SPATIAL AND RITUAL SYSTEMS IN THE MANIFESTATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP AMONG GOD, HUMANS AND NATURE IN THE CUSTOMARY HOUSE OF SAPO SALIANAN KALUPPINI

Abstract

This study examines how the spatial and social systems of Sapo Salianan/Sapo Battoa, the customary house of the Kaluppini community, mediate relationships among God, humans, and nature through access regulation, social roles, customary prohibitions, and ritual practices. Qualitative architectural ethnography was employed using participant observation, in-depth interviews, spatial documentation, and documentary analysis. The data were analyzed thematically and through a spatial-cultural framework by relating spatial hierarchy to actors, access, behavioral rules, and ritual functions. The findings demonstrate that Sapo Salianan is not merely a container for customary activities but a socio-spatial regulatory system that connects cosmological values with everyday practice. Vertically, sullu’ bola, kale bola, and baroko’ bola establish gradations of sacredness and authority. Horizontally, five lontang in the kale bola spatialise the positions of customary leaders, religious authorities, village leaders, and distinguished people. Batu mapaccing, posi bola, patta, and enda further show that sacred boundaries are constituted not only by physical elements but also by permission, accompaniment, prohibitions, and ritual conditions. Thirteen rituals documented in Sapo Salianan periodically activate the house for deliberation, ritual preparation, prayer, transition, and the regulation of customary prohibitions. The study proposes the concept of Cosmological–Spatial–Social Mediation, formulated as space, access, role, behavior, ritual, and cosmological value. This concept extends vernacular architecture research from formal and symbolic readings toward understanding space as a socio-cultural infrastructure through which community values are reproduced.