On March 25, the An Hai Communal House Festival Committee and the clans of An Hai village (Ly Son district, Quang Ngai province) held a ceremony to honor and commemorate the Hoang Sa soldiers in the heroic Hoang Sa Bac Hai Army of the past.

According to historical records, in the early 17th century, Lord Nguyen established the Hoang Sa team to manage Bac Hai in An Vinh and An Hai villages, now in Tinh Ky commune (Quang Ngai city). Accordingly, each year, 70 strong, healthy young men who were good at swimming would be sent to the Hoang Sa team to manage Bac Hai.

By the 19th century, the militia in the Hoang Sa team, which also managed Bac Hai, were mainly young men from various clans on Ly Son Island. The team's mission was to measure sea routes, erect steles, plant sovereignty markers, and collect products in Hoang Sa and Truong Sa. To carry out the king's mission, the militia had to drift at sea in fishing boats for 6 months.

Since then, generations of Ly Son people, despite knowing the task was extremely difficult and dangerous, still sailed out to sea, carrying the mission of planting an eternal marker of the country's sovereignty at sea.

Every year in the second lunar month, the clans in An Hai village hold the Hoang Sa soldiers' memorial ceremony. This is to commemorate and show gratitude to the heroic Hoang Sa soldiers of the past who had the merit of planting sovereignty markers on the two archipelagos of Hoang Sa and Truong Sa.

The Hoang Sa Soldiers' Commemoration Ceremony is held according to traditional rituals, reenacting the ceremony to send off the heroic soldiers of the past who obeyed the royal court's orders to the Hoang Sa archipelago to plant markers, erect steles, patrol, and exploit products.

The ceremony took place in a solemn and respectful atmosphere. After the Chanh Te Khao Le The Linh Hoang Sa ceremony, the shaman performed the rituals to place the souls of the Hoang Sa soldiers before releasing the boat to sea. This is a ritual imbued with the humanity of the Ly Son people - offering sacrifices to the living to pray for peace for the Hoang Sa soldiers before they leave for their missions.

At the end of the ceremony, the sound of conch shells was blown in deep and solemn tones, signaling the young men of the village to take fishing boats to the Hoang Sa archipelago. The path that more than 400 years ago, our ancestors from Ly Son island crossed the ocean on simple fishing boats, accepting hardships and even sacrifices to stay in the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos in the cause of protecting the sovereignty of the sea and islands of the nation.

After the ceremony is the traditional boat racing festival of the Four Sacred Animals (Dragon, Unicorn, Turtle, and Phoenix). Previously, the traditional boat racing festival of the Four Sacred Animals was to select strong and skilled soldiers to join the Hoang Sa heroic army.

The Hoang Sa Soldiers' Commemoration Ceremony was recognized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as a national intangible cultural heritage - a type of social practice and belief in 2013.

T.Toan