Rumah Gadang

(Istana Pagaruyung 2006)

Rumah gadang sambilan ruang,
salanja kudo balari,
sapakiak budak maimbau,
sajariah kubin malayang.
Gonjongnyo rabuang mambasuik,
antiang-antiangnyo disemba alang.

Rumah gadang (Minangkabau language : 'big house') are the traditional homes (Indonesian : 'rumah adat') of the Minangkabau. The architecture, construction, internal and external decoration, and the functions of the house reflect the culture and values of the Minangkabau. A rumah gadang serves as a residence, a hall for family meetings, and for ceremonial activities. With the Minangkabau society being matrilineal, the rumah gadang is owned by the women of the family who live there - ownership is passed from mother to daughter.

The houses have dramatic curved roof structure with multi-tired, upswept gables. Shuttered windows are built into walls incised with profuse painted floral carvings. The term rumah gadang usually refers to the larger communal homes, however, smaller single residences share many of its architectural elements

Matrilineality

Matrilineality is a system in which one belongs to one's mother's lineage.

A matriline is a line of descent from a female ancestor to a descendant (of either sex) in which the individuals in all intervening generations are female. In a matrilineal descent system (uterine descent), an individual is considered to belong to the same descent group as his or her mother. This is in contrast to the more currently common pattern of patrilineal descent.

The uterine ancestry of an individual is a person's pure female ancestry, i.e. a matriline leading from a female ancestor to that individual.

Mitochondrial DNA (mt-DNA) is normally inherited exclusively from one's mother - both daughters and sons inherit it all the same. As mt-DNA are sort of "cellular power plants," one's metabolism and energy conversion are much influenced by the matrilineal descent.

In some cultures, membership of a group is inherited matrilineally; examples of this include many ancient cultures such as the Egyptians and contemporary ones such as the Minangkabau culture of West Sumatra, the Ezhava, Nairs, and Kurichiyas of Kerala, India, Bunts, Billavas and Mogaveeras of Karnataka, Pillai caste in Nagercoil District of Tamil Nadu, the Khasi and Garo of Meghalaya, India, the Naxi of China, the Gitksan of British Columbia the Iroquois Confederacy (Haudenosaunee), the Hopi, and the Tuaregs.

In the ancient kingdom of Elam, the succession to the throne was matrilineal, and a nephew would succeed his maternal uncle to the throne.

The order of succession to the position of the Rain Queen is a modern example in an African culture of matrilineal primogeniture: not only is dynastic descent reckoned through the female line, but only females, not males are eligible to inherit.

Minangkabau

The Minangkabau ethnic group (also known as Minang or Padang) is indigenous to the highlands of West Sumatra, in Indonesia. Their culture is matrilineal, with property and land passing down from mother to daughter, while religious and political affairs are the province of men (although some women also play important roles in these areas). Today 4 million Minangs live in West Sumatra, while about 3 million more are scattered throughout many Indonesian and Malay peninsula cities and towns.

The Minangkabau are strongly Islamic, but also follow their ethnic traditions, or adat. The Minangkabau adat was derived from animistic beliefs before the arrival of Islam, and remnants of animistic beliefs still exist even among some practicing Muslims. The present relationship between Islam and adat is described in the saying "tradition [adat] founded upon Islamic law, Islamic law founded upon the Qur'an" (adat basandi syara', syara' basandi Kitabullah)