This ceremony has been held annually by the authorities of Ly Son Island District in Quang Ngai Province, as a local event. However, it will be upgraded into a national event from 2013. The estimated expenditures for this event is estimated at VND7 billion ($350,000).

Mr. Le Quang Thich, Vice Chair of Quang Ngai Province, said that the ceremony will be held in the third lunar month on Ly Son Island.

The event will consist of many rituals and activities to commemorate fallen soldiers of the Hoang Sa Flotilla.

On this occasion, Quang Ngai province will also hold a symposium on “Awareness of islands and sea in the life of people in Quang Ngai and central coastal provinces” and an exhibition of pictures and documents related to Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly islands.

Thich said that the ceremony to pay tributes to sailor-soldiers of the Hoang Sa Flotilla has become a big event of not only Quang Ngai province but also of Vietnamese people. This is a chance to educate tradition and the awareness of defending of Vietnam’s sovereignty over Paracel and Spratly Islands to Vietnamese youth.

The Hoang Sa Flotilla operated from the 17th century until mid-19th centuries to defend Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly Islands.

The ceremony has been held annually for hundreds of years at the An Vinh communal house on Ly Son Island on the fifteenth and the sixteenth days of the third lunar month which this year fell on April 5 – 6. Thousands of the island's residents and tourists attended the ceremony.

During the rituals, paper boats with effigies of sailors were launched in the sea in homage to troop, of the past that headed out to sea to exploit its natural resources and safeguard Hoang Sa and Truong Sa.

Compiled by Thu Ha

Source: vietnamnet.vn