Mas Ari - Penjual Burung

Mas Ari sells birds especially for rituals at Petak 9 Klenteng

Good morning, Mas, you look very busy. Could we ask you some things?

Oh yeah sure, but I’ll keep counting too, yeah?

What are you counting, mas? Oh, you sell these birds per individual?

No mbak, normally they’re sold by the box or by the basket, regardless of how many are inside. Later I’ll count exactly how many were sold.

So roughly how much do they cost?

Roughly 45 birds for 60thousand, give or take.

And where do you get them ?

These come from East Java. I get them sent here on the train.

So what’s the point of buying all these birds then, Mas?

Normally these are bought for a prayer ritual. It symbolises the freedom of all living things, like we and the birds are both equal, we both free each other, something like that.

Do you always gather here to sell, Mas, or do you move around?

I’m here every day, and these two boys help me out. Normally we start at 6 in the morning until 6 in the evening.

If we can ask, how much do you turnover? On a normal day and on special days like this?

On a normal day we could get 400thousand, but on a day like Imlek it could be ten times that much. On a normal holiday yeah maybe just 5 times as much.

That’s great. Thanks for your time. Could we take a quick photo?

Sure, just make sure it’s a little further away, yeah.