THE TRADITIONAL HABITAT PART 2: THE MATERIALS THAT COMPOSE IT
As every month, here is our cultural minute where we make you discover and enjoy the lives of the Miao, Yao and Dong minorities. This month, we will introduce you to another facet of their traditional habitat.
The structure of the house contains no nails, screws or other construction materials! The principle is that of the mortice and tenon joint, which allows one piece of wood to be embedded in another, thus ensuring the rigidity of the entire building. The advantage of this type of construction is proven when part of the base collapses, the house holding in the void as if by miracle.
The roof tiles were simple dried, flattened and spread fir bark, which were placed on top of each other on horseback (like tiles). As this material is not very durable over time, it was replaced by black, red or blue tiles depending on the village, or even currently by corrugated iron sheets, much cheaper to buy.
The roof is adorned in its centre with a star, buffalo horns or a fish, all symbols of prosperity, power, or simply good luck.
The traditional house is often built on a mountainside, it is dug in the shape of a staircase with one or two levels.
The base is made of flat stones embedded one into the other without mortar or cement, wedged to create a raised, solid and drained base. These stones are usually extracted from a digging of the mountain and transported to the construction site. It is on this basis that the posts of the house will be supported. The base is not always very straight, so the posts are wedged with small stones, a method that sometimes leaves our Cartesian minds a little perplexed!Comme chaque mois, voici notre minute culturelle où nous vous faisons découvrir et aimer la vie des minorités Miao, Yao et Dong. Ce mois-ci, nous vous faisons découvrir une autre facette de leur habitat traditionnel.
