SUKU ENGGANO

Euba Ekadodio
Beehive House of Engganese
Rumah Sialang Enggano

In enggano language house call as Euba. So beehive houses call as Euba Ekadodio. This the unique shape house in the world.

Beehive house from modigliani 1894

Engganese houses once had a beehive shape. Charles Miller (1778) was the first to notice the special shape of the houses and the first to call them as a beehive houses. Such as shape rarely occur in Indonesia. Modigliani compares the engganese houses with the houses on Nicobar island, west of Indonesia. This comparison, how ever, only hold good at a very superficial level, as Domenig oberved (1999 personal communication). Other houses resembling those of engganese are the aound houses of central Timor, allthough these are not bulit on pillars like engganese ones. Rectangular house also accured and are still found today on Enggano.

Beehive model from Volkenkunde Museum, Netherland.

Beehive house model (Volkenkunde Museum)

Object Name: house (model)
Dimensions: 108 x 50 x 51 cm
Dated: 1883
Geography: Enggano / Bengkulu Utara / Bengkulu / Sumatera / Indonesia
Culture: Enggano

Model of a beehive house. Such houses are very typical of Enggano. They are now no more. The latter would be demolished around 1903. Modigliani (1894: Tav.VIII) published one of the few known photos of a beehive house. Models of such Euba kakario are present in various museums. This model shows that the roof on a wooden bird figure was confirmed. In addition, the narrow doorway visible. The door is missing. This model home has no central pole. Beehive House on Enggano, only the man and the woman, and sometimes the youngest child of a family uses. It was too small and uncomfortable, no opening for fresh air, to an 'extended family' to be used. Several houses were once in a beehive circle and thus constituted a settlement. The house of the leader stood in the middle and was slightly bigger than the rest of the houses. Houses of important people would be supported by, in carved wood, picture of a defeated enemy to fertility and the welfare of the family was secure. House Models in Florence and in Jakarta have also seen this image. See also Modigliani

Beehive house model (Tropen Museum)

Epaku, Engganese Women Jewel head (Tribal art)

·

Epaku

Epaku (Enggano language)

object name	jewel, jewel head
dating	for 1888
material	wood, tin, tinfoil, feathers
dimensions	Dm cylinder 10.5 cm H 19.5 cmH without feathers feather 73 cm
acquisition	1889 INSUL donation
geographical origin	Enggano
cultural origin	Enggano

Enggano is a small island west of Sumatra. Once everyone lived in the interior.Now the Engganezen coastal dwellers. Late nineteenth century, diseases like cholera and malaria rowed the original population of almost. From the old Enggano is little known. Only a few elderly residents of the island to tell about the previous situation. Most are the things that they heard as children from their grandparents. The displayed objects are unique testimony of a lost culture in the last century.

Defeat an enemy and come home with a war trophy was Enggano very important. They thought the fertility of women by promoting. The survival of this community was dependent on the conduct of war. The reputation of a man based entirely on war successes. The enemy is depicted in reports include daggers and women's hats.

Engganese women wearing epaku (from modigliani 1894)

Copy from Condensed reality : a study of material culture. Duplicated by Tun Jang

Such headgear for women has been shown here. It was worn during the harvest ritual. During the dancing made the women rolled their head, which sticks with chicken feathers that adorned the hat is swept back and forth. The wooden hat is a haarknotje slid down and put in a wooden or bamboo pins. The carving is topped with imported tinfoil. The figure suggests the hat for a war trophy, or a defeated enemy.The importance of this symbolic image was great. It was because the fertility of the wearer and thus promote the survival of society secure.

Reference :

• Museum Kenis
• Book a study of material culture