SIBU: Those returning home for Gawai will not come empty-handed. Year in year out, these people will be coming bearing with them cakes, sweets, soft drinks and liquor, and most of all live chicken, especially “ayam pencen” or layers that no longer lay eggs.
Some call them “ayam tua hidup”, but call them by whatever names, this category of chicken makes for the perfect dish called “manuk pansuh” or chicken cooked in bamboo, which is a must for the Gawai Dayak celebration.
One “ayam pencen” vendor at the Sibu Central Market, Mary Lim, is a very happy person.
She has every reason to be happy because her “retired hens” are selling like hot cakes.
“Customers keep coming for them because they are considerably cheap. And of course their meat texture is perfect for the ‘pansuh’,” she said.
Asked how many she sells every day, Lim merely say, “I really have no time to count. Many, I supposed.”
Gawai Dayak, which is officially celebrated on June 1 and 2, is one major annual festival of the Dayaks.
Here in Sibu, traffic is beginning to be heavy as Gawai approaches. At its peak, which is a week to Gawai, thousands will pass through the town’s main wharf for destinations like Kapit and Song in the upper Rajang.
