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s the Idul Fitri holiday draws near, people in need of jewelry to impress friends and family or in need of quick cash have been flocking to pawnshops across the country.

In Semarang, Central Java, Siti Hidayah, a resident, said she was queuing to pawn her gold jewelry in a pawnshop in Banyumanik district to buy necessities and gifts to bring to her home village in Pacitan, East Java, to celebrate the big day.

'€œI am very enthusiastic about welcoming Idul Fitri. It'€™s okay for me to pawn my jewelry,'€ she said.

Sulaiman, another client at the pawnshop, said he wanted to get back his wife'€™s gold jewelry, which he had pawned at the beginning of Ramadhan.

'€œI pawned the jewelry because I needed capital to run a business selling ta'€™jil [sweets and snacks for breaking the fast],'€ Sulaiman said, adding that he had now earned enough to reclaim the jewelry.

He said his wife wanted to wear the jewelry during Idul Fitri, so he was picking it up in time for the celebration.

Idul Fitri, the celebration that marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadhan, gives Muslims an opportunity to gather with their families in their hometowns. For many Indonesians, the festivity is closely associated with new clothes, an abundant supply of signature dishes and jars of cookies and snacks.

Endah Susiani, the head of state-owned pawnbroker PT Pegadaian'€™s regional office in Semarang overseeing Central Java and Yogyakarta provinces, said gold dominated pawned items, accounting for 95 percent of total pawned goods.

She said most people would go to pawnshops ahead of Ramadhan, as they needed cash to run seasonal businesses.

A couple of weeks prior to Idul Fitri, they start coming to the pawnshops again to collect their belongings to be used during the celebration. After Idul Fitri, they re-pawn the belongings again.

Endah said clients in urban areas usually go to a pawnshop ahead of the annual exodus because they were looking for a safe place to leave their belongings during the holiday.

In Batam, Riau Islands province, the pawnshops were also busy.

Most of the customers were pawning their belongings because they were leaving for the annual exodus to their respective hometowns.

Head of PT Pegadaian in Batam, Benny Darajatun, said that his company had prepared working capital of Rp 215 billion (US$18.6 million) during the fasting month, up 30 percent from regular months.

Benny said customers who pawned their valuables for security reasons usually asked for small amounts of money for their high-valued belongings. One of the clients, he said, just asked for Rp 5 million for gold jewelry worth Rp 200 million.