ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the ways in which house and home were often positioned in the sacred. It presents houses for divinity, the incorporation of sacred settings in houses, the house as cosmogram and cosmogony, and the house and settlement as socio-political constructs, to further contextualize the various roles, agendas, and materializations of house and home. It introduces a number of historically deterministic theories regarding the interrelationship of house and sanctuary. The houses and house symbolism presented in this chapter plays important and, at times, preeminent, cultural and ontological roles. The Sa'Dan Toraja houses illustrate many themes explored in this chapter including the congruence of the house and a people's world, and the status and authority of its inhabitants to maintain them. The houses of the Sa'Dan Toraja peoples of northern South Sulawesi, Indonesia were typically oriented to auspicious directions and assigned anthropomorphic elements, and are known for their intricate, decorative carvings.
