back room 45. Folan mbumbu
19. Awu (hearth) 46. Mbumbu
20. Lauwo (kitchen) 47. Gas
21. Tabla nulu/laowo (chest) 48. Sagela
22. Towa (wall) 49. Lazilazi mbumbu
23. Ina laso & Laso sebua 50. Lawalawa
24. Ono laso 51. Tuwutuwu
25. Ewe 52.
26. Taio
113
114
Botohilitan, omo hada (Viaro 1980)
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
The great house [Omo Sebua] at Hilinawal Mazin, 1979

Chapter 3:
MONUMENTALARCHITECTURE
T
he chiefs' houses, omo sebua (big house), omo nifolasara, or omo lasara (house
with lasara, dragons' heads), are imposing buildings, illustrating the most
elaborate architecture of the island. Their size (up to 10 metres wide, 30 metres
deep, and 24 metres high),125 the quality of their wood and their luxurious decoration,
set them apart from all other constructions. There were many dwellings of this type in
the past126 but today only four, all over hundred years old, remain at Bawmataluo,
Hilinawal Fau, Onohondr and Hilinawal Mazin. A fifth one stands at Sifalag
Susua, in the Centre. Its presence in that area is due to the close links this village's clan
head had with the South127.
Other houses, like the ones of Bawganw and Bawgosali, were rebuilt in the
nineteen forties. However, they kept components of the old building, for instance the
large carved indoor panels. If most of them were built on pillars, some rested on a
carefully dressed stone base. This was the case for instance for Orahili,
Hilimondregeraya, Hilinamzaua and Bawganw.
Nowadays, the upkeep of the big dwellings causes serious financial problems to the
families living in them. The traditional chiefs no longer have their former income, and
what is more, often do not live in these houses permanently anymore. Thanks to
tourism development projects financed by the Indonesian government, the chief's
house of Bawmataluo's restorations have been partly subsidized, but it is not the case
for other large houses, falling into decay from lack of upkeep.128
As houses of this type have not been built for a century, the knowledge or rather
experience necessary to achieve such large structures has been lost, although their
construction principles are similar to those of the people's habitations. Also, in the
South too, timber has become scarce. These five dwellings are therefore a precious
testimony of bygone days.
125
Equivalent to a building of 8 storeys and a floor surface of 12 to 15 rooms.
126
The one in Botohilitan was destroyed in 1965, Hiliganw in 1942, Orahili in 1863. Hilimondregeraya was
dismantled in 1925 and shipped to the Copenhagen Museum.
127
Inhabited by the Bull caln, allied with Hilinawal Mazin and Hilinawal Fau.
128
The complete restoration of Bawmataluo chiefs house would cost 240 million Indonesia Rupiahs (120'000
USD). The Indonsien government subsidizes the most urgent repairs. Onohondr chiefs house restoration would
cost 125 million Indonesia Rupiahs (63'000 USD). Estimation made in January 1993.
123
THE CHIEF'S HOUSE OF BAWMATALUO
The village of Bawmataluo was built between 1863 and 1878, by people who fled the
old Orahili after its destruction by Dutch troops. The chief's house also, dates from
that period. Old photographs show it isolated in the middle of the central square, as
the village had a cross shaped layout. Only towards 1925, was this chief's dwelling
integrated into the left line of houses129.
This construction, the largest and most impressive of the entire island, rests on solid
piles, and is about 24 metres high. The understructure represents one sixth of its total
height, the habitable part another sixth, and its roof the upper two thirds. The indoor
width between the walls is 9.1 metres, the depth 29.80 metres. The public hall in the
front is 10 metres deep at floor level (14.50 metres between the interior of the facade
and the back wall), and the private back section 7.40 metres again at floor level (11.10
metres between its walls). The lengthways beams, half-lap joined in three pieces,,
measure about 30 metres for the sikhli, and 32.50 for the laglag, to give an idea of
the gigantic tree trunks needed130.
- understructure
The base of the house has eleven rows of six vertical piles, ehomo, each over 4 metres
high. Their diameter is 70 centimetres for the front line, and from 50 to 60 centimetres
for the others. The front pillars of the gables of the second, fourth, sixth, eighth, and
tenth row, ehomo famuyu, go up beyond the laglag, to reinforce the walls. The area
limited by the ehomo, under the dwelling, is about 9.50 metres on 23.50 metres. Up to
about one metre, it is fenced with beams of 25 centimetres diameter, set horizontally
between the ehomo, and served as a pig pen.
There are also eleven pairs of ndriwa in the depth, and six times two pairs in the width;
the length of the facade ones is 5.80 metres and their diameter 70 centimetres, the
others having a diameter of 30 to 40 centimetres. The bases of the ndriwa parallel to
the facade lean against each other at ground level, in the median axis of the building.
The ndriwa placed in the depth of the house start on the ground, between the third
and fourth line of ehomo, and lean against the silt of the first and sixth row for the
front series, and seventh and eleventh row for the back series. The front series of
ndriwa are 7.35 metres long, the back series 5.80 metres long. Their diameter is 40 cm.
Altogether, the building rests on a hundred and twelve piles, their length representing
592 metres, if put end to end. All the pillars, both vertical and slanted, are of faebu
wood from Aram, and stand on flat stone bases.
129
A precise survey of the building was made by de Boer in 1920. Precise and complete analysis of the interior and
the decoration was made by Feldman (1977). We surveyed the building and its extensions in 1979.
130
In comparison, the chiefs house of Hilinawal Mazin- the second in size- has a total depth of 22 metres, the
Onohondr onr 20 meters and Sifalag Suzua 17 metres.
124
The access is by a central 1.25 metres wide footbridge, edu', running all along the
depth under the house, at a height of about 1 metre. Two cut stone blocks form the
threshold in the front and back of the footbridge131. Between the sixth and seventh line
of ehomo, 1.50 metre wide stairs, ora, lead from the small bridge to the house.
The silt bear the 8 metres long laliw, jutting out on the facade side over the
ehomo about 1,50 metres. Therefore the front of the dwelling has a far more important
projection than the omo hada. Not only the benches, but also the platform itself is
cantilevered. In the length of the house, covering the laliw, battens support the
inside floor-boards recessed in the frames, handroma wafa, tailed to the lateral walls;
they are cut in kafini wood. These plates are 2.10 metres long, 80cm wide and 5 cm
thick.
- living area
The stairs lead to the public hall, tawolo, covering the front half of the house. The
entrance to this space, bawagolu, is shut by a massive double door with a strong
wooden bar; its hinge and latch are decorated with carved monkeys. Benches run along
the side walls of this tawolo, and leaning against them pillars, famuyu, go from the
floor to the first level of framework, in some way doubling the ehomo famuyu, and ease
the strain of the roof structure on the lateral walls, which each have a door. The one to
the right formerly gave access to an extension which no longer exists132. Innumerable
hooks, saita, in the shape of birds, monkeys, flowers, ears of corn or fern leaves are
fixed to the walls of this main hall. Large ceremonial drums, fondrahi, rest on wooden
frames, hanging from the lower roof beams.
The side walls of the front part of this room, are adorned by large carved panels, laso
sohagu, made of kafini wood. Their low relief sculptures represent the chief and his
family's gold ornaments. Above the carved panels, both walls have high relief
sculptures. The left one shows a Dutch battle ship, probably referring to the expedition
against Orahili in 1863. The right one figures two reduced size thrones, with parasols
above them, indicating the high rank of the person whose effigy they carried. The
larger seat, darodaro nadu ndra ama was intended for the male ancestor, and the
smaller, darodaro nadu ndra ina, for the female (Feldmann 1977:156). Numerous other
protective statues were attached to the walls133; they have all disappeared since
Christianization.
Next to the double door, the back wall of the public area has a recess and bench,
surmounted, at first frame level by a miniature facade belonging to the malige, a raised
chamber only accessible through the private back section. This malige was, in the past,
reserved to the chief and the priest for meditation and communication with the spirits
131
The block in front of the facade figure a chest with a lock and handles. It is meant to bring gold and wealth to
the chief.
132
See de Boer plan (1920) : this extension was the son of the chief lived. It has been replaced by two storage
buldings.
133
See Schrder 1917 photographs.
125
of the ancestors. It also served for the women, who followed what was going on in the
public hall from there without being seen. Near the malige a hearth no longer in use,
its jambs adorned with a motif of relief stools used as rungs, is surmounted by a floor,
f, where firewood is kept. Adjoining this hearth, a narrow shed, ulahe, served as
lavatory. The house's back passage is shut at night by a door with a single leaf.
As in all other houses, the facade of the tawolo has a series of platforms, in proportion
with the rest of the structure. In the house's median axis, and at the edge of the first
podium, a kholokholo pillar partly bears the framework of the roof. It is necessary
because the platforms and sculptures on the walls prevent the correct positioning of
the front famuyu pillar, required from a structural point of view. A second kholokholo,
of the same shape and function (crown of hooks, disks, ni'ogazi), starts from the inside
edge of the bench under the window. At its base, the armrest is of such a comfortable
size, that it is mostly used as another seat. The window itself is barred by four
horizontal laths. Two openings in the roof give the room light.
The exterior facade is superbly decorated. Although the finest details have been
damaged by wood erosion, most of the traditional Nias motifs, both carved and
painted, still adorn it. Three large lasara heads, essential components of such a
building, are embedded in the slanted construction pieces, ta'io sebua, going from the
platform level to the harefa shelf, over the window. These grotesque heads have boars'
tusks, serpents or crocodiles' snouts, hornbills' beaks, and stags' antlers. The tips of the
sikhli, protruding far beyond the facade, are carved with palm leaves, painted red,
black and white.
Behind the house, the rooms are grouped at the left of a communal private area, frma.
Against the wall dividing the public from the private section, an identical and symmetrical
hearth to the first one is still used for preparing meals. Near it, a small area serves as
kitchen, and a ladder leads to the malige. In the right side wall, a door used to give access
to a no longer existing extension. Behind it, a bench runs along the wall. The back of the
frma has the usual three levels: the podium where the family sleeps, to the left a large
chest, tabla gamagama, and a chest-bench, tabla nulu, and finally the harefa shelf giving
access to the two roof openings. The median axis of the roof is here again supported by
two carved kholokholo piles respectively resting on the platform, and the chest-bench. The
left lateral wall has a double door leading to the extensions. A series of hooks are fixed at
mid-height of the walls. The left front half of this section of the house is taken up by a
particularly well built room, the nifoosali, also with a platform and chest-bench. Above the
latter a small window in the wall enables to look into the front hall. The door lock
represents an outstretched hand. The walls of this room, on the frma side, have benches
along them, one of them being a beautiful chest, lamari, carved with foliate motifs. At the
top angle of the walls, two sikhli adorned with a flower and bird decor, cross each other at
right angle and are held by a pillar. The first extension is a fine room, nifoosali, reserved
for the family chief, with in front of it, another small one. As in the other rooms, there is a
platform, a bench-chest for valuable belongings and a shelf. From it, a passage leads to
stairs at the back of the extension, and to a second passage going to the house next door.
The latter rather decayed building is used as a kitchen, and to accommodate the servants.
An opening in the side wall gives access to the street parallel to the chief's house.
126
The exterior service space at the back is paved; a series of rice coffers are kept there,
protected by the overhanging roof. Further behind the house, a recent cement
construction has lavatories and showers, conveniences in conformity with progress and
indispensable for tourists, as they supposedly could not put up with the noisy
overcrowding of the public bath. The front of the house, often visited by sightseers, has
been abandoned by the present residents in favour of the back section.
- superstructure
On the whole, the roof's framework construction principles are similar to those of the
omo hada, even though the framework is more complex, due to static constraints. The
span of 10 metres between the lateral walls and the weight of the roof give impressive
dimensions to the different elements. To bear the load pressure of the first level's
frame beams, the structure had to be shored. Therefore, the walls are reinforced on
the outside by the ehomo famuyu of the second, fourth, sixth, eighth and tenth lines,
which go beyond the laglag, up to 7 metres from the ground, whereas the ehomo of
the other rows, stop as usual at the level of the sikhli. Inside, corresponding to the
ehomo famuyu, the famuyu pillars rest on the floor and support the roof beams of the
inferior level, silt mbuat; their section of 100 x 10 cm, shows the load they bear. The
famuyu pillar and the ehomo famuyu are pegged at the height of the laglag. The
front joist is held up by the kholokholo of the platform, and embedded in the walls
above the hene de'u. The front ends of the lengthways beams, silt mbuat, rest on
this joist. 23 metres long and with a section of 39 by 13cm, these beams are laid flat to
provide a better support for the heavy transverse logs, laliw mbuat sesolo, which
have a diameter of 43 cm. The kholokholo of the bench is the bearing post of a large
transverse plank buat newali carrying the overhanging roof's rafters by means of small
vertical posts.
Between the two kholokholo, a rigid frame, suspended through the whole width of the
house, has an impressive series of hooks, alternately figuring hornbill heads and fern
leaf scrolls. From them hang several dozen large Chinese procelain dishes in their
wicker baskets. An iron rod above the frame held the jaws of the innumerable pigs
slaughtered during the feasts.
The gables of the framework itself are built in the same way as those of the omo hada,
but they have eleven levels - corresponding to the understructure's eleven lines of
ehomo -, instead of five.
The overhanging roof has a double system of rafters. A first series in wood, gas matua,
carry the frames correcting the difference of slope and holding the bamboo rafters,
onto which the corrugated metal panels of the covering are fitted134. Shores were added
later on, under the facade edge of the laglag, to support the protraction of the roof.
The ridge covering is ensured by wooden cross braces, lazilazi mbumbu, and the top of
134
The corrugated metal roof was built up by the Dutch around 1914 to prevent fire.
127
the gables is adorned with a scroll, ni'owliwli, in extension of the ridge pole. The
latter, painted in black, red and white, ends with a flower, ladari mbh.
- megaliths
Sheltered by the vast projecting platforms and roof, in front of the dwelling a small
well paved terrace creates a transition between street and building. A few stone
benches, two of them in the shape of chests, and two stele stand on it. In this sort of
antechamber, children play and adults converse in small groups. Within three
generations, the most imposing body of megaliths of the South, if not of the whole
island, has been erected in this area and on the assembly square nearby.
The first thing one sees are two gigantic tables, carved in very fine bluish sandstone,
the darodaro ni'obagi gfa. One was sculpted in 1881 for the chief Law, founder of the
village and builder of the large house. It measures 4.10 x 2.10 metres, with a thickness
