House of the head of the household
Traditionally, only aristocratic families
and religious dignitaries had this kind of house. Being the largest house made
of valuable wood and decorated with carving, it is considered as a “fabulouse
horse”. The roof has two layers. The thick lower layer is made from a mixture
of mud and straw, protecting the house from heat and the risk of fire.
The front hallway is where the women weave.
The large common room is for receiving guests. Precious family property
including ornaments and silk textiles are stored in a wooden trunk. The bedroom
is linked with the common room by a narrow door. Behind the bedroom is a small
room to store copper pots and trays, plates and bowls, old jars, gongs, and
drums. Only the housewife and her first daughter are allowed to arrange, take
out, and put back family property in the trunk or in the store room. They
choose lucky and good days to do these tasks.
Adjacent house
Built alongside the customary house, it is
the home of the eldest daughter’s family after her younger sister’s wedding.
The customary house where they used to live is given to her younger sister’s
family.
The room at the centre of the house is the
common room where the unmarried and guests sleep. The corridor facing the
courtyard is where women weave. The couple’s room is behind the common room.
People have to go through the common room to enter the couple’s room. Two mats
are spread on the bed; the reverse side of the lower mat is on the upside,
facing the reverse side of the upper mat. Two jars at the foot of the wall in
the room contain rice. Candles and two bronze boxes for betel and areca nuts
are kept in a basket. Every night before going to bed, the hostess wipes the
mat, lights a candle, replaces old betel quid by new ones, and parys her
ancestors for protection.
Customary house
Traditionally, this house is situated in
the northeast direction of the family house compound as it is thought that this
place signifies fertility and growth. It is particularly important as all
rituals of the Cham qreat matriarchal family are performed here. This is the
only house in which no rafter structure, tenon joints, or nails are used.
In the Cham conception, the customary house
symbolizes the human body. The first common room represents the head; it is use
for receiving guest and ceremonies. The center room symbolizing the chest is
for weddings and then becomes the bedroom of the newlweds. The door to go to
the next house, sang mayau, is the nose, and the door directed to the kitchen
is the mouth. The ridge is the backbone; the rafters are ribs; the battens are
knuckles; and the grass on the roof is hair.
The upper house
Traditionally, this house faces east in the
direction of the sun and gods. Its entrance cannot be opposite to the sun and
gods. Its entrance cannot be opposite to the sang mayau house’s door. The Cham
think that doors facing each other are similar to human mouths quarrelling. It
will affect the family’s peacefulness.
This house is for dignitaries or people over 50.
They are respected as it is considered that they have completed their secular
life. The large room is a space for the householder and his guests. The bedroom
is reserved for his wife where she prays before going to bed at nights. It is
arranged in the same way as the bedrooms of other surrounding houses.
Kitchen
It is the first house built in the family
house compound. Traditionally, it is located in the northwest of the house
compound and includes two spaces for the family and storage.
In the kitchen there are three stones
arranged like the tripod used in cooking. The Cham consider these stones as
signs of life and the place where the kitchen God resides. Arranging these
three stones and worshipping the kitchen God is done by women at least once
every three months or when the family children are sick. They make offerings of
betel, tea, three sticky rice plates and three bowls of sweet soup. The side of
the fireplace in which firewood is put must be directed towards the kitchen
entrance. This entrance is opposite to the sang ye house’s door that is on the
other side of the central house. This door symbolizes a human mouth.
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