Professional paper
Traditional forms of housing habits and standards in Baranja
Jadranka Puntarović-Vlahinić
; Etnološki zavod, Filozofski fakultet, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Croatia
Abstract
Housing is a component part of the way of life and culture of every social community .In discussing housing, one may talk about the habits and standards of housing. Changes in housing habits and standards are most closely connected with changes in economic and social relations in a community.
This study covers traditional housing habits of the inhabitants of 12 villages in Baranja: Ceminac, Darda, Lug, Šumarina, Zmajevac, BaranjskoPetrovo Selo, Branjin Vrh, Duboševica, Jagodnjak, Torjanci, Kopacevo and Gajić.
Baranja is known as a rich country with big households. The establishments usually consist of the main housing building and several single-room buildings "kiljeri" in which married couples live. There is also a complex of farm buildings in the back-yard -for cattle, for pigs, for fowls,for fodder,for bread-making,for bee-keeping etc. A beautiful garden with various kinds of flowers is in the front of the house. Close to the residential complex there are vineyards with wine-cellars and fields.
Most main residential buildings are built of brick and adobe. These buildings are usually consisting of a cellar (which serves as a storage space) and a ground-floor (which contains the living quarters).Nowadays also one or even two-storey houses are built in the villages of Baranja.
The ground- floor(or the first floor) most frequently consists of a kitchen (kuća, kuhinja) and two rooms (first or front room, and second or back rooms - prednja ili prva i zadnja soba). In the kitchen there is an open fire-place where meals are prepared. The front (or first) room is considered the main room of the house, and the whole of the daily life routine of the family usually takes place in there. They are eating, sleeping, having discussions and celebrating important events of their life in this room.
The kitchen is also a very important place in the house, in some villages even the most important one. They used to keep the fire on day and night. The fire from the fire-place gave light and heated the whole place up.
Modern furniture and appliances are still not fully used in these villages. Old houses still have old types of furniture, like big wooden tables, chairs and benches. simple made wooden beds and cradles, and beautiful chest-boxes for keeping clothes and flour.
Keywords
traditional architecture; residential culture; housing types; Baranja
Hrčak ID:
75750
URI
Publication date:
8.3.1993.
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