At Tu Linh boat racing festival (Photo: daolyson.info)

The tribute is also paid to soldiers who fought for the country’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos.

The Tu Linh boat racing festival is associated with a long history of the country when Vietnamese residents from the mainland settled in Ly Son island between the late 16th century and the early 17th century, under the Le Trung Hung Dynasty and Nguyen Lords.
According to old documents, the Tu Linh boat racing festival on Ly Son Island was first held in 1826. It takes place around the Lunar New Year festival to pray for good weather, bumper crops, and peace. It is also meant to pay tribute to ancestors who explored this land, as well as the then Hoang Sa flotilla that planted sovereignty markers on the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos.
The festival is called Tu Linh because the racing boats are decorated with symbolic shapes of the quartet of mythological creatures in Vietnam’s traditions and beliefs, which are dragon, unicorn, tortoise, and phoenix.