of 42 cm and a weight of about 10 tonnes. Apparently, its cost was thousand five
hundred pigs. The other was set up in 1914 by Law's son Sanigeho. It was dragged
and hoisted by five hundred and twenty-five men, for more than three kilometres and
a level difference of three hundred metres. Transport took three days and required
forty pigs to feed all these assistants. It measures 3.45 x 1.95 metres, is 38 cm. thick and
weighs over six tonnes. These darodaro were placed during the life of their donors, as
they were si'ulu.135
Megaliths of various shapes follow the two main tables. Behind them, there are two
other large rectangular darodaro, dedicated to the wives of the above mentioned
chiefs, and on each side of them a circular tray on a high cylindric foot, darodaro
nikholo. Higher than the others, these round elements were erected for the wives of
the chiefs, and serve as seats of honour at feasts. In the back, ten menhirs, two of
which 4.30 metres high, batu vaulu or batu nitaru', were set up during the faulu
ceremonies of the dwelling's men. A last column, 1.90 metres high, is a naha
gamagama, used as seen earlier as a substitute for the chief.
Altogether the group comprises twenty-five stones, and although a few are not
decorated, most of them are beautifully carved. Their ornamental diversity and
technical quality confer the status of works of art to the megaliths of Bawmataluo,
beyond what they represent for the Ono Niha. Even today, the villagers sit on and in
front of these stones, when taking part in public meetings and various other
ceremonies, each one's place being here again strictly defined.
135
The siulu had the exclusive right to erect megaliths before his death. Communers could only erect one stone
bench (darodaro) after the death of the person.
128
THE OTHER CHIEF'S HOUSES OF THE SOUTH
Globally, the other omo sebua have the same characteristics as Bawmataluo's, even
though each one has distinct specificities. We shall see that if the houses conform to a
very precise and elaborate model, carpenters and owner can nonetheless use their
sense of creativity. The diversity resulting therefrom has probably been one of the
dynamic components of Southern architecture.
The three other chief's dwellings have a roof structure of nine levels and an
understructure of nine rows of piles in the depth, with the corresponding number of
ndriwa. These houses only have one movable opening in the roof. They have no malige
over the public hall, but are all equipped with a peephole in the median wall. Although
they are also monumental, they are smaller than the Bawmataluo dwelling.
THE CHIEF'S HOUSE OF HILINAWALO FAU
The present omo sebua136 is built on a stone terrace about 1.50 high, in the west line of
houses. Its social area is extended on the street and below it by the assembly square.
The latter, paved with flagstones and edged by stone benches, has numerous
megaliths, including two remarkable obelisks. No pillar supports the protruding roof of
the facade. The motifs of its decoration are particularly original and noteworthy. The
kholokholo are not embellished, and the one starting from the bench does not have the
usual disk, ni'ogazi, but the transverse beam resting on the kholokholo is adorned by
two face to face crocodiles, each about two metres long. Carved panels decorate the
lateral walls.137 Boat chains stretch crosswise through the house; they only seem to
serve for hanging gongs. Unlike the other houses, there is no hearth in the public
room.
THE CHIEF'S HOUSE OF ONOHONDR
This omo sebua is built in the centre of the western range of houses, on a terrace above the
assembly square. Very decrepit, it appears to be the oldest.138 One immediately notices that
the megaliths are less remarkable, in quantity and quality, as the groups seen elsewhere.
The square just has a few scarcely carved benches and one stela of modest dimensions,
with the remains of a fern decor. The reason may be that only one family of si'ulu lived
there, which limited the competition generating megaliths. Also, the village was
Christianized very early, in 1912, this implying the end of the erection of megaliths. Finally,
Onohondr possibly was never a wealthy village, and therefore perhaps did not have a
136
A first big house destroyed about 150 years ago, stood at the end of the opposite row (south-south/east). A
few stones of the basement and a fus newali still remain. According to the tradition, this house was as big as the
one in Bawmataluo.
137
An unusual motif decorate one of the panels : a monkey on a fruits tree. In the past they were two of them on
both side of the ancestors altar on the right wall.
138
The house was no longer inhabited, decayed, the back part falling down (january 1993).
129
tradition of sculptors. However the street is completely paved, this not always being the
case in other villages.
The facade of the dwelling, decorated by rosettes and chief's headdresses, has its three
lasara heads. Inside the carved panels of the side walls are crude and so are the low
relief motifs of the kholokholo pillars. The house has an interior width of about 7
metres. Its right back side has an extension with a room and a hearth. The back section
has a room, nifoosali, on the left side, next the hearth. Above the passage between
front and back side, and the cubicle serving as a lavatory, there is another minute
room, also called nifoosali.
THE CHIEF'S HOUSE OF HILINAWAL MAZIN
The village lies on two terraces cut in the slope. The houses are set in discontinuous
rows, and the street dividing them is irregularly paved. On the whole megalithism is
not important: no assembly square and the few darodaro in front of the houses, only
rough or crudely shaped stones The omo sebua, built five generations ago, faces the
village. It stands on a terrace dominating the street, and its facade looks eastwards. Its
lateral roof projections are supported by a line of high pillars, giving it
monumentality139.
The house has a superb facade, one of the most beautiful in the South. Under the
window, there are three levels of painted panels. The upper level is covered with a
frieze of diamonds and leaves, the two lower ones with a frieze of rosettes, the whole
decor being black, white and red.The two gigantic sikhli are adorned with black and
white festoons and the three large lasara heads are also polychrome. The footbridge
going to the stairs under the house does not run the whole length. The access door
through the floor is in the middle of the house, and not near the side wall, but as
customary the stairs lead to the public area. On the left side of the building, other
stairs go to a verandah, with an entrance to the back. In the public section, measuring
103 square metres, the impression of space is reinforced by the choice of light coloured
wood.140
The interior decorations are sober and mainly reproduce the house owners' gold
ornaments. On each side wall, identical panels carved and painted red and gold figure
a comb, sukhu, probably for a woman. They testify that the cycle of feasts was
completed, and that the jewellery linked to them is in possession of the family. On the
right wall, the altar for the ancestor figures has lasara head shaped carvings at its two
ends. Both kholokholo (called by the word used in the Centre, handro lawalawa), are
simply belted at their top by a large bracelet, painted in gold. The transverse beam,
handro gas, resting on the front kholokholo has a sash of diamond motifs, with a
double range of leaves on each side painted in red, green and yellow. The median
lengthways beam, tla, rests on the platform's kholokholo. Its front end painted in red
139
It must be a later reinforcement, this pillard do not appear in the Schrders photos (fig. 69).
140
Wood used are : mosiholi and siuju, found near the village. The wood selected for the understructure and the
sikhli beam is afoa. It comes from Hilinamzaua, two kilometres away and from Harenoro (Lahusa District), 8
kilometres away.
130
is adorned by a yellow comb decor. Today nobody can explain what these unusual
motifs and colours symbolize.
The podium of the public area is unusual in that its chest runs along the whole depth
of the side wall. Here again, one finds gongs, drums and chains. The back section is
divided by a lengthways partition, two thirds of it forming a communal chamber with a
hearth. The remaining third is divided into two deep narrow rooms, separated by a
large chest. One can look into the public area through a hatch. Substantial differences,
in the inside organization and colouring of the ornamentation, contribute to the
originality of the omo sebua of Hilinawal Mazin.
THE CHIEF OF SIFALAG SUSUA'S HOUSE
Although in the Centre of the island, on the upper course of the Susua river, the chief's
dwelling looks just like a Southern house. This may be explained both by the situation
of the village on an exchange and migration axis, and by the present chief's assertion of
his historical links with the South. According to him, the villagers of Hilinawal Fau
and Hilinawal Mazin sprang from Sifalag Susua. The house has been repaired and
modified on numerous occasions and it is difficult to spot the original elements such as
the piles, said to date back seven generations. Built on a high terrace of dressed stone,
at the eastern end of the village, it stands near its main entrance, which is lateral, as
often in the Centre. There again, megalithism is not important and consists of a few
stone benches and barely dressed menhirs. Neither bale nor place of assembly can be
seen, meetings being held in the chief's house. If old photographs show an isolated
house, today it is completed by an omo hada and other extensions.
The main building is 17 metres deep, and 7 metres wide, or 15 metres with the lateral
extensions. The numerous alterations and extensions make it difficult to see its
original structure. The understructure is inspired both by the South and Centre. It has
seven rows of seven ehomo, each having a diameter of 50 cm. The exterior side piles
supporting the sikhli go from the ground up to the level of the folan (equivalent to
the laglag in the South), and reinforce the walls; they are called silal yawa (a word
used in the North). Two extra rows of ehomo, in the second and fifth span, reinforce
load resistance. Finally, two ehomo mbumbu, in the third span, support the ridgepole
from the ground, a solution seen in no other house. To brace the whole structure,
seven pairs of ndriwa are set in the depth of the house. The first and last pair are placed
in front of the facade ehomo, as in the South. Two groups of five pairs of ndriwa in the
width on the house complete the bracing of the understructure. The rhythm of seven
ehomo in the width leads to the middle one being behind the base of each pair of
ndriwa. The lengthways joist resting on these median ehomo is more massive than the
others, and is called fus laliw. Its facade end figures a lasara head.
As in the South, the living area has bearing walls supporting the framework's load. The
latter's structure is identical as in the South, but the local terminology referring to its
components is nearer the Centre's. However there are two important differences
131
compared to the South: the ehomo mbumbu pillars bearing the ridgepole from the
ground, and the ndriwa mbumbu. The latter are raking shores going through the house
in its transverse axis, and embedded at their base on the folan of the walls' top. Their
upper end leans against the folan of the framework's third level.
One enters the house on the north side, through a lateral verandah, edu. The public
hall takes up two thirds of the house's depth. It has the usual platforms, and the terms
used to design them come as much from the South as from the Centre or North. The
interior decoration is scarce. A single median pillar rests on the bench. It is adorned at
mid-height by a female bracelet. The handro gas (bat newali in the South) plank
supported by this pillar is adorned with painted motifs symbolizing the village
gathering around its chief, in yellow, green and red.A large opening in the right hand
wall communicates with the adjoining omo hada.
The layout of the back of the house is more complicated than in the South. A narrow
central passage, bawandruh, along the double hearth leads to it. There are three
rooms in this back section. One of them, reserved for the chief, his wife, and their
small children, has a particular plan: a double horizontal and vertical division, the back
bottom part serving as a chest for the family's treasures. A gallery surmounts it, closed
in the front by a slanted lathening; it was used as a bedroom for the chief's daughters.
The hatch in the wall between it and the public hall permit to see without being seen.
It is the equivalent of the nifoosali and the malige.
Later extensions crosswise from the original nucleus serve to accommodate three other
families.
The architectural synchretism of this dwelling is its most interesting aspect. In its
conception, as in its shape and decor, this house is influenced first by the South and
then by the Centre. It also has its own characteristics: the load bearing pillars of the
ridge pole start from the ground. It is one of the rare buildings combining the two
construction principles of Nias to such an extent.
A COMPLEX SYMBOLIC SETTING
Chiefs' dwellings and megalithism are certainly the most spectacular components of the
Southern villages. The wide range of their painted or carved motifs is more than a
decoration; they are symbols, with a rich and elaborate code, always referring to a wish of
representing society and cosmos within a corpus of well defined rules. Nothing is
superfluous, everything combines to assert the importance of tradition in the life of the
group. These symbols, expressing the continuity of customary law, may vary in their shape
and complexity, enriched through exterior contributions. There was no hesitation in
adopting a foreign formal register through images perceived as figuring power of a
different kind, but considerable. For instance, in Bawmataluo, the ancestors' altar on the
left side wall shows a complicated seat of totally strange shape, with tassels on the side of
the back, like military epaulettes; the betel mortar has become a footed bowl, and a naval
sword with its hilt and its bobbles is figured next to the parasol. Iron hinges and locks have
been carved on the chests, fake bells and purses hang from the pillars.
132
At Orahili, the low reliefs on the stone benches express western motifs: hammers,
scissors, compasses, pistols and blunderbusses. At Hilimondregeraya, the chief's stone
seat has a decor of warriors with guns, pistols and swords. In the same village, the
terrace where the chief's house stood is guarded by statues of soldiers with
blunderbusses. These foreign influences, be they Dutch, Chinese, Malay or from
elsewhere, can often be observed and are part of the local formal register; they are
manifest in many ancestor figures of the end of the last century.
New Christian symbols and new techniques have altered the images in the houses.
Crucifixes, holy pictures and framed family photographs have replaced ancestor
effigies on the altar, or are displayed in their place. The mode of expression has
changed and the symbolic code does no longer refers only to customary law. From
organizing traditional social space, it has evolved to signify family and Christianity.
The localization of the symbols has however not changed; could continuity be
expressed by spatialization?
Hilimondregera village, 17 April 1979.
133
Bawmataluo chiefs house
134
135
136
Chapter 4:
THEAMBIVALENCEOFRECENTEVOLUTION
T
raditional dwellings are still built in most villages of the South, but in others
little by little they are replaced by Malay houses. The causes of this process are
mainly economic, but when they are cultural, paradoxically, it is as much in the
sense of the Malay house's valorization (symbol of modernity), as in the sense of
attachment to the traditional dwelling, the only omo niha - human's house -
considered.
The replacement of traditional houses by Malay type ones is the result of wood
shortage. The biggest tree trunks came from Aram; they were transported over long
distances through uneven land; dozens of men dragged them with rattan cables, over
wooden rollers. For the floor panels, the walls and the platform of the chiefs' houses
(like the one in Bawmataluo), one selected gigantic kafini wood trunks, a kind of iron
wood growing on Pini island in the Batu archipelago, south of Nias.141
The lack of massive construction wood is a problem142. In Bawmataluo for instance,

