JP/Awo

During Ramadhan and ahead of Idul Fitri, the country'€™s biggest festivity '€”religious or otherwise '€” , life is a little different for the city'€™s population. During this special season, some people earn their crusts with jobs that don'€™t exist for the rest of the year. Here are five common pop-up holiday professions:

'€˜Tajil'€™ seller

Tajil, sweet snacks and drinks for breaking the fast, are ubiquitous during the fasting season.

To cash in on demand, many people, mostly housewives, spend their mornings cooking sweet snacks and their afternoons selling them.

Enny, one such entrepreneur, runs a stall in Slipi, West Jakarta, from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m. to earn a little pocket money. '€œDuring Ramadhan, I can make around Rp 1.1 million per day,'€ she said.

Vendors can be found in every corner of the city, from neighborhood alleyways to major intersections and office buildings on main roads like Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Thamrin in Central Jakarta.

Temporary chauffeur

As the Idul Fitri holiday draws ever closer, sopir tembak, or temporary private drivers, are in high demand for families going to their hometowns, a mass exodus known as mudik, in Java or other parts of the country

Such drivers are usually hired for long-distance, intercity driving, by travellers who don'€™t want to tire themselves out before the festivities.

'€œWe prefer to hire a sopir tembak whom we know and whose driving skills we acknowledge. We also expect him to know the way to our destination city,'€ 57-year-old lecturer Asni Harianti said.

Tariffs for sopir tembak are usually negotiated with customers. Asni, for example, usually pays Rp 150,000 (US$11.20) per day, plus room and board.

Unlike temporary domestic workers, there is no special supplier for such drivers. People usually find them through word of mouth.

Small-change vendors

Small-change vendors spring up during Ramadhan, looking to make a buck on people'€™s need for low-denomination banknotes for the Idul Fitri tradition of giving money to relatives, especially children.

Ucok, 30, a seasonal small-change vendor in Cikarang, Bekasi, said buyer numbers usually peaked four or five days before Idul Fitri. He could earn around Rp 5 million per day by charging a commission of 5 to 10 percent, he said.

JP/Jerry Adiguna

Cookie sellers

Over Idul Fitri, families visit each other, a tradition called silaturahmi. During these visits, guests are usually served cookies.

Amateur bakers therefore have a market for special Idul Fitri cookies like kaastengel (cheese cookies), nastar (cookies with pineapple filling) and putri salju (cookies with powdered sugar).

Some sell their cookies directly to buyers at social gatherings, while others offer them online through social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram.

Agustina Putri, owner of an online shop in Tangerang, revealed that during Ramadhan she added cookies to her list of products, which is usually dominated by fashionwear.

Agustine sells her products at Rp 80,000 and Rp 85,000 per package of six jars of various cookies.

'€˜Infal'€™

Many families, especially those with young kids, often find themselves desperate for a temporary nanny or maid (infal), because, while they have only two days off work, their domestic workers return to their hometowns for two weeks.

A few weeks before Idul Fitri, maid and nanny suppliers in town place online or offline ads to say they have infal available for hire.

West Jakarta Skill Education Agency (LPK) Citra Mandiri head Totok Suwanto said the daily charge for a housemaid was between Rp 125,000 and Rp 150,000, and between Rp 200,000 and Rp 300,000 for a babysitter or nurse for the elderly.