PANO – The annual “Cau Ngu” or Whale Worshiping festival was held in the district of Thanh Khe, Da Nang city on February 23rd (the 16th of the first lunar month) with a large number of participants.

“Cau Ngu” is a traditional festival bearing deep cultural features of the folklore practiced by fishermen in the coastal Central region. The festival consists of activities such as the Whale Worshiping ritual, peace-praying ceremony, and other cultural and sports events like a fish-net weaving contest, beach-football, tug-of-war and stick-pushing competitions. “Cau Ngu” festival also worships ancestors and offers tribute to the sea, and at the same time serves as a spiritual-life activity for fishermen who have to fish offshore all year round. The festival also shows the tradition of “When drinking water, remember its source” and pays tribute to fore-sages who established and developed fishing villages and strengthened solidarity among fishermen.

* During the festival, the Da Nang municipal Museum and the People’s Committee of Thanh Khe district held an exhibition on maps, documents and images confirming the sovereignty of Vietnam over the Hoang Sa or Paracel archipelago.

The exhibition attracted hundreds of people, including a lot of students who are interested in knowing about the precious maps and documents, such as the map of Quang Nam printed at the end of the 17th century, the map of Dai Nam (Vietnam) or “Dai Nam nhat thong toan do”, the first administrative map under the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945), and various other documents printed by the French colonial government confirming the sovereignty of Vietnam over the archipelago.

The People’s Army Newspaper Online would like to introduce a number of images of the festival.

Peace-praying ceremony
“Ho Ba trao” (fishermen’s traditional folk singing)
Cultural and sports events at the festival
Students learning about maps and documents on Paracel archipelago at the exhibition
Translated by Huu Duong