there are no suitable species on the village territory. Trunks must be purchased and
transported from villages of the interior. On the contrary, at Hilinawal Fau,
Onohondr, Hilinawal Mazin or Hilimondregeraya, wood reserves are sufficient to
sell some. The species used are numerous, the most appreciated being manawa dan
and afoa.143 For a medium sized house, traditional roof covering requires about a
thousand panels. In the past, they were made by the family and villagers, a share of
collective tasks and feasts; now they are bought for 8000 rupiahs per hundred.
Corrugated metal roofs are therefore preferred; they do not need frequent replacement
and are less expensive in the long run.
Malay houses are a lot less costly, even though they demand relatively expensive
imported materials (cement and corrugated metal); but less wood is necessary and its
quality is not as essential. Such houses are easy to build: carpenters are not
indispensable, one does the work oneself, assisted by a few unskilled labourers,
construction time being minimal. In 1978, at Telukdalam, the estimate for a Malay
house was 500,000 rupiahs, and the price of the land 200 to 300,000 rupiahs. A
141
According to Modigliani (1890 : 207) it could be either merbau (Indonesian name for iron wood ) or tapan
(Abauria excelsa). For Thomas and Fehr (1882 : 93) it is mahagonny.
142
In Indonesia rare species can no longer bec ut for construction. Logs of a maximum 5 meters length could be
used, which is too short for traditional houses.
143
A scraped afoa trunk of diameter 30 cm is worth 5 grammes of gold. About twenty are needed for a medium
size house.
137
Traditional Architecture of Nias
traditional dwelling was evaluated at two million rupiahs.144 Although these figures are
only indicative, the difference is significant enough to explain why this type of
architecture is replacing customary houses, despite not having their qualities.
Omo sebua are no longer built, their price being very high and incompatible with the
present economical situation of the chiefs. The change of social relationships, due to
Christianization, colonization and Indonesianization, no longer enables a man to
obtain sufficient prestige and power, and what is more forbids him to express it in this
manner.
The villages capable of perpetuating the construction of traditional houses, or simply

of ensuring their restoration and upkeep, are the wealthiest ones - in spite of not
having wood on their territory - or the villages still owning forests and having a
tradition of carpenters, like Hilimondregeraya. It is not because a village is wealthy
however, that it is sure to keep the building tradition alive. A comparison between
Bawmataluo and Hilisimaetan, the two largest and richest villages of the South, is
meaningful. In the first, omo ada are still built and kept up, the village maintaining its
customs, even if modified and adapted. It is also perceived as standing for tradition,
through its folk performances for tourists. In a certain way, a small number of
sightseers, concentrated here, has created a new dynamic, where tradition could be
one aim and tourism the other. In the second village, traditional dwellings are no
longer built, and in the course of the last ten years, about half the old houses have
disappeared. Customary practices are dying out, replaced by mercenary and
Indonesianized behaviour, encouraged by the chief himself. The latter trades
construction materials; after having modernized the omo sebua he lived in, and
transformed it into a grocery, he supplies the villagers with his products...
It could be suggested that the permanence of traditional building is linked to the

vitality and strength of those customs still - or no longer - regulating the communal
and private life of the village, providing the means, both financial and in wood, are
available.
Finally, an interesting solution adopted at Hilifalag should be mentioned. Numerous

omo ada are now built on a stone and concrete base, sometimes with a cellar or shed.
Thereby the wood required by the understructure is saved. Now a decoration without
any bearing function, the facade ndriwa are nonetheless maintained, or at least
referred to with cement mouldings of them. The sikhli are set up on the masonry. The
house has a cement slab floor, or a wooden floor on a cement screed. The remaining
house is of wood, with simplified components and a corrugated metal roof covering.
Although it is obvious that the disappearance of the understructure's three

dimensional construction is to be regretted, as far as the house's global value is
concerned (how will it resist earthquakes?), this solution, while saving a large amount
of wood, appreciably maintains the building's dwelling opportunities.
144
A price much higher than a Northern house. A south chiefs house would cost 10 million Indonesia Rupiahs
(estimate 1985).
138
Fourth part:
HABITATINTHECENTRE
CHAPTER 1
THE CLOSED WORLDS OF THE HILLS
T
he Centre is limited in the north-east by the Gawo river, in the north-west by
the Siwalawa river, in the south-west by the Aram and Eho rivers, and in the
south-east by the Masio river. This region, the most hilly of the island, has deep
and narrow valleys, creating enclosed worlds and thereby generating local specificities.
Each valley is a small cultural area of itself, defined by a certain homogeneity in the
morphology of its villages, the shapes of its megaliths, even its architecture. The
adherence to this geographical identity is stressed by the joining of the river's name to
the village's (Schrder 1917:691). The scarcity of exportable products is the reason for
this area being the poorest, and makes living conditions difficult. For young people,
migration to other parts of the island or to Sumatra appears the only way to escape
misery. The villages of this region seem to have had the greatest spatial mobility. Their
political organization was closely linked to the occupation of land, and encouraged the
foundation of new villages by limiting their size. Furthermore, they were often
abandoned after a few generations, because of the impoverishment of their soil or,
sometimes, the drying up of their springs. During the colonial period, more regrouped
villages were created in the Centre than anywhere else on the island. This practice
disrupted the traditional displacement process (by founding ri), and the Dutch
administration's insistence to regroup the population contributed to the desertion of
numerous sites. The Indonesian government has since pursued the same policy.
Nevertheless, some former sites have been reoccupied recently.
The lack of historical data makes it difficult to understand the region. Except for
Schrder's reports, and a few missionaries' observations (Fries, Thomsen, Hmmerle),
only one archaeologist, Schnitger, provides information concerning the megaliths of
the Gomo district (triangle of the Tae, Gomo and Susua rivers). His work has in some
ways biased our perception of the Centre, for he presented a group of villages with
particularly elaborate megalithism, near the above mentioned rivers, as typical of the
Centre. The wealth of these settlements resulted from the slave trade145 which enabled
them to exchange slaves against iron tools to carve stone, but also from the richness of
their soil. Finally, the quality of their sculpture may further be explained by a nearby
quarry, which provided plenty of good quality sandstone.
145
Smambawa (Sombawa) at the mouth of Susua river, was the main harbour for slaves embarkation : Modigliani
(1890 :49), Hmmerle (1982 : 17-18).
139
The Centre is not a homogenous region, either for its resources, or their
exploitation.The strong points of its cultural expression are concentrated in well
defined zones. The area of Soliga has very original groups of megaliths on old sites, but
without morphologically clearly structured villages, or significant constructions. The
area of the middle Mola and middle Gawo rivers, on the contrary, has developed a
building tradition of quality, and original house ornamentation, but no megalithism.
The upper Gawo river - area of Holi - is characterized by its terraced villages and
megaliths of piled up stones, whereas the Gomo district's villages display rectangular
squares with numerous and diversified megaliths. Except for these outstanding zones,
it is difficult to classify the habitat, divided into hamlets or mere isolated houses on hill
ridges. The most important regrouped villages have none of the formal features of
traditional ones and only few megaliths. Therefore, the Centre appears like a nameless
constellation of diverse living structures, punctuated by a few areas offering their own
characteristics of organization. The contrast with the other settlements, particularly
Southern, is most striking. Apart from the reasons already mentioned, concerning the
mobility of the villages, there is the water problem. A few weeks without rain are
disastrous for the crops and lead to epidemics. Cholera and malaria caused
considerable harm (and still do), decimating whole villages. The Centre was also the
victim of continual wars and conflicts, as well as the favourite area for slave and head
hunting. The district of Lolowa'u, for example, is described by XIXth century travellers
as a deserted region with villages destroyed, subjected to incessant attacks from the
Southern headhunters, with a small, dispersed and timorous population146. This
situation had a direct impact on demography, and therefore on the villages' capacity
for renewal and dynamics. The average density of the Centre is 70 inhabitants per
square kilometre. The clusters of habitats remaining in the area, might be considered
residues of villages, without any traditional structure. On the contrary, the Gomo
district's density, 232 people per square kilometre, shows that it has not sustained the
slightest disorganization. A more powerful political framework and better ability to
produce wealth and fight war, reflect on the territory. Its older villages, many of which
are still on their initial sites are well structured by megalithism.
THE VILLAGES ORGANIZED AROUND A SQUARE
The old villages are settled in the island's originally peopled area, the district of Gomo.
They lie on hilltops, small spaces usually not big enough for more than a dozen houses.
These perched villages follow the ridge, and are mostly oriented north-south. A steep
stairway leads to them from the river or the path. The abrupt slopes of the hills create a
natural protection. In the past, the villages were surrounded by a wall of earth and
thorny bamboo with a belt of nettle bushes, lato.147 A fence of thick diameter bamboo
sometimes completed this defense system, and stones closed their access at night
(Schrder 1917:99).
146
See Modigliani (1890 : 380-381).
147
A belt of nettle plants around the village is a protection practice still perpetuated in many places.
140
The most frequent layout148 is organized around a rectangular paved square (the
largest ones 40 by 12 metres). One of its short sides has a raised, also paved, base with
the chief's house on it; the other, opposite, is the megalithic terrace, osali. The only
access to the square is from one of the long sides. Surrounding the place, megaliths, in
greater quantity and more varied shapes than anywhere else on the island, form a real
screen between it and the houses. The latter differ one from another: some are
extended by a verandah as large as themselves, others double or triple, some with
storeys, still others with back or side additions. Malay houses are very common. The
chief's dwelling, without being monumental, is the largest. These villages have no
particular developments: neither assembly house nor place. Justice is rendered on the
osali terrace, where the assembly house, ar gosali, formerly stood. The baths have no
specific location or form; one washes by the river. Sometimes a basic bathing place,
with light fences, is provided for discretion's sake; bamboo pipes bring water to it, from
a spring or the river.149
The collection of megaliths is without question the most remarkable feature.

Sometimes they stand in several lines, reflecting the social history of the village, as the
festive practices of the Centre explain their number. Their testimony is even more
impressive when their petrified discourse is discovered on a site engulfed by the forest.
Without listing the different types - we noted about twenty - nor their variants,
megaliths can be divided into two main categories: raised stones and seats.
The raised stones, set behind the seats, have different shapes. They can either be rough
menhirs, behu, several metres high or rectangular stone slabs.150 Their top often has a
hollow, closed by a bird figure, ni'omanu - like a rooster - or ni'ogogowaya - like a
hornbill -, for the skull of the person who set up the stone. Other carved pillars, saita
gari, have a hook to hang a sword on. The pillars erected by the biggest chiefs, at the
highest levels of feasts, are often anthropomorphic. When male, they are called
ni'oniha mbalugu or lawl si matua; when female, they honour chiefs' wives, and are
called behu ndra alawe. Pillars surmounted by a stone seat with a hornbill head and
tail, or a stag, also exist.
The seats are even more varied in aspect and appellation. The circular seats or tables,
ni'ogazi, rest on a short column, flared at the top; they can reach up to 2.40 metres
diameter, and are devoted to women. The rectangular or oval seats, osa-osa si sara
bagi or osa-osa sobagi mbh, with a tail, a head, and four feet, or more rarely one
central foot, are generally reserved for men.151 Other rectangular seats with four feet,
three heads, and three tails, as well as sometimes breasts, on the bottom side between
the front legs, are osa-osa si tlu hg or si tlu bagi; they are mostly set up in honour
of a woman. The heads resemble hornbills, stags or lasara. Seats with a bench harefa
and a back tendro gowasa stand for the spirits of deceased fathers, whereas a raised
148
On a sampling of 24 villages of the Centre, 15 had a rectangular layout, all of them in the Gomo area.
149
The only exception was Lahusa Id. Tae, with a perfectly built bathplace similar to the ones in the South.
150
Steps on the narrow side make it possible to climb to the top of the stone for ceremonial practices. It was
reserved for the owner.
151
Osa-osa (table with one or three heads) are made for men or women. The custom varies from one village to
another.
141
stone, fanawi hia, was supposed to receive their clothes. Again in relation to death,
stone caskets serving as skull urns, were placed directly on the ground. All these
statues are monolithic, except for the largest ni'ogazi, occasionally made in two pieces,
foot and top.
In the Centre, megalithism survives; harefa benches and their tendro gowasa backs are
still set up. Certain megaliths get displaced within the village and others are brought
from old sites, to join them.
Numerous churches have been built outside the villages, mainly for the Fa'awsa sect
particularly well represented here. Schools however are not widespread yet .The
villages with rectangular plans have no extensions: most of the time the site would not
permit it and none of them have sufficient demographic expansion to justify any.
THE VILLAGES WITH MEGALITHIC TERRACES
This layout can only be observed on the upper Gawo and Mola rivers, in the Holi area.
Settled along the slopes of the central hills, the villages are far from the main route
going from the North to the South, through Gomo. Their orientation depends only on
the sites. All of them are occupied in majority by the same clan: the mado Zai. Here
again, megalithism is the first structuring power; unlike our previous descriptions
however, it is not monolithic, but based on the piling up of dry stones.
A typical village has different levels of paved terraces half way up the hill, always at a
certain distance from the river, which is only used as a path at low water. Long steep
and narrow stairs start at its bank and climb to the village, which has three or four
terraces. They are separated by walls up to three metres high, made of flat river stones,
and heaped up, now and then without even overlapping. Each terrace has only a few
houses, two or three on either side, as often as not of Malay model. Among the rare
remaining traditional houses, some are double. The memorial feast stones are lined up
before the houses. There are several types: tables, tuho, raised stone slabs, behu, and
also high truncated pyramids of stacked stones with a frontal niche.The skull of A
deceased chief was put into this hollow on a plate. None of the stones are carved, but
in the past, many rather poor quality wooden ancestor figures were placed in front of
these monuments.
These villages have no community developments such as an assembly house or square,

