Linking tourism development with festivals

Quang Ngai Tourism Week 2024 will take place from April 22, 2024. Among the activities responding to this event is the Hoang Sa Soldiers' Commemoration Ceremony in Ly Son District. Although this festival has been upgraded to a "National Festival", both the ceremony and the festival are organized by Ly Son people. Cultural researchers in Quang Ngai call this a "people's festival".

Since taking over the South, Lord Nguyen, then the Nguyen Dynasty kings considered Hoang Sa as the country's fence. To guard that fence, there is no better force than the fishermen of Quang Ngai sea, especially the fishermen of Ly Son island. With fragile boats, the fishermen of this island conquered Hoang Sa archipelago with their own courage and bravery in the face of the harshness of nature. The Hoang Sa Heroic Team was born in that context. The Hoang Sa Heroic Team had to face the harshness of the sea, many people fell, their bodies were merged into the sea of the Fatherland. They never returned and were honored by the people of Ly Son with a ceremony called the Hoang Sa Soldiers' Commemoration Ceremony.

Releasing a boat carrying a mannequin out to sea during the Hoang Sa soldiers' memorial ceremony. Photo: T. L

For hundreds of years, every year on the 16th day of the third lunar month, the time when soldiers in Ly Son said goodbye to their relatives to set sail for Hoang Sa hundreds of years ago, 13 clans on the island hold the Khao Le ceremony. The Khao Le ceremony is like a natural need of the islanders. On this day, not only 20,000 islanders but also hundreds of Ly Son natives who are working and living from all over the country return to the island to attend the Khao Le ceremony. During that reunion, generations of descendants get to hear their ancestors tell stories about how their ancestors conquered Hoang Sa with fragile boats in the face of storms. Perhaps that is the most vivid and convincing "visual" lesson about patriotism for today's young generation.

Not only do they hear their ancestors mention the bravery of their ancestors when conquering Hoang Sa to establish sovereignty over the sea and islands of the Fatherland, the young generation also learns why mulberry trees still exist on the island even though the people of Ly Son do not raise silkworms to weave cloth. Mulberry trees have accompanied the people on the island for hundreds of years only to be used for one purpose: using their trunks as bones for soldiers in the past and fishermen today who unfortunately died in Hoang Sa in windy graves. Today's young generation on the island also understands why their mothers and grandmothers still pass on a type of cake called "banh it wrapped in dried banana leaves" even though there are now hundreds of types of cakes classified as "high-quality food". That is the food that does not get moldy in the sea wind, becoming an indispensable item for the soldiers of Hoang Sa in the past. Therefore, this festival is eternal over time.

TRAN DANG

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