Sacred Times for Building Vernacular Houses in Nusantara: Case Study of The Indigenous Calendar System in Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta and Kanekes, West Java

Ayu Dipta Kirana1*, Syafitri Hidayati2, and Citra Iqliyah Darojah3

The practice of constructing vernacular houses in the Indonesian archipelago is dominated by the knowledge brought by the ancestors of Austronesian-speaking communities, who originated from the northern Philippines and the Formosa Islands (Taiwan) and arrived around 4,000 years BP. Austronesian-speaking communities believe that the house is an important sacred space. Austronesian houses represent a tripartite concept that reflects the relationship between humans and the natural world. As a sacred space, the ritual of housebuilding is inseparable from ancient beliefs thought to have existed since prehistoric times, including knowledge of an indigenous calendar system as a marker of the significant time for erecting a house. Using an ethnoarchaeological approach, this research will collect ethnographic data as a means of seeking answers to archaeological problems that leave only material culture behind, making the reconstruction of the past a considerable challenge. Ethnoarchaeology is used as a methodology to reconstruct past cultures by examining cultural continuity, based on the assumption that contemporary cultures have evolved from past ones, meaning that current cultural characteristics are therefore an inheritance of past cultures. This research collects ethnographic data in Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta, and Baduy, West Java, to attempt to reconstruct the principles employed by cultural practitioners in constructing traditional houses. These two ethnic groups demonstrate the development of indigenous calendar systems, each serving as a key marker for house construction through the Pranatamangsa System and the Kolenjer calendar system, which are believed to have existed since prehistoric times and remain in use to the present day