which underlines the importance of the megaliths in the general structure, especially
considering the not very monumental character of the chief's dwelling, and more
generally, the building layout's lack of rigour. The organization in terraces does not
facilitate extensions; they are therefore relegated to the ends of the village, and not
very numerous.
There are some other terrace villages north of the Masio river, but contrary to the
former, they are not based on megalithism. These recent establishments have settled
on rather soft reliefs, crosswise from the route going to Gomo in the South and directly
142
on this path. The level difference between the three or four terraces is small; a bank or
a low wall divides them, a few stones form the stairs and only the central street is
paved. The highest level, at Hililaora for instance, is where the chief's house stands (it
was finished in 1979), dominating more by position than by size. Here the houses
structure the village; although their mode of construction is Central, they are aligned
like in the South. Megaliths are scarce: a few round seats, ni'ogazi, and stone benches,
harefa, with their backs, tendro gowasa, may be seen in front of a house or two. In one
of the villages, an assembly house shows the influence of the South in this border area.
The Centre's habitat is not well structured and escapes any discerning typology. The
always small villages only express consistency (rectangular place or terrace villages) in
some zones. They should however neither be interpreted as relics of past systems nor
on the contrary as recent conceptions, nor even simply as regional expressions.
Traditional house and megalith Saitagari at Guigui Gomo, 1986
143
144
145
Fig. 52 Gomo area: small hamlets around a square, on top of hills protected from enemies.
146
147
148
149
Holi village, Idangawo
150
Chapter 2:
THEHOUSEOFTHECENTRE:ACOMPROMISE?
T
he houses of the Centre are of a mixed (or transitional?) type, similar to the
Southern model in their rectangular layout and exterior appearance, and to the
Northern in the building techniques. These dwellings, of a more precarious and
sometimes rudimentary construction, are the least resistant of the island. The oldest
still in use date from about fifty years ago.152
This absence of age makes it difficult to know whether the houses of the Centre
represent the initial structure from which the Northern and Southern styles derive, if
they are of a hybrid transitional type, adopting concepts from two well differentiated
architectural models, or if - with the same autonomy as the other two models - they
developed their own form. The first hypothesis could be confirmed by the Niha's belief
that they originate from the Centre, the argument in favour of the second being that
the Centre's habitat has always been rustic, without many elements of prestige and
power. The small size of its political units did not justify monumentality or great
ostentation. Therefore, the region may have been open to the influences of the North
and South's more elaborate types. As for the third hypothesis, considering that the
Centre has its own social and festive characteristics, it may also have its own
architecture. Whatever the case, the uniformity of the Central Ono Niha's habitat can
be defined by a primarily utilitarian mountain architecture. The old documents153 show
even cruder buildings, made of roughly worked materials and irregular piles, with
disjoining walls and roofs of modest size.
The first impression these dwellings convey is of great diversity, both in shapes and
proportions. According to their location, more or less close to the North or South, the
borrowing from either region are more or less marked. In the Gawo river area for
instance, some oval houses have a Central pattern bi-partition of the inside space.
Their building structure is similar to the Northern one, but completed by a variable
number of sikhli and ewe. The houses have two, three or sometimes four ewe, and
other times none at all154. They may be either isolated or clustered, occasionally even
attached to each other, and forming a single one. In the areas of the Gomo and Susua
rivers, certain dwellings are built on the principle of bearing walls as in the South,
whereas other elements are characteristic of the Centre.
152
In the centre of the island, due to the hilly terrain i trains more than anywhere else in the island. Materials
deteriorate rapidly. Villages are poor, the structure of the house sis less elaborate than in other areas. Frequent
displacement of villages did not favour construction of solid buildings.
153
See Schrder (1917 : fig. 105, 132, 135, 137, 187), Wirz (1929 : fig. 13, 15), Cook Cole (1931 : 218).
154
In this case the supplementary ones will be either in the lengthway median axis of the house, or above the third
and fifth ehomo.
151
The houses sometimes have such large verandahs, extensions or habitable
superstructures that the original nucleus is lost in some irregular configuration. The
components of the understructure are of flexible number and disposition, with lines of
four, five, six or seven piles, and bracing ndriwa placed in front or behind the facade
pillars, crossing in their centre, or meeting at their base. As a result, the scope for
interpretation of the Centre's constructions is most diverse.
However, when analysed, a basic type of structure appears: a framework enabling a

light construction and not requiring very much wood. The roof structure is reduced to
the minimum and the filling in of the walls only needs thin planks or even rattan
panels.155 This building model allows numerous variations in plan and volume, for
instance lateral extensions of the main body, like verandahs, extra rooms, or a second
floor. Some extensions can even be made in the roof, in this case leading to a
modification of the framework.
This adaptable architecture permits adjacent houses, which through the partial
suppression of the lateral walls become one "long house", extensible when necessary by
supplementary units. Nevertheless, the latter should not, by some careless
diffusionism, be considered as an equivalent of the Dayak "long houses" of Borneo or
the ones in New Guinea. In Nias, they do not by themselves form the village, but are
only part of it. They do not represent a model of habitation, but a possible layout
permitted by a construction system. Usually, there are only two or three, exceptionally
five, regrouped units. The public area takes up the front part of the building and the
access to each family unit, in the back, is through a openwork door in the median wall.
At Sifalago Susua, ninety six people live in a house of five units, this meaning about
twenty nuclear families related or not, belonging to three different clans.
In the basic architectural unit however, as always, the habitable space is divided in
two. The front part, bat or salo, is public. The back part is private and partitioned
according to needs. The rice stocks are kept there, sometimes in sewn bark cylinders.
The hearth is generally in the
partition wall.
CONSTRUCTION
The traditional house described hereafter is in Tetegewo Idan Tae, Gomo district.
- understructure
In principle, a chief's house rests on five rows of five ehomo or seven rows of seven. The
piles are of different heights and have different names, according to their function and
location. The exterior lateral piles of the uneven lines extend through the floor of the
habitable nucleus - as the side walls are not plumbed with these pillars - up to two
thirds of the framework. They are the silal yawa, all the other piles being called
155
It is only in the centre that such panels are used as walls. It makes the building cheaper.
152
ehomo. Transverse beams, silt, are embedded on top of the ehomo, and go through
the silal yawa. All the silt jut out beyond the ehomo, so that their ends can bear the
side walls. Lengthways, the ewe (equivalent of sikhli in the South), are embedded on
the silt, and lean against the silal yawa. Between the ewe the lengthways beams,
laliw, are laid one next to the other on the silt. Often the median laliw is not
laid, but embedded in the silt, and ends on the facade side with a sculpture. When
this is the case, it is called fus laliw. One or two beams at the exterior of the ewe
carry the floor of the sides, the last one bearing the lateral walls.
The bracing of the understructure is organized differently, with five pairs of ndriwa in
the depth, and three pairs in the width. In most cases, the first pair is placed behind
the facade ehomo. Each pair of ndriwa rests on a stone base, or often remains wedged
against the foot of the median ehomo of the row concerned. Another possibility is for
the ndriwa to cross at their centre, like in the North. Finally, in an arrangement only
found in the Centre, the bases of the third pair in the depth and the middle pair all
lean against the central ehomo of the understructure. This pillar is therefore literally
wedged by the four ndriwa.
- intermediate structure
The entrance to the front part of the house is through a lateral verandah with a ladder.
This verandah is either just a landing, sheltered by an extension of the overhanging
roof, or a covered platform of variable size, sometimes with benches and closed on
three sides.
Inside, the roof structure is carried by a set of components belonging to the

intermediate structure. Strong vertical boards, tendo, embedded in the ewe, bear the
lengthways beam, folan, along the whole depth of the house. On each side, three
tendo - or more for a chief's dwelling - are set against the interior side of the silal
yawa. The ehomo mbumbu pillars stand in front of the central tendro, leaning on the
median silt, and support the ridgepole. The floor, ahe mbat, is either laid directly
on the laliw, or fixed in transverse frames, themselves pegged to the base of the the
side walls' stiles.
The front of the public hall is simple, with neither platform, shelf, nor central pillar.
The side walls have no load bearing function, thereby facilitating the joining of the
houses one to another. The slightly slanted walls, bagol, stand on the silt's ends
These walls consist of a frame, of which the pole plate rests on the silt, and the
slanted stiles are embedded at their base on the pole plate, and at their top in a purlin,
folan lambo, closing the frame. This purlin is maintained by (usually three) tie beams,
tailed in the back side of the tendro, and by the rafters of the lateral overhanging roof.
The filling in of the walls is made of superposed planks or panels of split plated
bamboo. The upper third of these walls is often openwork, thereby extending the
facade window.
There are two ways of treating the corners between facade and side walls. The first
solution is to create a trapezoidal frame between the two walls, by using their extreme
153
stiles and joining them at their base by a short wall plate and at their top by a pole, the
filling in being of the same kind as the walls. The second solution is to have an ingoing
angle. This demands two frames, a trapezoidal irregular one at right angle of the lateral
wall, and a triangular one at right angle of the facade, with a generally carefully made
piece, ni'ogaeliu, as hypotenuse. The triangular frame is completely closed by vertical
planks, whereas the first is often openwork, its upper third serving as window.
The facade overhangs the street just enough for the bench inside. Its first slightly
slanted level, ono lawalawa, is made of assembled panels embedded at their base in a
small wall plate caught between the ewe. It is often hidden by a cover strip, bagol. The
bench, lawalawa, consists of a single strong board tailed at each end in the tendo
lawalawa, in other words, the front tendro. The back of the bench, salogot, is
embedded between the ni'ogaeliu, and fixed at its centre to a slanted, and often carved
component, as high as the facade. Its front side is sometimes adorned with geometrical
motifs or animal figures. The two ni'ogaeliu are stiffened by the beam supporting the
roof rafters. Between the back and this beam, horizontal lathes, held by the
intermediary stiles, are tailed in the ni'ogaeliu .The chinks between the lathes serve as
windows.
As usual, the habitable surface is divided in two parts, the public front and private back
section. The furniture of the public hall, bat or salo, is very basic. The rice containers,
ba'a, made of hollow tree trunks or cylindrical sewn bark, are in the private section.
They are kept either on the floor or on small platforms provided between the frames of
the roof structure.
The private section is planned according to needs, with at the least one communal
room for eating, naha wemanga, and one other room, bate'e. The hearth is in the wall
between the two parts of the house. It may also be an independent structure, as in the
Northern houses, or have been moved into a lower extension, in the back. Rooms, with
access by a ladder, are sometimes built in the framework of the roof, in which case the
latter must be modified.
- superstructure
The framework of the roof is much simpler and lighter than in the South and rather
similar to the North's. It rarely has slanted braces. Its skeleton is composed of three
series of lengthways frames, two as gables, the third median. Each frame level is
strengthened crosswise by the purlins, and two pillars, ehomo mbumbu, bear the
ridgepole. The roof gables are made of four levels of superposed frames and a top
triangle. The horizontal elements, folan, are linked by small embedded vertical posts,
tarutaru wolan, their number decreasing at the upper levels. From the bottom of the
second level, gable frames bear the rafters of the lateral overhanging roof sides. These
rafters are held at their base by a board onto which smaller rafters, extending the first
ones are attached, and support the edge of the side roof.
154
These gable frames are reinforced by the purlins, rfarfa, (except at the top of the first
level, folang bal hulu, in front and folang gi'o hulu in the back) joining the upper
angles of each frame. Crosswise beams are fixed to the small posts of the first level.
They will support the median frame, which only has three levels. The base of the
latter's first level is a longitudinal beam, hulu, the front end of which is carved in the
stump of the tree, creating a more or less triangular plate156, which bears a crosswise
board, handro gas, its ends resting on the vertical pillars of the front of the house;
another handro gas lies symmetrically at the back of the building. From the hulu
beam, two small posts, tarutaru hulu, form the vertical components of the frame,
joining the purlins of the second level; they are linked by a longitudinal beam also
called hulu, serving as base to the upper frame. In the top triangle, only a small central
post bolsters the ridgepole, mbumbu, supported at each end by a pillar, ehomo
mbumbu, resting on a silt of the understructure. Two superposed pairs of ndriwa
mbumbu brace the three frames. Their base is on the first and second hulu beam of the
median frame, and their top respectively at the third and fourth level of the lateral
frames (this device not being applied in the most recent and rudimentary houses)157.
The rafters, gas matua, of the two roof slopes stand on the purlins. Those of the lower
part of the roof lean respectively on the lower purlin, on the handro gas, and on the
edge beam closing the elements of the facade. A battening is tied to the rafters if the
covering is made of leaves, but for metal it is not necessary. The roof always has an
opening with a movable panel.
THE DECORATION OF THE HOUSES
Most of the Centre's house facades have numerous and diverse decors, ornamentation
not being reserved for chiefs' houses. In general, the motifs express welcome, tradition,
group unity, strength and power, protection. They adorn ehomo, ends of ewe, panels
and slanted parts of facades. The front ehomo are fluted or faceted; the first, last, and
middle one of the row having a carved arm, with an open hand wearing a large
bracelet, outstretched towards the street. A necklace, breasts and a head sometimes
complete this ornamentation. The front part of the ewe may reach the facade top and
be very ornate, with rosettes or triangles as friezes, betel bags, combs, knives, etc, and
hornbill heads at their tips. Their extremities can also be tripartite, or branch out like
stag antlers. The facade panels take up the ewe motifs, but also figure varans (monitor
lizards) with forked tongues, or breasts. Even the more recent houses have animal
representations: - garuda [anw] birds copied from the Indonesian coat of arms,
roosters, stags, fish - but hunters or warriors with spears, shields and swords, as well as
everyday objects such as petrol lamps, may decorate them too. The front tendro's base,
at the outside of the angle between facade and ewe, often bears a mask or human
effigy. The ni'ogaeliu have cut out triangles, rosettes or leaf motifs and are adorned
with a lasara profile on their exterior side.
156
It is carved in the shape of a anw (equivalent to the indonesian garuda bird), a hornbill or even a human
head.
157
In chiefs houses, three lengthway frames between the gables replace the median frame. Crosswise beams set
in the upper levels of the roof reinforce the structure.
155
The interior of the dwellings seem less decorated than the facade, their frame
construction not leaving much surface for ornamentation. There is none, except on the
components of the bearing structure. The public hall has no hooks, these being
replaced by stags antlers, attached to the bottom of the framework. The tendro have
carved figures or representations of chiefs' headdresses with a necklace and breasts.
The first frame level's small vertical posts sometimes show lasara profiles. The whole
traditional repertoire can be expressed on the transverse front beams of the first frame
level. The plateau shaped end of the median lengthways hulu beam carries a decor
visible from the outside, when the mobile panel of the roof is open. Lastly, a typical
roof feature of the Centre and particularly the upper Susua, is a fern trunk ridge
crowning, in shape of a serpent lifting its head, while human figures astride its body fix
this snake to the roof.
156
Umbu village, Idan Tae (Alain Viaro 1979)
157
158
159
160
Traditional house at Lahusa Idan Tae Gomo, March 1979

