As usual, during the months before the Lunar New Year festival, a small hamlet in Ho Chi Minh City becomes more active and dynamic to keep up with upcoming orders

When the calendar turns to the final month of the lunar year, citizens from a small community that makes brooms by hand in the city's District 6 begin to prepare for one of the busiest times of the year.

As a traditional custom in Vietnam, each family will buy a new broom at the end of the year.

To fill such a big demand, main workers who have decades of experience will make 200-300 brooms every day.

From 7:00 am to 5:00 pm each day, the workers take turns to conduct their duties in various phases of making a broom: tearing down materials, which come from a tree with scientific name ‘thysanolaena latifolia,’ bundling, and chopping to make a finished product.

“Most customers prefer handmade brooms because of their durability, I have to hire more laborers to keep up with the large orders," said Nguyen Thi Thu Hong, a woman with thirty years of experience making brooms in District 6.

“Our broomstick prices range from VND20,000 [US$0.87] to VND40,000 [1.73] apiece.

"We mostly distribute the products in Ho Chi Minh City and other Mekong Delta provinces."

Nguyen Ngoc Hue, another worker who has spent 45 years making brooms, shows happiness when a traditional job can survive in modern times.

“Everyone wants to have a seamless new year, and each household will buy a new broom according to a local custom, which will result in many jobs for me and my hamlet as well,” said Hue.

“Despite the job being dusty and hard, we are all happy when the Lunar New Year festival is coming.

"Seeing that the traditional profession has not waned for decades, I am really glad."