North Sumatra is a province located on the island of Sumatra, with Aceh in northern Sumatra and the Riau and West in the south. This province is mainly home for Batak tribe, who live in the mountains and Malay ethnic group which lives in the eastern coastal regions. In addition there are also tribes in Nias coastal West Sumatra, Mandailing, Javanese and Chinese.
In the field of art is a prominent custom home architecture which is a combination of the sculpture and art crafts. In general, building custom homes in tradition symbolizes “water buffalo stand upright”, this is more obvious with decorate the roof with a buffalo head.
Batak Karo traditional houses look great, and higher than with other traditional houses. Its roof made of ijuk and is usually added to the roof a small triangle shape called a “ayo-ayo rumah” and “tersek”. Pitched roof with a flake of Batak Karo house has a characteristic shape, compared with a traditional Batak house that has only one layer roof.
Form of traditional houses in the area Simalungun quite enthralling. Complex custom house in the village of Ancient Pematang consists of several buildings likes Rumah Bolon, Balai Bolon, Jemur, Pantangan Balai Butuh and Lesung. Mandailing building have a prominent characteristic is called “Bagas Gadang” (home of Namora Natoras) and “Sopo Godang” (tribe conference hall).
In addition to architecture, art is a homespun craft of a vagabond tribe. An example is the weaving of cloth and cloth songkets Ulos. Ulos cloth is a traditional Batak’s cloth used in marriage ceremonies, funerals, establish homes, etc. Ulos cloth material made from cotton or hemp. Usually it have basic color black or white and brown (Batak Dairi and Simalungun), dark blue and reddish (Batak Karo).
Specific food vagabond in the land vary widely, depending on the area. Suppose as in Dairi district, Pelleng is a traditional food that was very spicy. Batak land is a paradise for lovers of spicy food and coconut milk and heat. TOKOR POLA or money to buy palm wine is a term that is very familiar there, describe the pattern of how close palm wine with their lives.