Chapter 3:
THECHIEFS HOUSES,AWIDEARCHITECTURALVARIETY
I
n the Centre, the chief's house was traditionally built at one end of the village,
except in the Holi region, where it stood on one of the terraces. Many of these
dwellings no longer have this preferential position in the older villages, but it
occurs in recent sites. Most chiefs' houses inhabited today are less than fifty years
old.158 The Centre is the only part of the island where chiefs' houses are built nowadays,
and these constructions are very similar to the other ones in the village.
The analysis of these buildings shows that, contrary to the traditional dwellings of the
people, they do not refer to a unique construction type. Although their roof structures
are less complex, some resemble the houses of the South, with bearing side walls,
(Orahili Gomo, Balhili Gomo, Hililaora Idan Mbaho, Sifalag Susua). Another type
consists in two adjoining houses, one of them larger than the average, and serving
mostly as an assembly hall (Tuhembaruz Idan Tae, Tgizita Idan Noyo, Sifaoroasi
Idan Gawo, Sifalag Susua, etc.) Still others have the constructive characteristics of
the Centre, but with numerous ehomo in each row, five or seven, numerous rows of
ehomo, and therefore of silt, corresponding to the roof structure's number of levels.
They are much larger and more elaborately decorated than most others (Holi, Lahusa
Idan Tae, Sifaoroasi Ulu Hou, Guigui Idan Zusua, Tetegewo Idan Tae).
All the ornamental features relate to the power and prestige of their owner, and
establish the behaviour code inherent to the function of chief. The chief is welcoming,
it is shown on the facade by the outstretched arms and the carved breasts, susu ana'a,
literally meaning milk or golden breast.The chief has earned his worthiness through
the feasts, this being the reason for the objects commemorating them (gold
ornaments, necklaces, combs). He is powerful like the crocodile, buaya, snapping up
his prey, and punishes whoever breaks the law. He dominates his people like the
hornbill, gogowaya, perched at the top of the tree. He knows how to talk to the good
and the evil humans, which explains the forked tongue of the varan, boroe. He respects
tradition, as the triangular motifs, and the betel bag, bola nafo, prove. Finally, he is
part of the cosmos as the rosettes figuring the moon, ni'obawa, and the stars, ni'odfi,
symbolize.
158
For example: Sifaoroasi Ulu Hou (1942), Tetegewo Idan Tae (1982), Lahusa Idan Tae (1975), Hililaora (1979),
Guigui Idan Zusua (1942), Orahili Gomo (1939, destroyed by fire in 1984).
161
SIFAOROASI ULU HOU'S CHIEF HOUSE
The village overlooks the Mola valley, at the point where it opens towards the eastern
coastal plain. It has eight houses, occupied by about twenty families. The present
village dates from 1940, and was rebuilt on an old site of the clan. It is oriented east-
west, on a levelled part of hill escarpment. The chief's dwelling - its facade looking
towards the east - is built on a small terrace at the village top. There are no megaliths
except for two fondrak stones in front of the chief's house. They commemorate the
creation, during the Dutch period, of a five village ri, Sifaoroasi being its head. One of
the stones, a menhir, was erected by the father of today's chief, when he became
tuhenri (chief of the ri) and built the house. A single family of fourteen people lives
in it. The dwelling has five rows of five ehomo159 and five roof frame levels. Its original
plan is simple: a large public hall in front, and a communal private room and one
smaller room in the back. A later construction has provided three more rooms, one of
them giving access to a side extension below, used as a kitchen.
The dwelling has all the construction specificities of a typical traditional Central house.
Its roof structure has only one median frame, in spite of the house being relatively
large. The transverse framework however has more beams; besides the fanaya hulu of
the first level, others called o'oura reinforce the structure at the upper levels. In the
back part, above the smaller room, a slanted lathing - similar to a window and called
the same - forms a sort of ceiling. The decoration of the house combines in one
building practically all the usual motifs of the Centre.The chief's house of Sifaoroasi
Ulu Hou is one of the most remarkable of the region, because of its unique archetypal
character.
ORAHILI GOMO'S CHIEF HOUSE
The village is built on the summit of a small hill, about fifty metres above the Gomo
river. It is oriented north-south and has nine houses, the chief's being at the top. In
front of it, a large concentration of megaliths is grouped. In l982, the house sheltered
four nuclear families: the village chief's own, his brother's, and that of his brother's two
sons, all in all twenty nine people. Unfortunately this building burn down in l984.
In essence, the construction principle of this dwelling related to the South. It was
established on lines of seven not very high ehomo, and had a five level roof structure.
Access was through a large verandah, closed at one end, the other long side being
taken up by an adjoining Malay house. The two ewe of the initial nucleus supported
the lateral bearing walls. In the public front hall, as in the South, there was a bench,
and a platform with a kholokholo pillar at its centre. The decor however referred to the
Centre; the kholokholo had no ni'ogazi disc, but an outstretched arm - a theme
unknown in the South. The roof structure consisted of three series of lengthways
159
The first and the last pillar of the front are somewhat higher and thicker than the other ones. They are called
fondrahe. The central pillar get the same name. All three carry anthropomorphic figures with an outstretched arm
as a sign of welcome.
162
Traditional Architecute of Nias Island
frames between the ridges, partially braced by thin ndriwa, as customary in the Centre.
The front end of the median lengthways beam, hulu, finished in a triangular plate
adorned on its bottom side by a carved bearded face with birds, rosettes, and triangles
around it. The side walls, and the laglag above them, were carved with the usual
motifs, and with rarer decors of ear ornaments and spear points. The first level
crosswise beams of the roof structure were also adorned, but all the carvings were of
rather mediocre workmanship160.
The megaliths in front of the house, on the contrary, are of real quality, even though
some are relatively recent161. There are rectangular seats with three lasara heads, other
round seats, ni'ogazi pillars, and human figures with raised arms. All these sculptures
are arranged at the very edge of the chief house's paved terrace. Some of the megaliths
disappeared between l979 and 1982, but in the village, the stock of stones grew during
this same period and some former megaliths were displaced. Considering the tourism
vocation of the village, and its wish to impose its chief, it is difficult to know which
stones are of festive origin, and which purely decorative.
THE DOUBLE HOUSE OF SIFAOROASI HOLI
Of the village founded two hundred years ago, only the chief's house remains, and is
still inhabited. It stands on a raised paved space, itself on the vestige of a terrace. The
site is a few hundred metres above the village of Holi. The age of the dwelling is said to
be six generations, equivalent to about a hundred and twenty five years, which would
mean that it is one of the oldest constructions of the Centre. Two families of the Zai
clan, totalling twenty eight people, live in it. This double house is built according to
Central standards, but the arrangement of the public hall in the main part corresponds
to what is customary in the South. In view of its location near the North, this
observation is interesting, on account of the house's age. It could mean that Southern
influences developed in a large area, and that the mixture of types has been in practice
for a long time.
The construction rests on particularly high ehomo (over two metres, without counting
the stone bases of 30 centimetres). The roof is not very voluminous; light comes in
through two roof openings in the larger house. Three sikhli, supported by protruding
arms, and their corresponding ehomo, jut out on the facade, embellished by traditional
Central decorations, and also by crowned ancestor masks in the angles of the ewe's
intersection with the base of the facade. The access is under the house, an unusual
solution in the Centre. A footbridge leads to a ladder going up to a trap door, next to
the interior wall162. The inside of the dwelling is rather decayed, some original parts
such as the kholokholo having disappeared. The latter however remain in another
160
By the beginning of the 1980s, the house had been filled with wooden and stone statues of all sizes. These so-
called ancestor figures were supposed to come from ancient and secret sites.
161
A pillar topped by a seat with a hornbill dates from 1945, a stone table from 1953, a human figure with
upstretched arms, a necklace, breasts but no head is said to have been made in 1943.
162
This arrangement exists only in the south chiefs houses. It can be found in oldest northern houses. The great
height of the pillars could confirm that it is an old building.
163
chief's house, at Sisobahili Holi. This village, close to Sifaoroasi, is also peopled by the
Zai clan. The double house is very similar to the one just described, although the
smaller of the houses was rebuilt three generations ago. In better condition, this
dwelling still has lavish indoor decor, and in particular a few ancestor figures attached
to its walls.
The description of these few chiefs' houses shows the importance of local features.
Possible influences from South or North are noticeable in the methods of construction
and occupation, but the decorative corpus is specific to the Centre. Neither the chief's
house nor the omo hada permit us to choose between the three hypotheses, one
making the architecture of the Centre the base of the architectures of the island, the
second seeing it as a buffer zone between the influences of South and North, and the
third considering it an original concept. Whatever the answer, this architecture lacking
in monumentality confirms the secondary role of the chiefs' houses in the morphology
and aspect of the village.
164
165
Centre Nias
Sifaoroasi Ulu Hou Chiefs house
On the river Hou (near the East coast)
Survey: Allain Viaro 1982
1. Fondrahe, fluted post with anthropomorphic representation: the raised arm call
the people as do the gong, which has the same name.
2. Ehomo / ono gehomo
3. Siraha
4. Ndriwa
5. Silt
6. Laliw
7. ------------
8. Ahe mbat
9. Ewe / Sikhli
10. Bagohr
11. Ono lawalawa
12. Lawalawa
13. Salo Salogo
14. Zarazara
15. Niobawa gogowaya
16. Tendro
17. Susu Anaa [female breast]
18. Nifatali [necklace]
19. Nioturo [diadem]
20. Bawa Ndruh [door]
21. Bagol / baa-baa [wall]
22. Tarombumbu
23. Alisi
24. Tarutaru galisi
25. Fanaya hulu
26. Hulu
27. Tarutaru hulu
28. Niohene deu
29. Handro gas
30. Folangg hulu
31. Ooura
32. Gas matua
33. Botombumbu [ridge pole]
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
Chiefs house [Omo Sebua] at Balhili Gomo, March 1979

Chapter 4:
ANUNPRONOUNCEDEVOLUTION
T
he analysis of the recent evolution of the Centre's architecture raises questions,
even though there is no doubt that the construction of traditional houses
continues at least as much as in the South, if not more so. The lack of
communications, and the divisions created by the relief, have enabled traditional
construction to continue in its local expressions. More than in other areas, transport is
man carried, making the distribution of the heavy materials necessary for modern
Malay buildings (cement, precast concrete blocks, reinforcement irons for concrete,
etc.) practically impossible. Furthermore, the economic situation is even worse here
than in the rest of the island. The region has no centre capable of dynamizing an
economic development. The only poles are the regrouped villages, of which one only,
Kecamatan Gomo, is in the heart of the area. The others (Lahusa, Tetehsi Idan
Gawo, Llwa'u) are peripheral, small establishments with modest administrations,
and temporary market squares with no permanent commercial structure. The most
sought-after species of wood have practically disappeared (such as the manawa dan),
but the ones available still have the required qualities (like the afoa), and can be found
in sufficient quantity to satisfy construction demands.
Because of these two factors - isolation and wood availability - traditional construction
is less expensive than elsewhere and therefore easier to achieve. Besides, the Central
Niha have lately simplified the type model, without altering its principles or qualities.
Most traditional dwellings built in recent years have corrugated metal roof coverings.
This material is sufficiently light for transport, and its weight/surface ratio, as well as
its price/durability ratio have proved satisfactory. Metal covering permits a reduction
in the framework components' diameter and even a reduction of their number.163
These alterations have also been applied to recent chiefs' houses. The head carpenter's
knowledge is still practised, and has managed to integrate solutions required by a new
material.
One might conclude that traditional construction has stayed particularly vivid in the
Centre. When going through this region however, one sees that the population, split
up into small groups, is more timorous, perhaps even more passive than elsewhere.
Traditional culture seems to be perpetuated by habit rather than assumed positively as
a form of identity. It looks as if the construction of traditional dwellings (both for the
people and the chiefs) is pursued to a greater extent through lack of alternative, rather
than by an appropriation of this type of habitat, unlike the South, where the
construction of such buildings corresponds to an assertion of positive values. On the
other hand, the principal vector of cultural change seems to be the Fa'awsa church.
Far more important in the Centre than in the rest of the island, it presents itself as a
Niha reinterpretation of Protestantism. This new form of relationship and social
identity, through and by the Fa'awsa church, may in some way replace bonds and
163
For example, three rafters (2 lateral, 1 median) and 3 lathing are sufficient to carry a corrugated roof.
175
systems which no longer have the ability to perpetuate themselves. The church's
influence in the landscape is obvious, with its pinnacled chapels, multifaced roofs and
openwork panels. As to the iconography, the Niha's artistic skills have been turned to
the service of religion.
The ambiguity of the Centre resides in its situation of isolation, which has generated
simultaneous developments: the maintainance of tradition for construction; economic
strangulation and consequently suffocation of customary social dynamics; the
emergence of a social and religious web, as a substitute for, or superimposition on the
declining customary structure. Presently, one could say that the Centre is marginalized
in Nias, itself very marginalized in contemporary Indonesia.
Traditional house at Hilidanaya, April 1979.
176

