The “Feast and Commemoration Festival for Hoang Sa Soldiers” pays tribute to the men who enlisted to serve in the flotillas that patroled the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos to tap natural resources and defend Vietnam’s national island sovereignty.

According to history, the Hoang Sa flotilla was established in the early 17th century under the Nguyen Lords’ reign in the south of Vietnam.

Each year, 70 fishermen from An Vinh and An Hai Villages around the Sa Ky Estuary and the An Vinh and An Hai Villages on Ly Son Island enlisted in the flotilla, which was assigned the mission of surveying sea routes, erecting sovereignty landmarks and steles declaring the national territory in Hoang Sa and Truong Sa.

Puppets representing the soldiers and basic provisions including small amounts of rice, salt, wood fuel, and drinking water were put on replica boats for the ceremony which were then released into the sea to symbolically substitute for the soldiers. After the ceremony this year, a traditional boat race was held.