House/Clan

Open House: Bidayuh Traditional House

The baruk's roof peak.

- I would like to show you all how Bidayuh traditional houses look like. These are pictures of the Bidayuh house in Sarawak Cultural Village. Enjoy!

This is the baruk or headhouse. It is mainly a place for ceremonial purposes.

This is the interior of the baruk.

This longhouse is where the villagers reside. It is divided into biliks with a family residing in each bilik.

This contiguous, roofed space which connects all biliks is where socializing between families and communal activities and celebrations are done.

A very nice place to vent off the afternoon's heat.

Grinding rice into flour.

Many Bidayuhs nowadays, however, do not live in longhouses such as this anymore. Many villages are very similar with villages of other communities around the world, with each family having their own house fashioned to their on preferences. However, one unique feature that survived among the Bidayuh house architecture is the presence of a tanju in the compound of their houses.




The tanju is an open wooden platform, usually made of bamboo, about 10 meters wide adjacent to the panggau and joined to all sections within the longhouse to form an unbroken raised platform. Because it is uncovered, the tanju is the main venue on which the paddy, immediately after harvest, is winnowed, sunned and dried before being stored in barkbins (tibang) in the garret.

Individual Bidayuh family houses also have tanju in the compound of their house built either attached to the house or as a stand alone structure. Other than drying paddy, it is also used to dry other agricultural produce such as cocoa and pepper, one of the best agricultural product of Sarawak.