dried fronds of the nipah palm used for thatching

the dried fronds of the nipah palm were and are still being used as thatching in singapore and our neighbouring countries. there are still a few places in singapore where this material is used for roofing to give it the rustic feel or look. i was at the pasir ris farmway when i came across these atap thatch.

the nipah palm is the among the few palms that grow well in mangroves. it grows in soft mud, usually where the water is calmer, but where there is regular inflow of freshwater and nutritious silt. they can be found inland, as far as the tide can deposit the palm's floating seeds. it can tolerate infrequent inundation, so long as the soil does not dry out for too long.

when my former kampong was first built in the 50s, the initial settlement was made up of about five or six long rows of tall atap houses. alternating with these living units were a similiar number of lower attap houses which served as the kitchens. within each long row, there were about sixteen units, with eight units on each side.

living in a house with atap roofing and plank walls made us clearly aware that fire was a perennial hazard. the fire from the kitchen stove, a toppled kerosene lamp, a lighted cigarette butt, children playing with matches, firecrackers and burning incense papers - all were potential fire starters.

fire breakouts were not uncommon although there was never a disastrous one like that which consumed tiong bahru and bukit ho swee. i personally helped to put out a fire in my neighbour's house. in the kampong, when a fire alarm was sounded, everyone went into action; you see your neighbours scurrying about, each with a pail or container of water.

on raining days, there was another hazard which would come down from the thatched roof. it was not a common occurence but once in a while, you might find a huge centipede, on the ground, which had fallen from the overlapping atap thatch.

one advantage i can think of atap roofing is that it did not trap heat like zinc. in later years when we upgraded to zinc roofing, we had to start using the electric fan on warm days. during the atap days, when it got warm, we had the manually powered straw fans.