Conclusion
THE FUTURE OF THE PAST
All the Niha's traditional architecture bears witness to their undisputable talent as
builders. We cannot remain indifferent to the fact that a territory smaller than Corsica
has produced an architecture as remarkable and diversified, both in form and
conception. Already at first sight, we are enthralled by the strength and denseness
radiating from the villages of the island.
Later, when taken into the whirl of a feast, the young women and children, faces white
with rice powder, edging their way through the crowd, the ground's slight vibration
generated by the singing and dancing men, the glittering of the gold jewellery taken
out of the deep chests, the houses opening for their guests, the air heavy with the smell
of blood from the disembowelled pigs, lying in the sun on the steaming path, will make
us understand that all this is the village too.
We have attempted to stress the importance of social factors in the setting-up of

villages and territory, and the construction of houses. This web of relations and
practices, in short, the underlying social situation, gives the Nias building its tone and
volume. They had to be emphasized to make possible the description of a live house,
stemming from rain and nature, from pig and gold, the work of man in his community.
It is not indifferent that this architecture should be insular, and this feature certainly
greatly contributed to it expressing itself with such fullness. But what is insularity
today, and what will it be tomorrow? Phenomena of change have been implicitly
mentioned of course, but we must now develop them, to bring some elements of
answer to the unavoidable question: what is the reality and future of traditional
architecture and of the culture that produced it?
Nias is Indonesian; it is no longer an island, it is a part of the archipelago. First, this

means a radical change of scale. Obviously, the process started during the colonial
period; however, it only became really effective with the creation of the Indonesian
State, an entity the Niha perceive as participants, whereas they did not feel concerned
by the Dutch East Indies.
This change is also social. Through its integration in the Indonesian State, Nias
adopted the national motto "Bhinneka tunggal ika" (Unity in diversity"). The latter
expresses the state ideology, postulating the accepted diversity of about three hundred
177
ethnic (or religious) groups, considered equal, and all participating in the unity of the
State. Briefly, being Indonesian by definition implies confronting intercultural intra-
Indonesian relationships, with all the balance of power involved. If in theory, there is
neither majority or minority, in reality, the influence of each group varies enormously.
Two distinct aspects of relationships can usually be noted: the domination of the
Javanese over all the archipelago's other ethnic entities on one hand, and the relations
between the diverse subordinate groups on the other.
In Nias, "Javanization" is expressed more in terms of "Indonesianization", because Java

and Jakarta seem very distant, and are seen sufficiently vaguely to be perceived as
Indonesian, rather than Javanese. Javanese domination also tends to become a model
of reference and unification, sometimes even of uniformization, even when it is not the
doing of Javanese, but of Batak and Chinese, in the case of Nias. This influence can be
observed in the administrative division in desa (communes), in the bureaucracy and
army generating new social categories, new sources of income, compulsory schooling,
information media and communication networks, inside the island and towards the
archipelago.
The division into desa has not superimposed itself on the old territorial partition into
ri, but created another one; a chief of desa, elected by the population and confirmed
by the State, leads to new politico-administrative entities, supposed to replace the
traditional ones.
The advent of officialdom and the omnipresent army appear in many ways opposed to
a traditional life-style. Through their representatives (in Nias often from Sumatra, and
Batak, for the army), both these corps illustrate the integration with Indonesia in
concrete terms. Mainly, they embody a new social category, a middle class recognized
with envy and rejection. Rejection because it seems inefficient and corrupt; envy
because it benefits from the prestige of the new and national order, comparatively high
incomes and economic security. In spite of this ambiguity, civil service or army are
often the ideal the young Niha covet, for they are synonymous today with social
advancement, or may simply be the only possibility of getting a paid job. We must
remember that there is no industry in the island, and that business is mainly in the
hands of the Chinese; therefore, except for agriculture, valorized neither socially or
technologically, there are no other prospects.
This politico-military network has affected the whole island, and principally brought
about the specialization of Gunungsitoli, concentrating, as capital of the kabupaten,
both the military and civil services, as well as the budgetary manna attached to them.
As a result, Gunungsitoli is loosing more and more of its Niha characteristics, to
become an "Indonesian town". The city redistributes the credits granted by the
government, which form an essential part of the present economy. Local initiative is
thereby much weakened, in favour of a process in complete conformity with the new
Indonesian framework.
Scholarization tends to do the same. If at the primary level, schools are relatively well
distributed over the island, most of the secondary education is concentrated in
178
Gunungsitoli. The budgets, both from State and Churches, are in all cases of an origin
foreign to the island. Most of the primary teachers are Niha, but for secondary school,
this is not always the case. As for the programmes, they mainly tend to engender a
national identity. School books, the same for the whole archipelago, give much
importance to the new order's ideology, and to the teaching of the national tongue,
Bahasa Indonesia.
In Nias, the media play an important role since a few years. If radios serve more for
playing cassettes than for listening, because of the difficulty to broadcast from
Sumatra, television is well received through satellite's parabolic antennas. In 1986
television could only be seen in Gunungsitoli, but now many villages, especially in the
South, having since been electrified, have acquired communal antennas. The impact of
television in non-literate societies is sufficiently well known for the influence of
information and models transmitted through this channel to be evident. It will
certainly not tend to reinforce Niha identity.
The development of communications totally depends on governmental credits, be it

for the small airport of Binaka near Gunungsitoli, or the construction of roads.
Although unconnected with local initiative,164 the extension of the road network is
usually wished for, as people feel that it is surely the opening to the riches of the city,
coming to the village on troops of roaring motorcycles... More mundanely, it means
labor for roadworkers paid 1,500 rupiahs (1.5 US$) a day.
Integration factors to the Indonesian State can be observed in all the archipelago's
"exterior islands"165 of course, and they always go against local customs. How can this
conflictual situation be resolved, expressed in Nias by the two following terms: assert
oneself as Indonesian, and perpetuate oneself as Niha?
A superficial report would not be in favor of Niha culture's vitality, when confronted
with the process of Indonesianization. However, a more subtle analysis modifies this
first impression to a certain extent. Resistance and internal cohesion capacities (linked
to the strength of traditional structures and practices), faculty of renewal (by
assimilation and reinterpretation of exterior contributions), and social solidarity seem
far from having disappeared166.
For instance, the substitution of traditional territorial and political unities by desa has
not taken place. In fact, two systems coexist, operating in distinctive spheres. In a
village, a chief of tradition, kepala adat, and a chief of village, kepala desa, work
together. The first continues to regulate all the internal problems of the village
164
Important development programmes plan the construction of a road network through the whole island. These
projects related to tourism development will not take into account the existing roads going to many villages, but
foresee new roads. For instance, the road being built towards the Lagundri beach will replace the bad one going
through Hilisimetan and connecting villages nearby.
165
Expression from the Dutch adopted by the Indonesian. It shows Javas supremacy in the archipelago.
166
In the course of the last years, annual festival Yaahowu (Welcome) has emerged with troups of dancers and
choirs from different villages competing. Associations for heritage protection have taken place in many villages.
The Catholic church has started the building of an ethnographical museum near Gunungsitoli (1993).
179
attached to adat (land and bridewealth conflicts, distribution of community chores for
the village's upkeep, etc.), in short, everything concerning the daily life of the village.
The second manages the communal budget granted by the government, and acts as
intermediary between village and administrative authorities. He explains and justifies
the decisions of the latter to the former. Although mainly participating in the
Indonesianization process, (be it merely by the way he was recruited), he can only
assert his authority in the village through Niha practices. Paradoxically therefore, a
young village chief, full of democratic principles, may well offer the mandatory feast of
pigs to his village. Without this ceremony, he would have strictly no authority, in spite
of the redistribution possibilities allotted to him by the administration of the
communal budget. The durability of the village stays evident, and the Niha have
perfectly managed to accept the new system, while sufficiently protecting the old one.
Even today, identity is maintained much more in relation to village than to desa.
Feasts, the strong point of Niha social customs, continue to take place, although no
longer with their past munificence. Megaliths go on being erected, even if not as
numerous, and mainly in the South, and pigs, objects of gifts and counter-gifts, stay
the privileged vector of social cohesion. The deepest change is in the origin and means
of accumulating the economic surplus indispensable to festive practices. Without the
income formerly brought by the slave trade, and no other resources really having
replaced it, today the Niha divert the economic flow generated by Indonesian
bureaucracy towards the traditional system. In fact, except for Christian wedding and
funeral ceremonies, all the feasts observed recently were given by people who, directly
or indirectly, were paid by the Indonesian State: schoolteachers, civil servants, building
contractors. A reinsertion of means from other circuits is in effect taking place in the
local mode. This being said, apart from the irremovable pigs, manifestations of prestige
can nowadays perfectly well be realized thanks to motorcycles, tape recorders or
cameras, the latter two really being the modern metamorphosis of the megalith in its
mnemonic mode.
A last example of resistance and renewal capacity concern the Churches, both
Protestant and Catholic. That these Churches - and their parishes - become
communities is nothing exceptional, but that they should be reinserted into the
traditional system is less evident. This inclusion principally takes place through the
choirs. No self-respecting parish could go without a mixed choir, which will not only
sing at church every Sunday167, but will have contests with other village choirs of the
same denomination. So a parish will invite the neighbouring parish to sing in
alternation with the local choir. The congregation, appreciating the respective qualities
of each chorus, will organize a pig feast in their honour. Naturally, reciprocity - with at
least the given quantities - is mandatory, and so links and relations are created
between villages in a perfectly traditional manner. It seems that the idea of adherence
to a Church has superimposed itself on adherence to a clan, with all the
interdependence and identity involved.
167
As there are several churches (Protestant, Catholic, Faawsa and other) in each village, there are as many
choirs as churches.
180
How does architectural production develop in this context of transition and
adaptation? In the North, traditional houses are no longer built. In the South, they are
built as frequently as Malay houses, the latter category not including pondok,
temporary or rustic dwellings for the poor that always existed in Nias. There are great
differences between the villages: some show a strong tendency to keep up traditional
construction and others not, but the main reasons for these contrasts have already
been explained.
The comparison between both types of houses (traditional and Malay) in their
respective conception, and in their perception by the Niha, can not be stated in terms
of equivalence, for no relationship appears between the first and second type.
The omo hada is still preferred for its adaptability to the climate: everyone will admit
that it is less hot and better aired than the "modern house". Nevertheless the latter is
often considered more comfortable, particularly by the women, who appreciate the
running water it is frequently equipped with, either by conveyance or recuperation of
the water flowing from the roof into a tank. The omo hada continues to serve as
reference for the partition of domestic of all types of dwellings. However the absence,
in modern houses, of the specific components determining the occupation of this
space, such as platform and facade bench, is felt as a handicap for creating a
hierarchization of guests, in accordance with tradition. Each one's place is no longer
obvious, as it was in the omo hada. That this inconvenience should be recognized, but
no remedy found for it in the conception of modern habitations, proves that in fact a
deep gap separates the two types. No real reason, except a slight increase in price,
would prevent the traditional public hall to be provided in a modern building,
although perhaps in reinterpreted form. It shows that the two types are as irreducible
one as the other, a reality also expressed by the use of the terms "traditional house",
and "house to which tradition has not been given", to design them.
From a technological point of view, this hiatus appears even more evident through a
total rupture between the applied techniques. The traditional house perpetuates
thorough knowledge of statics, assemblage, and properties of materials, whereas the
modern house uses none of this knowledge. It is quite astonishing to observe how the
Niha have been perfectly capable of inserting exogenous processes into their practices,
as well as new materials into traditional construction, but conversely have not in the
least "taken over" the modern dwelling, by providing it with specifically Niha elements.
It looks as if they fitted into different orders: the omo hada identically reproducing the
model given by the ancestors, and therefore not to be modified in any appreciable
manner; the modern house being the house of the exterior world - and to be more
precise, the Indonesian one - which cannot interfere with the traditional dwelling.
They belong to two different registers, assessed in construction: custom and
modernity, Niha and Indonesian.
The expression of these two spheres is particularly noticeable in architecture for the
elders. Their status depends first on tradition, but it now also proceeds from
Indonesian logic for the political, administrative and economic reasons mentioned
above. Following custom means owning a traditional house, whereas tending towards
181
the new order implies building a modern dwelling, and that is what happens in
practice! Sufficiently numerous examples show that the second type does not replace
the first, it develops parallel to it. The break between the two modes is not reduced by
the gathering of respective characteristics into a composite construction. It is marked,
for many si'ulu, by the keeping of an omo hada (or omo sebua) in the village, and the
complementary construction of a modern house near the road, if not at Teluk Dalam.
A traditional house turned towards the Niha community, and a modern house,
attached through its location and shape, to the Indonesian network, each one of them
used according to situations and social necessities.
In the Centre, the construction of traditional houses still predominates over modern
dwellings. The competition and complementarity of the two types is therefore not as
evident as in the South. However, it is most likely that if the opening up of the area is
fast, the observations made for the South will soon be valid there too. A few rare
examples of double habitations (modern and traditional) can already be noticed in the
most accessible sectors.
In the North, the situation is totally different, as traditional houses have not been built
since the end of colonization. The remaining traditional oval houses are seen here
more as "houses of the past", than as still vivid expressions of the culture. If one
enquires about the vernacular habitation, the answer will be: it is the house of the
South. The traditional dwelling is therefore denied, with the underlying idea of a sort
of division of the island in "modern" (we in town and in the North), and "archaic" (they
in the villages of the Centre and South). Obviously, the assertion is clearer in
Gunungsitoli, and in the sectors most influenced by this town.
One might be tempted to consider the Indonesian model sufficiently powerful and
widespread for no room to be left for local models. Reality is not as simple, for
strangely it is in the North (particularly at Gunungsitoli) that one finds the emergence
of an official architecture, taking up the formal themes mainly found in traditional
Southern architecture. Paradoxical at first sight, these new constructions comply to a
perfectly coherent double logic, for internal and external use.
We have seen to what extent the house is a factor of identity (for the omo hada), and
symbol of power (for the omo sebua), and can now understand why totally abandoning
these signs could hardly be acceptable for the Niha. Gunungsitoli having become the
island's power centre, it was natural that an architecture the Niha could recognize
should develop there, and that this power should in some way be legitimized by this
architecture. Towards the other Indonesian groups and the outside world, it was quite
as logical that authority should be expressed by works conveying the most famous,
spectacular and appreciated aspect of Nias, the architecture of the South, and in
particular its big houses. This architecture, incontestably embodying the island, has
become a sort of symbol of it168 . There is no publication, be it scientific or not, no
tourism pamphlet, that does not refer to it. To reinsert its concept into official
168
The new 1000 Indonesia Rupiah banknote figure a jumper over the stone pyramid in front of Bawmataluo
chiefs house (1993).
182
buildings, is therefore to positively reassert its image, and even to reinforce it both for
Indonesian partners and foreign visitors. Manifesting Niha identity inside the island
and outside, the new official architecture manages to be multisignificant.
Still vigorous, but in competition in the South and Centre, reprocessed as a symbol in
the North, what is the future of the vernacular architecture in Nias? As in all areas
subjected to profound transformations, the appropriateness to a demanded modernity,
without the annihilation of the past, is a difficult equilibrium to attain. First it implies
mastering choices, assuming the economic situation permits it. The future of the art of
construction in Nias goes through a necessary economical development, controlled by
the Niha169. In an Indonesia "on the move", will they be able to accomplish and
perpetuate an architecture unique in the world?
Faade part of traditional house at Sifalag Susua Gomo, 1983.
169
The development of tourism might be seen as a solution, although the dangers involved should not be denied.
Beyond an evident economic welfare, it could contribute to Nihas identity revalorization, providing local initiative
master it. The example of Bawmataluo is significant. This village has become a symbol of the Niha culture. In
spite of the artificial character of the offered prestations, they undeniably allow the perpetuation of traditional
knowledge- dances, songs, woodcarving- otherwise doomed, also ensuring a certain income and a form of social
cohesion, which could be reinforced.
183
Alain Viaro and Arlette Ziegler with the family member of the house owner at Sifalag Susua Gomo,
1983
184

