The 'roof' of the largest forest in the Central Highlands

Considered the "roof" of the village, Kon So Lăl's communal house has many spiritual meanings, and is a common place for all villagers to live whenever there is a festival or meeting.

Considered the "roof" of the village, Kon So Lăl's communal house has many spiritual meanings, and is a common place for all villagers to live whenever there is a festival or meeting.

The communal house of Kon So Lăl village (Ha Tay commune, Chu Pah district, Gia Lai) is considered one of the largest communal houses of the Ba Na people in the Central Highlands. This place is more than 50km from Pleiku city center, close to Kon Tum province.

The house stands tall with a roof over 20m high and over 320m2 wide, so it can gather all the people in the village on every festival.

Kon So Lăl was once the oldest Ba Na village in the Truong Son Dong range, surrounded by thousands of mountains and forests. Today's Kon So Lăl village was relocated from the old village not far away. This communal house was restored in the center of the new village, replacing the old one that was burned down by lightning in 2015. To complete this project, it took all Kon So Lăl villagers 2 years of preparation. materials and about 4,000 construction days. By July 2017, the communal house with the name of the village was completed and put into use.

The communal house still retains the style and architecture of the Ba Na people with completely natural construction materials such as wood, bamboo, thatched roof, rattan... The communal house has no rafter, the frame is tied with rattan, bamboo. The roof is up to 20cm thick and fits together like a giant axe.

The roof is connected together by long tree trunks. The inner roof is only crisscrossed with many trees and bamboo but is still very sturdy and solid.

The gong was brought from the old communal house and used to announce and gather the villagers.

On the wooden pillars at the top of the stairs, the roof is decorated with motifs of herbs and sun shapes. For the Ba Na people, it means the desire to always look towards the sun god.

For ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands in general and Ba Na in particular, the communal house is considered the soul of the village, a place to preserve the sacred values ​​of the village and also a common place for everyone to live. even the villagers every time there is a festival or meeting.

The inside of the communal house is not decorated with many patterns and colors. The main pillars are arranged around to leave a spacious middle section with a central wooden line. This location is used to place hundreds of pots of wine every time the village has a festival.

The communal house has a particularly important position, it is the most sacred place in the village, has spiritual significance, and is a place for cultural activities of the people, organizing Tet holidays, village festivals, gongs...

Kon So Lăl village has nearly 600 people of the Ba Na ethnic group, living in traditional stilt houses and mud-walled houses, surrounding communal houses.

Currently, the number of communal houses that still retain the original architecture of ethnic minorities is very small. The communal house of the Ba Na people in Kon So Lăl village is a treasure of the Central Highlands people that needs to be preserved and promoted so that future generations can know how the Ba Na people built it and the meaning of the communal house.

Gia Lai 642 view

Nguyễn Huế

Source : Vietnamnet

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