Feast and Commemoration Festival for Hoang Sa Soldiers held in Hanoi

(Cinet)- The 300-year-old ceremony commemorating soldiers symbolizing Viet Nam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago was reflected at the Culture-Tourism Village of Vietnamese Ethnic Groups in Dong Mo, Ha Noi, on June 29.

Known as Le Khao Le The Linh Hoang Sa (Feast and Commemoration Festival for Hoang Sa Soldiers), the two-hour ceremony was undertaken by 47 Ly Son islanders and included performances, Bai Choi singing (folklore music of the South Central region), the launch of five replicas of the boats that carried the soldiers to the sea, and a requiem for Hoang Sa sailors.

The event includes a wide range of rituals, including a funeral oration, a requiem for the dead, and the launching garlands and model wooden boats carrying soldiers and sailors out to sea.

 The ceremony is one of activities marking the Vietnam Family Day 2014 themed “The grand family of Vietnamese ethnic groups and national sovereignty” in Hanoi.

The fest is observed annually by Ly Son fishermen during the third lunar month to pay tribute to those who followed the king’s orders, leaving their homeland to protect the country’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes over the past three centuries.