Glossary of Terms
Concerning Metalithism And Statuary
adu ndra ama (S): figure in old assembly gowe nioniha-niha (N): anthropomorphic
house statue
adu wooden statue, ancestor or spirit figure gowe nri (N): monolithic stone
awina (C): funerary megalithic terrace; base commemorating foundation of ri
(often pyramidal) made of piled up stones gowe salawa (N): large anthropomorphic male
bagi (C): seat with three heads statue
balugu nioniha (C): large anthropomorphic gowe tandra mbanua (N): monolithic stone
male statue commemorating village foundation
batu nitaru or batu waulu or batu faulu harefa (C): bench, megalithic terrace
(S): vertical male stone harimao (S): rough monolith symbolizing
beel (S): generic term for protective effigies villages tiger (chief)
beel zato (S): figure formerly in assembly lawl ndraama (S): one of the figures
house, incarnating the people formerly found in assembly houses
beel ziila (S): figure formerly in assembly lawl si matua (C): anthropomorphic male
house, incarnating the counsellors figure
behu (C) (N): large vertical rough or carved lewat (N): funerary terrace
male stone naha gama-gama (S): pillar replacing chief
behu ndra alawe (C): vertical niobawa gogowaya or niogogowaya (C):
anthropomorphic female stone hornbill figure at top of behu
buaya hor (N): figure of house god niobh (C): stags head figure, often placed on
cuho (C): stone slab resting on two stones or on top of behu
awina base niogazi (C): round table with central foot,
daro-daro (S): rectangular or round bench or female
table niomanu (C): rooster figure at top of behu
daro-daro niobagi gfa (S): darodaro with osali or osali gowasa (C): megalithic terrace
four necks; in particular two large tables in osa-osa (N) (C): seat
front of Bawomataluo chief s house osa-osa si sara bagi (C): seat with one head
daro-daro nikholo (S): round seat osa-osa sitlu hg or osa osa sitlu
fanawi nukha (C): pillar for deceased chiefs osa-osa sobagi mbh or osa osa niobh
clothes (C): seat with stags head
fondrak (C): monolithic stone saita gari (C): vertical stone with hook
commemorating foundation of village or ri sialawe (N): horizontal stone, female
in colonial times simatua ba gowe (N): vertical stone, male
gowe faulu salawa (S): vertical stone erected tendro gowasa (C): erected stone, serving as
by chief back for harefa bench.
185
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
CONCERNING SOCIAL PRACTICES
adat (Ind.): customary law fondrli darodaro (S): biggest feast given by
alisi unit of measure for pigs traditional village chief
ama father fondrni huwa (C): one of the feasts
bal gana (S): chief of a gana fondrni mboha (C): one of the feasts
bal nafulu (S): chief of a nafulu fsi sacred tree in Gomo area
bal ziila (S): chief of the siila gana (S): group of members of same clan, in a
bal ziulu (S): village chief, according to village
tradition harimao (S): wooden tiger effigy used during
balugu (N) (C): honorary title for nobleman or br nadu feast
high rank chief hoho song, poem, traditional speech
banua village; also heaven, world, homeland hlit (N) (C):sentenced person bought back as
batu ganaa unit of ten grammes gold slave
bawi pig idan river, water
binu slave; human head used at certain feasts, ina mother
particularly in the South kabupaten (Ind.): equivalent of department in
bolo nafo betel bag; symbol of tradition and Indonesian administration
customary law kalabubu necklace worn by warriors after they
br nadu (S): cyclic feast gathering the had beheaded someone
members of a clan and of the clans issued kecamatan (Ind.): district, in Indonesian
from it administration
bosi (N) (C): rank, social grade kelurahan (Ind.): urban commune in
bw brideprice Indonesian administration
bupati (Ind.): governor of kabupaten, kepala desa (Ind.): mayor of rural commune,
equivalent of department village chief
camat (Ind.): administrator in charge of klian subak (Balinese) chief of subak
kecamatan, equivalent of district kretek (Ind.): clove flavour cigarette
desa (Ind.): commune or village, in Indonesian lurah (Ind.): mayor of urban commune, in
administration Indonesian administration
ere priest of traditional religion; clergy of this mado clan
religion mamowat ono (S): feast for wedding of
faawsa church, Protestant sect daughter
faulu (S): generic term for feasts; first feast molohe adu traditional religion
with erection of batu faulu megalith nafulu (S) functional unit, in principle of ten
fahandrona (N): third chief in ri hierarchy men, in charge of public space upkeep
famatr ti (C): feast for giving name to first niha humans, and more particularly the
child inhabitants of Nias
fambalaia (S): feast blessing making of wooden m bw (S): debt of thankfulness; total of
rooster gifts presented to a chief, when he gives his
famewuasi (S): house blessing feast last feast
famondri anaa (S): feast involving creation of ono child
gold ornaments ono mbanua literally child of the village;
fanaru darodaro (S): funeral feast villager
fanazkhi hasi (C): feast blessing making of orahua (S): total of village men gathered in an
coffin assembly; this assembly
fangowalu (C): marriage feast orde baru (Ind.): New Order, slogan of
fali ono (S): feast for sons marriage President Suhartos regime
foere (S): feast for blessing of batu faulu ri confederation of villages from different clans,
megalith created on order of the administration,
foere ba gana (S): one of the feasts during colonial times; (N): in the past,
folau anaa (S): feast demanding creation of alliance of villages of same clan; political and
gold ornaments territorial equivalent of this same clan
186
folau omo (S): all festive practices linked to ri huku (N): ri, in the context of customary
house construction law
folau simbot (S): one of the feasts ri mbawi (N): ri, in the context of pig
fondrahi ceremonial drum for calling ancestor exchange cycle
spirits osa-osa (N): wooden seat used by a tuhenri
fondrak ceremonial and feast for founding a during feasts
new village, ri, or clan. owasa (N) (C): generic name for feasts
owasa famaoli zi fao ba gahe (N): first feast siulu (S): hereditary member of upper class,
given to raise ones rank nobleman; also often designs village chief
owasa famasindro ri (N): third rank raising sidalima (N): fifth chief in ri hierarchy
feast, involving founding an ri sidafa (N): fourth chief in ri hierarchy
owasa fanaru banua (N): second rank raising sidan (N): sixth chief in ri hierarchy
feast, involving building a new village sifelendrua (N): twelfth chief in ri hierarchy
pancasila (Ind.): five principles expressing (N) (C): twelfth level in rank scale
Indonesian national identity: belief in an sifitu (N) (C): seventh level in rank scale
only God, sovereignty of the people, sifulu (N) (C): tenth level in rank scale
nationalism, social justice and simbot (S): one of the feasts
humanitarianism sinuturu (C) (S): selected force-fed pig,
rupiah (Ind.): rupee, Indonesian currency; 1000 slaughtered for certain feasts
rupees were worth about 1 US$ in l986 sisiwa (N) (C): ninth level in rank scale
sagambat nuclear family siwalu (N) (C): eigth level in rank scale
sagambat sebua extended family sondrara hare (N) (C): slave because of debts
salawa hada chief of tradition in present subak (Balinese): group of terraces irrigated by
villages one conduit; the group of farmers cultivating
salawa traditional village chief this land
sanuhe (N): chief with prominent position in tambalina (S): assistant, second of traditional
ri chief; (N): second chief in ri hierarchy
sato commoners, the people tan earth (meaning the island); Tan Niha, the
satua mbanua (N) village elder, notability world of humans, the island of Nias
sembu or saembu (S): female wooden figure tuhenri (N): highest chief of ri
made for br nadu feast urakha share of raw pig presented during feasts,
si (zi) fao ba gahe (N): group of men forming imperatively to be given back at another.
the nucleus of a future village
siila (S): counsellor both of chief and villagers
siila nafulu (S): siila head of a nafulu
siila sio siseise (S): siila acting as
intermediary for a marriage
187
GLOSSARY OF CONSTRUCTION AND PLANNING TERMS
(N): North; (C) : Centre ; (S) : South
aga mbawi (N): pig shelter diwa (N): slanted bracing pillar of
ahe bat (S) (C): inside floor understructure (see ndriwa)
alisi (N): roof structures transverse joist diwa fatuwua (N): slanted bracing pillar, placed
ar gosali (N) (C): assembly house of the past, behind exterior vertical pillars
also called osali diwa sonoro (N): slanted bracing pillar, placed
awina (C): megalithic terrace in centre of understructure
awu (N) (S) (C): fire, hearth, kitchen dldl or driwa (S) (C): slanted bracing
baa (S): exterior rice granary pillar of understructure (see diwa)
bagi hr (C): cover strip of facade bottom edu (S): access passage between two houses;
bagi nora (N): access trap to house (C): side access verandah-
bagi wolan (C): facade component ehomo famuyu (S): pillar of understructure,
bagol (N) (C): partition wall going to upper level of side walls, in chiefs
bagowah (C) (S): mallet houses
bale (S): assembly house ehomo mbanua (S): pillar of assembly house
balo-balo (S): facade support and cover strip ehomo mbumbu (C): interior pile bearing
batee or sibakha (N) (C):room; area ridgepole
batee sebua (N): large room ehomo vertical pillar of understructure
batee zatua (N): parents room elea (S): roof water evacuation gutter
bat (S): inside platform enoo (N): roof water evacuation gutter
bat newali (S): roof structures transverse ete deu (S): slanted pillar reinforcing lateral
joist, supporting rafters of overhanging roof walls
bat or salo (C): front public hall or room ete gelea (S): stone slab enabling to pass over
batu gehomo (S): flat stone bearing ehomo elea gutter
batu ndriwa (S): flat stone bearing ndriwa etuwo (S): side access verandah
bawagli (S): door, gate, entrance to village ewali (S): village street
bawandruh (C): central inside passage ewe (S) curved end of sikhli; (C): other name
belewa (C): long machete for sikhli
bolonafo decorative motif in form of triangles, fafa (N): floor plate
symbolizing tradition fah wood cissors
boroe (C): giant monitor lizard (varan), famah (N): semi-circular die of framework
decorative motif famalo mbuat (S): rafters pole plate
bosi mbawagli (S): access stairway to village famani or fasofaso (S) (C): vertical post in
boto mbumbu (N) (C): ridgepole framework gables
buat (N): lengthways purlin of roof structure; famuyu(S) (C): interior pillar, between floor and
component of frame first level of framework
buat famani (N): transverse joist of fanaya hulu (C): transverse beam of
framework frameworks first level
buaya crocodile, decorative motif fangali gas (S): pole plate of overhanging roof
bulu zaku (N): sago leaf used to make roof fanila (S): lengthways median beam of
panels; the panels themselves framewor
daodao gehomo (N): flat stone bearing ehomo fanimba or gas matua (S): rafter
darodaro nadu ndra ama (S): ornament fanuna (S): shelf
representing chiefs throne, carved on chief fanusu or osos (S): peg
houses indoor wall fanutu laso (S): mallet
darodaro nadu ndra ina (S): ornament farakhina (S): bench
representing chiefs wifes throne, carved on fasofaso or famani (N): vertical post in
chief houses indoor wall framework gables
darodaro rondra or sanaa sabl (S): stone fato axe, hatchet
bench for watch at village entrance fo (S): shelf
188
darodaro rondra sanari (N): lengthways joist folang (N): lengthways plank of
of framework understructure
folan (C): lengthways lateral beam, at first
level of framework
folan lambo (C): beam supporting rafters of
overhanging roof, at top of lateral wall
folan mbumbu (S): ridgepole lahare gas (N): lathing of roof

