The Description of Shapes and Symbols of Batak Toba House

Abstract

A house is not only a place to live but also a source of blessings considered that it has a spirit for Batak Toba people. It must carry out its function as a “life force” for its inhabitants so it is decorated with Gorga as a symbol to support and make it look like life. The purpose of this paper is to identify and describe the shapes, symbols, and their meanings of Batak Toba house. This paper used the qualitative method with library research. The results show that Batak Toba has two types house, namely Si Tolumbea and Si Campuran and has seventeen basic motifs. So it can be concluded that Si Tolumbea is a type of house that is generally used as a reference. Batak house has three main parts. The first part is the lowest part that is called Banua toru as a place for pets. The second part is the middle part that is called Banua tonga as a place to live for people. And the third part is the very top part that is called Banua ginjang as the roof. Batak house has seventeen basic gorga motifs that is often found, namely andorandor, sitompi, ipon-ipon, simeol-meol, dalihan na tolu, iran-iran, silintong, sitagan, simarogung-ogung, hoda-hoda, simataniari, singa-singa, boraspati, gaja dompak, adop-adop, jenggar or jorngom, and ulu paung