Tongkonan

Tana Toraja, South Sulawesi

A tongkonan is the family house of the Toraja people, in the highlands of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Every part named on this screen — tulak somba, a’riri, kale banua, ijuk, pa’ssura — is named in Toraja, and the words are used as they are because they are the names of the things rather than decoration. The sun in this model is computed for Rantepao, 2.97° S and 119.90° E.

There is no single canonical tongkonan. Regional and lineage variation is real, and this model is one house the rules permit — not the house.