Ngabas bubu tuak.....

Some of you may think that it is a bit too early to be thinking of Gawai but actually it is rather 'late' already especially for those housewives who should be brewing tuak for consumption come Gawai,at least for the 'ngirup ai pengayu' bit. Years ago as far as I could remember, around this time if not early,before the 'arrival' of smuggled beers & alcohols,brewing tuak seemed to be the thing to do in April in order to get wine clear tuak not the cloudy kind of tuak. My mum and her friends often exchanged greetings like" Udah manduk tuak/ngaga tuak kita wai?" or "dini alai meli ragi or beras pulut ke manah?" when they met at the Lutong Bazaar,years ago. Just this morning, my mum said that she's spoken to my cousin to 'nyangkong' ngaga tuak,of which my cousin said she udah bisi nyangkong. That brings my thoughts to the fact that it won't be long if Ibans rely too much on beers,Peter Vella,Stanley or sida Chivas,Label 5, brewing & drinking tuak would be a dying art. My sister-inlaw, for 2 years running, her tuak were 'undrinkable'..masam. First, she blamed it on the container then on the yeast/ragi. hopefully her tuak this year would be drinkable otherwise the tuak would have to be 'imported' from Ulu Bayor,not that the people there adore tuak..they prefer 'langkau' to tuak..more kick,according to the hardcore drinkers.
Did you know that there are a few things that one should do when making tuak?
1. All things,utensils,containers,periuk for cooking the glutinous rice have to be 'sterilised' by hot water and ginger.
2. You are not supposed to eat anything sourish,salty,smelly otherwise the tuak would turn sour & smelly.
3. Water must be properly boiled.
4. You cannot 'kentut'/fart when making tuak otherwise the tuak would not jadi tuak. Ha..ha..ha..bau bangar.
5.Pray that the tuak will turn alright..must not have bad thoughts about anything. Before taking the first sip of the tuak, 'throw' some tuak to the 'environment'...you know what I mean.
These are some of the 'taboos'
inorder to brew good 'ai pengayu'. UUUHHHHAAAA.hic..hic..nama tuak tu masam?....cheh..