folang gio hulu (C): beam linking upper laliw harefa (S): plank of shelf
back angles of framework gable frames laliw lengthways joist of floor, resting on
folang mbal hulu (C): beam linking upper silt
front angles of framework gable frames laliw mbat (S): transverse joist of
fondrahe (C): side ehomo of front line, with framework
anthropomorphic decoration laliw mbuat sesolo (S): transverse
fondrl tali (N): act of placing central silal crossbar of framework
yawa pillars lamari (S): chest
frma (S) (C): private back room laowo (S): kitchen recess
fulawa (N): shelf above hearth laowo or tabla nulu (S): bench-chest
fus laliw (C): lengthways joist resting on laowo sebua (S): rice-chest
central ehomo, and often ending on- facade lasagi (N): act of laying the roof cover
side by carvings lasara decorative motif: (S): grotesque
fus mbat (S): lengthways beam at lower level protective head of chiefs house
of framework laso mbat (S): vertical component of
fus newali (S): circular stone slab, embedded framework
in village path and marking its centre laso sebua or ina laso (S): mother panel of side
ganw (C): mythical bird, decorative motif walls
garuda (Ind.): Indonesian mythical eagle, laso sohagu (S): carved panel in chiefs house
decorative motif lato (C): nettle type bush (Laportea sp.
gas intermediary rafter of roof fam.Urticaceae)
gas lawalawa (S): frame of movable roof lawalawa (N) (C): bench in public area; (S):
panel movable panel of roof
gas matua or fanimba rafter lawl (S): protective figure in stone or wood,
gela (S): bamboo serving for the roof panels placed at village entrance
gogowaya crested hornbill, decorative motif lazilazi mbumbu (S): cross braces of ridge
gorahua newali (S): assembly square covering
goro (C): room loulou (N): cylindrical bark rice container
halama (N): field habitation; (S): isolated malige (S) (C): protected room in centre of
house, not built in traditional manner chiefs house, for himself or his daughters
handro gas (C): transverse plank of mbele-mbele (S): raised private pavement in
framework, bearing rafters of overhanging front of house
roof mbumbu (C): ridgepole
handro lawalawa (C): central inside pillar, mbumbu (S): second ridgepole
equivalent to kholokholo in the South mosu-mosu (N): rattan tie
handroma harefa (S): frame bearing harefa naha nawu hearth, kitchen
shelf naha wemanga (C): communal
handroma wafa (S): floor frame back room
harefa (S): shelf ndriwa buat (S): slanted bracing post of
harehare (S): shelf superstructure
hele (S): public baths ndriwa mbumbu (C): slanted strut going
hene deu (N): upper lenghways die through framework in crosswise axe
hombo batu (S): pyramidal jumping stone nio ete deu (C): transverse beam topping
hulu (C): central lengthways beam, at first level faade
of framework niobawa lawl (S): grotesque head at village
ina laso or laso sebua (S): mother-panel of entrance
side walls
189
iri newali (S): central part of village lane niobawa moon, decorative motif, symbol of
kaka mbana (Ind.). uncoiler, used as marker society
and plumbline niobgi-bgi (N): hook (figuring a bat ?)
kalabubu (S): warriors necklace and house extending niobh
ornamentation motif niobh (N): crude stags head effigy, placed
kandra mbawi (N): pig shelter above tarugadi
kholokholo (S): indoor pillar, at centre of front niodfi stars, decorative motif
platform niogaeliu (C): facade component
kli-kli (N): enclosure, livestock pen niogazi wooden disc surmounting kholokholo
kolu-kolu (S): open-work wall or tarugadi pillar
kotak (Ind.) (N): chest, granary niolakazi (C): slanted component closing
ladari mbh ornamental flower decorating facade on side
end of ridgepole niorane (S): stone erected at village entrance,
laglag (S): lengthways beam topping side serving as shield for watch
wall niowali-wali (S): scroll decorating top of gables
nifoosali (S): room
ooura (C): transverse beam reinforcing chiefs
house structure, at second and third level of
framework
li batu (S): row, wall of megaliths silt beam embedded at top of pillars of
omo hada house according to custom understructure
omo lasara or (S): chiefs house with three silt mbat (S): transverse beams of
lasara heads framework
omo ndrawa (S): modern house, usually in silt mbuat (S): lengthways beams of
breeze-block cement, as opposed to omo framework
hada simalao (N): old chiefs tomb
omo nifobinu (S): chiefs house consecrated by sinata (N): raised floor in public room
human heads sirahu (C): lateral ehomo going through floor
omo niha humans house up to two thirds of framework
omo sebua large chiefs house sukhu womans comb, decorative motif
ono laso (S): child panel of wall sundru plane
ono lawalawa (C): first facade level susu anaa (C): decorative breast shape motif
ora ladder, entrance stairs taio or taio sebua (S) (C): slanted facade
ora vo (S): jamb of hearth component
osali (S) (N): old assembly house; (N): in the tabla (N): chest
past, small building with villages protective tabla gamagama (S): large chest
effigies. (S): cemetery; central pillars of tabla nulu or laowo (S): chest-bench
assembly house (at Bawamataluo). talu zalo or sibaulu (N): public room
osali or osali gowasa (C): megalithic terrace tara hs (S): departure stone of jumping
ose field shelter pyramid
osos or fanusu peg taru mbumbu (N) or tariubu (N) (C): pillar
oto-oto (N): inside partition wall bearing the ridgepole
pondok (Ind.): very rustic dwelling, temporary tarugadi (N): front pillar of public room, often
or for poorest, without traditional formal decorated with disc, between silal yawa.
characteristics tarunahe (N): corner pillar
rimbe adze taru-taru hulu (C): vertical post enbedded in
rfa-rfa (C): pole, beam hulu beams
sagela (S): roof cover panel taru-taru wolan (C): vertical post of
saita ganaa (N): decorated component of framework
framework tawolo (S): public front room
saita hook tendro (C): vertical plank embedded between
salo (N): floor plate exterior sikhli and corresponding fulan
salo or bat (C): front public hall tendro lawalawa (C): front tendo on bench
salogo (C): back of inside bench side
salogt (S): small board under window timba gahe zag (N): bamboo belt of roof
siba (N): lower lengthways die towa (S): side wall
190
sibakha or batee (N) (C): room tura-tura or tutura rattan tie
sibaulu or talu zalo (N): public hall tuwugahe nio lasara (N): vertical frame of
sikhli (S): lengthways lateral beam bearing facade carved as lasara profile
gable wall, and often curved upwards in the tuwugahe or tuha gahe (N): vertical frame of
front; (C): lengthways understructure beam, framework
with front end curved upwards, often called tuwutuwu (N): movable panel of roof; (S): pole
ewe to close movable panel of roof
silal yawa (N): central pillars bearing the ulahe (S): inside lavatory in chiefs house
house; (C): exterior lateral pillar goingto top zara-zara lathes of facade window, facade
of walls window
zla (C): median lengthways beam of framework
zuzu separator used as wedge.
Traditional house and megalith at Lahusa dan Tae Gomo, 1979
191
Traditional house [Omo Sebua] at Llmoyo Moro. Foto: Schrder, 1917
Traditional house at Llzirugi, 1980.
192

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Feldman J., The seat of the ancestors in the homeland of the Nias people, in Islands and
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Kingdoms in Sumatra, Leiden, Brill, 1964, pp. 215-222.
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pp. 587-626 (typescript l983).
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in Artibus Asiae, vol. 24, 1961, pp. 299.
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and people, Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur, 1972 (1935), pp. 305-331 (Nias: pp.
308-312).
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Rheinischen Mission 1865-1940, Munich, Kommissionsverlag Klaus Renner (Thesis of
Hamburg University) 1976.
Kleiweg de Zwaan, J.P., Die Insel Nias, Den Hague, Martinus Nijhoff, 3 volumes, 1913-1915.
Kramer, F. Notulen van het Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen, No 20,
1882, pp. 4-6.
Kramer, F., Die Haser der Niasser, in Das Ausland (Stuttgart), 56th year, 1883, pp. 198-199.
Kramer F. Der Gtzendienst der Niasser, in Tidschriftvoor Indische Taal-Land-en

Volkenkunde, Batavia, vol. 33, 1890, pp. 473-500.
Laiya, B., Solidaritas Kekeluargan dalam salah satu masyarakat desa di Nias - Indonesia, Jakarta,
Gadjah Mada University Press, 1980.
194
Laoli, R.R., Dampak owasa terhadap bosi pada suku bangsa Nias Utara, Medan, Fakultas
Keguruan dan Ilmu Sosial, Institut Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan Negeri, (unpublished
thesis) l981.
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1974 (1935).
Lombard, D., Le sultanat dAtjeh au temps dIskandar Muda (1607-1636), Paris, EFEO
publications, vol 31, 1967.
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indonesischen Dorf, Munich, DTV, 1976.
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Turismo: La Produccion de la Exotico, Copenhague, IWGIA, Documento 7, 1988.
Meilink-Roelofsz, M.A.P. Asian Trade and European influence in the Indonesian Archipelago
between 1500 and about 1630, La Haye, Martinus Nijhoff, 1962.
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(unpublished), 1978.
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Bewoners, in Verhandelingen van het Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en
Wetenschappen, Batavia, vol. 30, 1863.
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Nias met het Gouvernemen Stoomship Valk van 15 Januari tot 11 Februari 1892,
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(Paris), Etudes Insulindiennes 2, Ed. of Maison des Sciences de lHomme, 1980.
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Volkenkunde (The Hague), vol. 62, 1909, pp. 477-648.
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1701-1707.
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studien, Leiden, Brill, 2 volumes, 1917.
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198

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Traditional Architecture of Nias Island

Second Edition 2017

Alain M. Viaro & Arlette Ziegler

Translated into English by Irne de Charrire

YAYASAN PUSAKA NIAS

By Alain M. Viaro & Arlette Ziegler

Translated into English by Irne de Charrire

First Edition: 1993

YAYASAN PUSAKA NIAS

ISBN: 979 - 95749 - 5 - 1

Hak Cipta dilindungi oleh Undang-undang Hak Cipta.

Nias Island Cultural Divisions in 1980

Traditional house at Tuhembaruz village Centre Nias, 1981

A new book should be written about Nias Island today.

Alain Viaro & Arlette Ziegler

Table of Contents . iii

The Nias house is resolutely "modern" in its application of three-dimensional

By building according to a model recognized, accepted and understood by all members

All the letters are pronounced (saita is sata)

Nias Island Cultural Divisions in 1980

SOME HISTORICAL DATA

Traditional Architecture of Nias Island

FARMING AND CATTLE-BREEDING

The political and administrative structure of Indonesia is now in place in Nias.

A VERY HIERARCHIC SOCIETY

The North and the Centre

MYTHS OF CREATION AND COSMOGONY

BELIEFS AND RELIGIOUS PRACTICES

SYSTEM OF FEASTS AND UTILIZATION OF SURPLUS

THE CYCLES OF THE FEASTS

1. A cycle of feasts in the South

2. a feast cycle in the North

3. A feast cycle in the Centre

In consequence, soil is seldom predominant - practically never part of the description

THE HOUSES: SIMILARITIES

Adaptation to climatic conditions

Materials and their use

Measuring system and tools

Certain architectural features show variations in the interpretation of the common

ridgepole and its bearing method

As we can see, the architecture of Nias is strongly structured, although the

In spite of many common characteristics, the houses of Nias, considering their

THE VILLAGES' OPEN LAYOUT

ORIENTATION OF THE VILLAGES AND HOUSES

Topographical constraints determine the orientation. Neither in practice nor in speech

MORPHOLOGY OF THE VILLAGE

Another unit of a modern village, if it has a weekly market, is a place dedicated to it

Open system in continued evolution through time.

PRELIMINARIES TO THE BUILDING

interior fitting out

HOUSE OCCUPANCY CEREMONIES

LAYOUT OF THE HOUSE

Traditional house [Omo Sebua] at Llzirugi village, Mandrehe, 1980

THE CHIEF'S HOUSE OF ONOLIMBU LAHMI

The village of Onolimbu Lahmi is oriented north-west/south-east. It follows a long

THE OTHER CHIEF'S HOUSES

TOWARDS THE MALAYAN HOUSE

The chiefs house is on the left (west side of the square)

STRONGLY STRUCTURED VILLAGES

A typical village of the South has the following components:

a straight paved street with stairs at one or both ends;

SITE AND ORIENTATION

VILLAGE FOUNDATION RITUALS