Taitung: Chang Shui, 98, carries a bundle of brooms over his shoulder as he walks streets in Taitung County and calls to passersby in a sing-song tone.

According to Focus Taiwan, Chang, known as “Old Chang the Broom Seller” and “Broom Grandpa,” has tied mountain grass and rattan into brooms for more than six decades. He once sold his products across Taiwan and now mostly stays in the eastern county. Locals track his whereabouts on social media and hurry to buy his brooms before he sells out. He often says each time will be his last but returns to sell his wares.

Chang ties tiger grass and rattan strips to form his brooms and uses wrist strength to bind knots tightly. He said, “If the knot isn’t tight, the broom loosens after a few sweeps and no one will want it. Mine can last five years. People trust me. Some even buy over a 100.”

His brooms serve household needs and ritual use. During Taitung’s “Han Dan God” festival, his brooms are waved between “heaven and earth” during firecracker bombardments and are called “tiandi sao” (heaven-and-earth brooms). Believers say the brooms, once blessed in the fiery ritual, carry protective powers against evil. Smaller versions, called “lucky brooms,” are placed in homes, temples, and Indigenous households as talismans of blessing and protection.

For residents, seeing Chang on the streets is a ritual. “His back is as straight as the brooms he sells,” said Cheng Kuo-cheng, a historian from Chenggong Township. Shoppers said they do not mind when he promises “this is the last batch” but keeps returning. “I always buy five or six at a time,” said Ms. Lee, a customer. “He’s been saying he’ll retire for years, but I’m happy to be ‘fooled.’ It means he’s still healthy, and we still get his brooms.”