goodmorningpapua.com – Honai is a typical traditional house of the Papuan people which is usually often found in the Baliem valley area, Jayawijaya. In this location a number of Papuan tribes live in, namely the Dani, Yali and Lani tribes. The existence of this Honai traditional house can be found in mountainous areas which have an altitude of about 1,600 – 1,700 meters above sea level.
Reporting from the kemdikbud.go.id site, Honai comes from the word ‘hun’ which means adult male and ‘ai’ which means house. Meanwhile, for the Yali people, the traditional house is called homea. In general, the shape of the honai building is round or circular with a diameter of 4-6 meters.
As a support there are 4 main pillars (heseke) and strong strong support poles with a height of 5-7 meters. The Honai house has two parts, namely the ground floor (agarawa) and the upper floor / attic (henaepu).
Meanwhile, the materials used to build the Honai are from nature. Soil floors, woven walls and thatched roofs are very environmentally friendly materials. However, the Honai building is able to dispel the cold in the mountains. The shape of the Honai house with the roof closing all the way down turns out to function as a protection for the entire wall surface so it doesn’t get wet from rain. Meanwhile, honai also does not require windows.
The reason is, the air temperature in the mountainous area of Papua can reach 10-15 degrees Celsius at night. In addition, the Honai house only has one door for access in and out and there is only small ventilation. This is applied to anticipate the attacks of wild animals. In addition to housing, Honai also serves to store war and hunting equipment. Honai is also only occupied by men. Honai is also a place to train boys to become strong people when they grow up. As for women, they usually stay at Ebei’s house.