Helloindonesia.id – The archipelago has long been inhabited by indigenous peoples from various ethnic groups. No wonder Indonesia has a variety of scripts, languages, lifestyles, traditional clothes, to traditional houses from various regions. Among the diversity of the archipelago’s wealth, traditional houses are the foremost benchmarks. That describe the culture of an ethnic group. Not only that, traditional houses also have an important meaning in the development of the heritage of civilizatio. Bearing in mind that all activities carried out begin at home.

In Tegurwangi Village, at the foot of Mount Dempo, Pagaralam, South Sumatra, stands the traditional house of the Besemah. Commonly known as Ghumah Baghi (Rumah Baghi). Baghi House is a traditional house that has been used since hundreds of years ago by the ancestors.

Characteristic of Baghi house

This house has a characteristic on the roof that is tapered like a horn. Judging from the shape of the roof, the baghi ​​house is almost the same as the Minang or Toraja traditional house. One thing that distinguishes it is that the roof of the baghi ​​house. There is not too pointed and is made of palm fiber with a frame made of bamboo.

Building construction uses pegs that connect parts of the frame. Interestingly, all the parts that are connected do not use nails. Likewise in the installation of sheets of wall boards, mounted on a wall frame through the groove as a key. Another distinctive feature of Baghi’s house is that, from the beginning. Baghi’s house was made without windows and only had one door in the middle. The door is made of a piece of wood with a hinge in the form of an axis. That is above and below the door leaf.

When entering the Baghi House, visitors will find this traditional house without a partition or room. However, the floor in the room has two levels. The higher floor is at the front of the room. The place is intended as a meraje seat, namely families of male bloodlines, such as grandfather, wak and uncle. While the lower part is intended for young children, namely female offspring along with their husbands and grandchildren. From this placement, it is seen that the indigenous people of Besemah adhere to male or patrilineal lineages.

The philosophy of Baghi’s house

From its overall shape, the Baghi house consists of three sizes, namely small, medium and large. This is according to H Musa, the only remaining Baghi homeowner. He said that the different sizes of Baghi houses are indicative of the social status of the people who own them. In addition to the size of the house, style, and beautiful house ornaments are also indicative of social status.

The large and small size of a baghi ​​house that can show the social status of people who own it is not without cause, because the raw material for making a baghi ​​house made from pulai wood is obtained from the forest. There are two versions that argue about how the Besemah people in ancient times collected pulai wood from the forest to build houses.

The first version says, pulai wood is brought by spirits brought in when the house owner wants to build a house for Baghi. While another version says, the process of carrying pulai wood is the main ingredient in making a baghi ​​house assisted by livestock, such as cattle or buffalo.

Apart from the two versions, it can be concluded that the indigenous people of Besemah have had very high creativity and art. This is also reflected in the physical form and ornaments that exist in the exterior and interior of the home building. Moreover, Baghi’s heir has proven that even though they are hundreds of years old, Baghi’s home in Tegurwangi Village, Pagaralam, South Sumatra, still stands strong today. It’s just that more attention is needed from the local government and the wider community to continue to preserve and preserve the wealth of one of this valuable archipelago culture.

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