Implication of taboo in formation of vernacular settlement patterns

Abstract

Taboo is a belief that lives in the mindset of a society. It develops from a cultural experience and is related to mystical things that often impose prohibitions. A village in Pulau Seram stands firm in the middle of society, inhabiting an area that begins to evolve into an urban area. The society's tradition lives throughout the village territory and strongly influences the villagers living space, making these villagers seem to be undisturbed by the modernization amid its existence. Take numa Posune-a place of seclusion for women on periods-as an example. Women in their period are considered impure to the villagers. This belief encourages a taboo to appear, as men are not allowed to make contact, both visual and physical, to period women; otherwise, the men will get sick. This shows how in society that still holds a strong tradition, taboo controls society's life until now. This paper discusses the settlement pattern formed as an effect of taboo and the role of taboo as social control in rural contexts. The method of this study was exploring Kampung Rohua's life directly and seeing the role of taboo towards Kampung Rohua. Taboo strongly characterized the settlement and the primary key of the spatial configuration. The organization of the community lives actively follow their fear of opposing the existing taboos. Taboo also affects society up to their daily activities, especially those that spatially related in the settlements. The findings show that taboo strongly influenced the formation of space in a traditional rural settlement, in this case, in Kampung Rohua.