Cau Ngu festival

Ca Ong festival, which is also called Whale festival, is the biggest festival of the fishermen of Danang city.

They worship the Whale not only because it is their respect for the Gods but also because it is related to the prosperity of the whole village. "Mr." is the honorable name that fishermen call the whale because they usually save the fishermen from the accidents. Every time the whales drift on the shore (fishermen called them "ong luy"). The person who first finds out him will be the chairman and be in charge of the funeral of this whale. Every year, after TET holidays, the fishermen held the festival to worship the whales in the form of Cau Ngu festival. In Danang, Cau Ngu festival is often held on the coastal areas like Man That, Tho Quang, Thanh Loc Dan, Xuan Ha, Hoa Hiep etc.

The festival lasts for 2 days in the middle of the March (Lunar Calendar). The first day is a secondary ceremony; the second is a main carnival. During the festival, the altar is decorated brightly and solemnly. In every family, they put the offerings on the altars. They decorated their ships with flowers and lanterns. The village chooses the group including the old, good men whose families do not have funeral to carry out the festival. The chairman gives the offerings (the offerings must not be sea products) and read aloud the oration to show the gratitude for the will of the whale and to pray for the safe sea journey, prosperous and peaceful life.

In the early morning of the next day, the village people beat the drums to carry out "le ruoc". In some regions, they carry out this ceremony from one village to another to show their solidarity. All the ships set off to the definite place and the chairman begin to ask for "keo" Ngu Ong festival is to prove the fishermen's respect and gratitude for the whales. In the midnight of that day, the village people hold "chanh te" including "le khai mo", and the group of pupils offers the incense-burner.

PHAN HOI, it depends on their conditions, each region has its own way of holding the festival. However, the festival usually includes the traditional games of the coastal regions such as regatta, swimming competition, football matches etc. The musical program includes ‘tuong’, ‘ho khoan’ singing and ‘ba trao’ singing which is the typical music form of Cau Ngu festival (ba: nam, trao: cheo do). They are to express the solidarity among the fishermen of the same ship that helps them overcome the obstacles and to catch a lot of fishes.

Source:Danangpt