A ceremony to commemorate the soldiers and sailors of the Hoang Sa (Paracel) Flotilla on Ly Son island, the central province of Quang Ngai) will be held from April 28-29 (the 15th and 16th days of the third lunar month).
According to Nguyen Dang Vu, Director of Quang Ngai’s provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Paracel Soldier Feast and Commemoration Festival, which is held annually on the second or third lunar month, is a spiritual activity for the people on Ly Son island, as this is when they express their gratitude to their ancestors who sailed across the East Sea hundreds of years ago to defend the country’s Hoang Sa and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos.
The festival is proposed to be the focal point of the first Festival for Vietnam’s Sea and Islands and is scheduled to be held in April 2012, the 180 th anniversary of the founding of Quang Ngai province.
One of the most important rituals in the festival is the launching of imitation boats with effigies representing the Hoang Sa-Truong Sa fleets sailors into the sea.
Artisan Vo Hien Dat, who is called the builder of the boats that carry the souls, said that each boat measures 4m in length, 1.2m wide and nearly 1m tall and their building must be entrusted to elderly and prestigious people from local families and villages.
As well as the festival, the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Culture also inaugurated a collection of historical and cultural relics from the Hoang Sa-Truong Sa fleet, including the An Vinh Communal House, a statue of the Hoang Sa-Truong Sa fleet, a museum containing the fleets valuable documents on the fleet, the empty tombs of some of the leading sailors and a temple commemorating the fleet.
The department will grant the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s certificate of merit to the Dang family, who deserve the credit for preserving and presenting the valuable historical documents concerning the sovereignty of the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos./.
According to Nguyen Dang Vu, Director of Quang Ngai’s provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Paracel Soldier Feast and Commemoration Festival, which is held annually on the second or third lunar month, is a spiritual activity for the people on Ly Son island, as this is when they express their gratitude to their ancestors who sailed across the East Sea hundreds of years ago to defend the country’s Hoang Sa and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos.
The festival is proposed to be the focal point of the first Festival for Vietnam’s Sea and Islands and is scheduled to be held in April 2012, the 180 th anniversary of the founding of Quang Ngai province.
One of the most important rituals in the festival is the launching of imitation boats with effigies representing the Hoang Sa-Truong Sa fleets sailors into the sea.
Artisan Vo Hien Dat, who is called the builder of the boats that carry the souls, said that each boat measures 4m in length, 1.2m wide and nearly 1m tall and their building must be entrusted to elderly and prestigious people from local families and villages.
As well as the festival, the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Culture also inaugurated a collection of historical and cultural relics from the Hoang Sa-Truong Sa fleet, including the An Vinh Communal House, a statue of the Hoang Sa-Truong Sa fleet, a museum containing the fleets valuable documents on the fleet, the empty tombs of some of the leading sailors and a temple commemorating the fleet.
The department will grant the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s certificate of merit to the Dang family, who deserve the credit for preserving and presenting the valuable historical documents concerning the sovereignty of the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos./.
