![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/COLLECTIE_TROPENMUSEUM_%27Het_dorpsgebouw_in_een_Batak-kampong_vrouwen_bezig_potten_te_vormen_Bataklanden%27_TMnr_10014161.jpg/220px-COLLECTIE_TROPENMUSEUM_%27Het_dorpsgebouw_in_een_Batak-kampong_vrouwen_bezig_potten_te_vormen_Bataklanden%27_TMnr_10014161.jpg)
Sopo is a treasury structure in the architecture of the Toba Batak people from North Sumatra, Indonesia. Its form is similar to that of a Batak traditional house with the exception of being smaller in size and a construction ritual that is the opposite of a Batak house. Sopo is used as a repository for various items, e.g. rice, magical items, or trophies. Sopo can also be used as a meeting point for social activities.
Description
Sopo was a Batak word indicating a storage structure that is generally used for storing rice (sopo eme, eme means "rice"), storing trophies (e.g. skulls of wild boars and humans, and the smoked and dried hands of enemies defeated in battle), storing magic items (e.g. the pustahas or magic batons)[1] The sopo is generally an open space like a pavilion. The open space of a sopo is generally used as a small forum where people would sit and talk; as temporary quarters for travelers; or as dormitory for celibate males.[2]
Architecture and function
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/COLLECTIE_TROPENMUSEUM_Model_van_een_Toba-Batak_rijstschuur_TMnr_137-4.jpg/220px-COLLECTIE_TROPENMUSEUM_Model_van_een_Toba-Batak_rijstschuur_TMnr_137-4.jpg)
Sopo is usually oriented to face the traditional Batak house in a north-south axis. Similar to the traditional Batak Toba houses, a sopo is hierarchically divided into three sections representing the three realms of the cosmos. The lower part is where the livestock is kept. The middle part is used as a place of rest or for women daily activities e.g. sewing. The top part is used as storage.
There are different types of sopo depending on the number of its posts. A four-posted sopo is known as sopo siopat, a six-posted sopo is known as sopo sionam, eight-posted is sopo siualu while twelve-posted is sopo bolon ("great sopo"). Large-sized sopo bolon are usually built by the chief of the village, and so every Batak Toba village would have one sopo bolon located at the center of a square and exactly on the opposite side of the chief's house. A sopo bolon can still be seen in the village of Lumban Nabolon, Tapanuli Utara. This large sopo served as a meeting hall, and its attic could be used as a shrine for sacred treasures, in which case it may not always function as a granary. Smaller ordinary sopo, on the other hand, has less ornamentation and stands on the opposite side of each houses in a village. These ordinary sopo are used for storing rice.[3]
The main posts of a sopo are supported by a stone base known as batu ojahan. Each stone base has a diameter of 40 centimetres (16 in) on its base, and tapered on top to 20 centimetres (7.9 in) in diameter. These main posts are supported by smaller posts (tiang-dang pembantu). All of the posts are bounded by anchor rails which is arranged in narrowly-spaced four levels. Each of the anchor rail levels are named (from the bottom to the top): balok ransang, balok galapang, sumban and gulang-gulang. Unlike a sopo, the Batak Toba house has three layers of anchor rails instead of four.[4]
Even though the Batak Toba house (ruma) and the sopo look similar, the structure and architecture were marked not only as unequal but also an inversion of one another. One example appears in the central roof-supporting posts of both structures: a Batak Toba house would have the posts placed the same way as the tree would grow, with the thicker base placed on the bottom, while the thinner top placed on top; In a sopo, the posts were deliberately placed upside down, so the post is thicker towards up. Other differences is that the house is an enclosed structure, while the sopo is an open pavilion-like structure. Batak Toba house also stands broadly on the ground, while the sopo rises from a narrow base and widens at the level of the cantilevered attic floor.[5]
Symbolism
Although neither the ruma (house) nor its sopo were exclusively used only by women or by men, it is traditionally accepted that the ruma is the realm of women while the sopo is the realm of men. This is evident in a Batak Toba expression: ruma jabu ni boru, sopo jabu ni baoa - "the ruma a dwelling for women, the sopo a dwelling for men". The ruma was also said to symbolize the female buffalo, while the sopo the male buffalo.[3]
The sopo is a sacred structure, as the harvest was also seen as containing the spirit of an agriculture deity. A sopo in essential is more sacred in comparison with the house, and so they are treated differently. For example, a sopo should stand on higher ground than the house.[6]
In Batak Toba society, the main house is inherited to the youngest son (a fact that bears on his duty to care for his parents in their old age) while the eldest son is inherited the sopo. If there are more sons who must live in the house and the sopo, then the youngest gets the main room of the main house (jabu bona), and the eldest gets the sopo.[6]
Reference
- ^ Beekman 1988, p. 156.
- ^ Beekman 1988, p. 157.
- ^ a b Domenig 2013, p. 197.
- ^ Domenig 2013, p. 200.
- ^ Domenig 2013, p. 198.
- ^ a b Domenig 2013, p. 210.
Cited works
- Beekman, E.M. (1988). Fugitive Dreams: An Anthology of Dutch Colonial Literature. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 9780870235757.
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(help) - Domenig, Gaudenz (2013). Howell, Signe; Sparkes, Stephen (eds.). Inverted posts for the granary - The House in Southeast Asia: A Changing Social, Economic and Political Domain. Routledge. ISBN 9781136824456.
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