Abstrack:
This paper tried to explain the identity of Mandailing Julu settlements in North Sumatera. The Mandailing district is traditionally divided into two region namely the Mandailing Godang ?lower Mandailing? and Mandailing Julu ?upper Mandailing?. In this inventory project the research being carried out is retricted to ten villages which are situated in the Mandailing Julu region. Therefore, the subject of this study in this report is restricted only to the surveyed area, in Mandailing Julu region. The study and analysis has been found that the identity of Mandailing Julu settlements showed with two big themes, namely (1) The concepts of Banua and (2) Water Culture. The concept of Banua has been applied on traditional building models by pillar houses and arrangement of environment settlement by setting of traditional main buildings in the middle of huta. The water culture means understood the water with three points, namely (a) Water as a Source of Life, (b) The Spiritual Value of the River and (c) Waterbank-based Life Tradition. Water as Source of Life, always directed to explain something about human interaction with the river, like days activities for example accross the river to go to the plantation, create a Lubuk Larangan, pan for gold; and also the activities that be related to traditional activities like religion and nationality celebrate. The Spiritual Value of the River has been made every changes in the environment and settlement of the community to always keep maintain that something urgent and important related to interaction between human and the river. Waterbank-based Life Tradition has been showed that transformation cause of modernization, industrialization and even politic could not change their character of waterbankbased live tradition.
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