Dec 22, 2018

Cham house, Vietnam Museum of Ethnology

Cham house


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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