![Leuit os 080815-2283 srna](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Leuit_os_080815-2283_srna.jpg)
Leuit is a type of
vernacular
A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...
rice barn
A rice barn is a type of barn used worldwide for the storage and drying of harvested rice. The barns' designs are usually specialized to their function, and as such may vary between countries or between provinces. Rice barns in Southeast Asia appea ...
found in the
Sundanese architecture of Western Java,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
. It used to
store rice after harvest for future and daily use. A leuit is an essential part of
Sundanese
Sundanese may refer to:
* Sundanese people
* Sundanese language
* Sundanese script
Standard Sundanese script (''Aksara Sunda Baku'', ) is a writing system which is used by the Sundanese people. It is built based on Old Sundanese script (' ...
agricultural tradition, especially during annual ''
Seren Taun'' harvest ceremony. In Sundanese tradition, leuit symbolizes sustenance and livelihood.
History
The stilted
rice barn
A rice barn is a type of barn used worldwide for the storage and drying of harvested rice. The barns' designs are usually specialized to their function, and as such may vary between countries or between provinces. Rice barns in Southeast Asia appea ...
structure with its variations is common throughout
Indonesian archipelago
The islands of Indonesia, also known as the Indonesian Archipelago ( id, Kepulauan Indonesia) or Nusantara, may refer either to the islands comprising the country of Indonesia or to the geographical groups which include its islands.
History ...
. It can be found in
Minangkabau Minangkabau may refer to:
* Minangkabau culture, culture of the Minangkabau people
* Minangkabau Culture Documentation and Information Center
* Minangkabau Express, an airport rail link service serving Minangkabau International Airport (''see belo ...
tradition as ''
Rangkiang
Rangkiang (also lumbuang) is a granary or rice barn of the Minangkabau people used to keep rice. The rangkiang is a distinctive feature of Minangkabau architecture. The structure is traditionally found in the courtyard of a '' rumah gadang'', t ...
'', also in Batak, Toraja, and Sasak traditions. A leuit, or similar structure of it, is believe as an ancient structure which was quite common in agricultural society of Java. A study of bas-relief from hidden foot of the 9th-century
Borobudur
Borobudur, also transcribed Barabudur ( id, Candi Borobudur, jv, ꦕꦤ꧀ꦝꦶꦧꦫꦧꦸꦝꦸꦂ, Candhi Barabudhur) is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple in Magelang Regency, not far from the town of Muntilan, in Central Java, Indone ...
in Central Java, revealed that the ancient Javanese rice barn is remarkably similar to Sundanese ''leuit lenggang'' (long stilted rice barn), which demonstrate a continuous tradition of rice barn construction in the island.
Form and materials
Leuit take basic form of triangular
gable roof
A gable roof is a roof consisting of two sections whose upper horizontal edges meet to form its ridge. The most common roof shape in cold or temperate climates, it is constructed of rafters, roof trusses or purlins. The pitch of a gable roof ca ...
ed structure, made of
thatched
Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...
materials (''ijuk'' black ''
aren Aren may refer to:
People
; Given name
* Andreas Arén (born 1985), Swedish ski jumper
* Aren b, also known as Brendan Vintedge, American singer-songwriter
* Aren Davoudi (born 1986), Armenian basketball player
* Aren Kuri (born 1991), Japanese ...
'' fibers, ''hateup'' or ''kirai'' leaves, or palm leaves) covering wooden frames and beams, woven
bamboo
Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...
walls, and its structure is built on
stilt
Stilt is a common name for several species of birds in the family Recurvirostridae, which also includes those known as avocets. They are found in brackish or saline wetlands in warm or hot climates.
They have extremely long legs, hence the grou ...
s either short or long. The leuit took form of rectangular structure with upper section is slightly wider than the lower section. The door of the rice barn is located on the upper section, and to reach it requires bamboo stairs.
Leuit with short stilts is called ''leuit tetepakan'', usually has 8 or 10 short stilts, while the more ancient and rarely found leuit with four long stilts is called ''leuit lenggang''. In ''leuit lenggang'' the gaps between the stilts pole and the leuit structure contains round logs that serves to block rats from rising into rice storage.
Tradition
![Leuit is 080815 2305 srna](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Leuit_is_080815_2305_srna.JPG)
The ''Seren Taun'' rituals marks the start of a new agricultural cycle, and are varied among each villages, however the main ritual is the procession to presenting the rice to community leader. The peak of this ritual is the ''Ngadiukeun'' ceremony, which involves storing rice hulls into the village's rice barn.
The community leader later gave ''indung pare'' (mother of rice) that already blessed to the villages leaders to be planted in next agriculture cycle.
See also
*
Sundanese traditional house
*
Rangkiang
Rangkiang (also lumbuang) is a granary or rice barn of the Minangkabau people used to keep rice. The rangkiang is a distinctive feature of Minangkabau architecture. The structure is traditionally found in the courtyard of a '' rumah gadang'', t ...
References
External links
*
{{Indonesian architecture
Rumah adat
Granaries
Sundanese culture