Festival to honor the heroic Hoang Sa Army

On March 25, the An Hai Village Communal House Festival Committee and the clans of An Hai village (Ly Son district, Quang Ngai province) organized the Hoang Sa Soldiers' Khao Le The Festival to show gratitude and remember the Hoang Sa soldiers in the heroic Hoang Sa Bac Hai Army of the past.

According to historical records, in the early 17th century, Lord Nguyen established the Hoang Sa team to manage Bac Hai in An Vinh and An Hai villages, now in Tinh Ky commune (Quang Ngai city). Accordingly, each year, 70 strong, healthy young men who were good at swimming would be sent to the Hoang Sa team to manage Bac Hai.

The Hoang Sa soldiers' memorial ceremony took place in a solemn and respectful atmosphere. Photo: N.Trang

By the 19th century, the militias in the Hoang Sa team, which also managed Bac Hai, were mainly young men from various clans on Ly Son Island. The team's mission was to measure sea routes, erect steles, plant sovereignty markers, and collect products in Hoang Sa and Truong Sa. To carry out the king's mandate, the militias had to drift at sea in fishing boats for 6 months.

Since then, generations of Ly Son people, despite knowing the task was extremely difficult and dangerous, still sailed out to sea, carrying the mission of planting an eternal marker of the country's sovereignty at sea.

Every year in the second lunar month, the clans in An Hai village hold a ceremony to commemorate and pay tribute to the heroic soldiers of Hoang Sa who planted sovereignty markers on the two archipelagos of Hoang Sa and Truong Sa.

The ceremony of carrying the fishing boat and the effigy out to sea. Photo: baoquangngai.vn

The Hoang Sa Soldiers' Commemoration Ceremony is held according to traditional rituals, reenacting the ceremony to send off the ancient soldiers who obeyed the royal court to the Hoang Sa archipelago to plant markers, erect steles, patrol, and exploit products.

The ceremony took place in a solemn and respectful atmosphere. After the Chanh Te Khao Le the linh Hoang Sa ceremony, the shaman performed the soldier's rituals to place the souls of the Hoang Sa soldiers before releasing the boat to sea. This is a ritual imbued with the humanity of the Ly Son people - offering sacrifices on behalf of the living to pray for peace for the Hoang Sa soldiers before leaving for their missions.

At the end of the ceremony, the sound of conch shells was blown in solemn tones, signaling the young men of the village to take fishing boats to the sea of ​​Hoang Sa archipelago. The path that more than 400 years ago, our ancestors from Ly Son island crossed the ocean on simple fishing boats, accepting hardships and even sacrifices to stay in the sea of ​​Hoang Sa and Truong Sa islands in the struggle to protect the sovereignty of the sea and islands of the nation.

A model fishing boat with a human sacrifice and symbolic objects was set adrift in the direction of the heroes more than 400 years ago. Photo: DDK

After the ceremony is the traditional boat racing festival of the Four Sacred Animals (Dragon, Unicorn, Turtle, and Phoenix). Previously, the traditional boat racing festival of the Four Sacred Animals was to select strong and skilled seafaring soldiers to join the Hoang Sa heroic army.

The Hoang Sa Soldiers' Commemoration Ceremony was recognized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as a national intangible cultural heritage - a type of social practice and belief in 2013.

T.Toan

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/le-hoi-tri-an-cong-duc-doi-hung-binh-hoang-sa-post289152.html