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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 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 roofed 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 ''
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'' 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, ...
walls, and its structure is built on stilts 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

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