Toraja, Indonesia is one of the couple of places where traditional houses in the native ancestral styles continue to be built and used by the people who live there, and are not just there for the benefit of Western tourists who want to take pictures of the neighborhood culture. The Torajan houses have, in spite of this, ended up becoming a sort of tourist attraction, in significant part due to the fact of their uniquely thatched, saddleback-shaped roofs.
These Torajan houses are called tongkonan, and they have a pretty distinctive roof style that points sharply up into the sky. According to legend, the shape of the roof is supposed to resemble the boats that the Torajans sailed in to arrive at their present homeland. Their voyage by boat up the Sungai Sa\'dan River, the story goes, began thousands of years ago. Right after island hopping for a lengthy time, the Torajans found the River and rode it as far as present day Enrekang, from where they continued the trip on foot. They brought their boats with them, however, and utilized them as roofs when they finally discovered a place in which to settle down. Right now, the pointed, bow-like shape of the tongkonan houses is supposed to remind the Torajans of their roots.
As for the practicality of the roofs themselves, they are extremely sturdy and durable. Why do you feel the Torajans haven\'t bothered to upgrade them immediately after a thousand years? Thatch care is reasonably minimal, and the unique thatching method, which makes use of arm-length, split bamboo shoots for tiles, is particularly efficient at keeping rain out when you need to.
Yet another exclusive aspect of Tongkonan houses is that they often face north. They are typically composed of 3 rooms: the living room, the guest room, and the room where the family sleeps, which also doubles as a location where the dead are kept when they have yet to be buried. The floors of the guest room and the \"bedroom\" (so to speak) are usually often a bit greater than the floor of the central living room.
The thatched roofs are ideal for the climate, not only since they are effective at blocking water, but they also manage to help keep the interior of the house cool during the intense, heat months.
