TL;DR: The Khao Le The Linh Hoang Sa ceremony is a folk rite of Lý Sơn islanders in Quảng Ngãi, held on the 15th and 16th of the third lunar month at An Vĩnh village communal house and at family clan halls, to honour the spirits of Hoang Sa soldiers, read the oration, and set model boats and effigies adrift before the Tứ Linh boat races. It is tied to An Vĩnh commune because Phu bien tap luc by Lê Quý Đôn and Hoàng Việt dia du chi by Phan Huy Chú both record that the Hoang Sa flotilla had 70 men drawn from An Vĩnh commune. It was recognised as a national intangible cultural heritage under Decision 1524/QD-BVHTTDL dated 24 April 2013.
What is the Khao Le The Linh Hoang Sa ceremony and where is it held?
The Khao Le The Linh Hoang Sa ceremony, also called the Chinh te ceremony or the Hoang Sa soldier-substitution offering, is a folk rite of the islanders of Lý Sơn, Quảng Ngãi province, tied to the founding and operation of the old Hoang Sa flotilla[1][3]. It is usually held on the 15th and 16th of the third lunar month, organised jointly by the family clans that had men in the Hoang Sa flotilla and the village community[1].
The main venue is the national relic An Vĩnh village communal house, together with Âm Linh Tự and the clan halls on the island[1]. Lý Sơn is now Lý Sơn special zone, Quảng Ngãi province (before 7/2025 it was Lý Sơn district)[4]. According to the Department of Cultural Heritage, Lý Sơn island lies 18 nautical miles from the mainland and comprises Lon island (Cu lao Re), Be island (Cu lao Bờ Bãi) and Mù Cu islet, with a natural area of 9.97 km2 and a population of over 19,800 at the time of the source[1]. The same source states that the island district then had three communes: An Hải, An Vĩnh and An Bình[1].
An Hải village holds its own observance at Nghĩa Tự An Hải and the An Hải communal house, according to the source[1]. At the 2026 ceremony, Saigon Giai Phong newspaper reported on 2 May, the 16th of the third lunar month, that the Ritual Board of An Vĩnh village communal house together with the island's family clans held the Khao Le The Linh Hoang Sa ceremony at the national relic An Vĩnh village communal house, Lý Sơn special zone[4].
Why is the ceremony tied to the Hoang Sa flotilla that drew men from An Vĩnh commune?
The answer lies in old texts quoted verbatim by the Department of Cultural Heritage. According to Phu bien tap luc by Lê Quý Đôn: "In former times the Nguyen lords established the Hoang Sa flotilla of 70 men, taking people from An Vĩnh commune to fill it; each year in the second month they received orders to set out, carrying enough provisions for six months, going in five small fishing boats, and after three days and three nights at sea they reached the islands"[1].
According to Hoàng Việt dia du chi by Phan Huy Chú: "The Hoang Sa archipelago lies offshore; the kings of former dynasties set up a Hoang Sa guard of 70 men, usually taken from An Vĩnh commune. Every year in the third month they received orders, carried six months of provisions, and used five boats to put out to sea; after three days and three nights they reached the islands, where they both kept watch and fished for food"[1]. These two passages are the basis for the Hoang Sa flotilla having 70 men drawn from An Vĩnh commune, using five small fishing boats, sailing three days and three nights, carrying six months of provisions, and returning in the eighth month to Cua Eo (Thuận An) to report[1].
The Government Portal, citing Dr Nguyễn Đăng Vũ, then Director of the Quảng Ngãi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, states that the Hoang Sa flotilla was established in the late 16th or early 17th century and was "disbanded" probably in the years when the French colonialists waged their war of invasion against Vietnam[2]. The same source says each voyage had 70 men conscripted annually, first from An Vĩnh village and later also from An Hải village, and that from the early 19th century onward the Hoang Sa flotilla was mainly made up of An Vĩnh men on Lý Sơn island[2].
According to the Department of Cultural Heritage, old historical records only say the Hoang Sa flotilla was established "at the beginning of the present dynasty", "at the beginning of the founding of the country", without a specific year, and that it ceased operating in the years of the French colonial invasion of Vietnam[1].
Table of documents and sources
| Document / source | Author, period | Content recorded |
|---|---|---|
| Phu bien tap luc | Lê Quý Đôn, compiled in the Le trung hung period | Hoang Sa flotilla of 70 men, drawn from An Vĩnh commune, five small fishing boats, three days and three nights at sea, six months of provisions, returning in the eighth month to Cua Eo to report[1] |
| Hoàng Việt dia du chi | Phan Huy Chú, Nguyen period | Hoang Sa guard of 70 men, usually from An Vĩnh commune, ordered out in the third month, five boats, keeping watch and fishing[1] |
| Genealogies of the island clans | Records of the family clans | Many soldiers never returned; there remain spirit-summoning graves and wind graves on the island[3] |
| Lý Sơn folk verses | Passed down orally | "In the second and third months, offerings are made for Hoang Sa soldiers", "Hoang Sa has many islands and dunes"[1][3] |
What is the deeper origin of the ceremony?
According to the Department of Cultural Heritage, the deeper origin of today's Khao Le The Linh Hoang Sa ceremony is the old "soldier-substitution offering" rite of the people of An Vĩnh village and the family clans on Lý Sơn island, held to pray for the safety of Hoang Sa soldiers before the flotilla set out on duty[1].
In folk belief, the Hoang Sa flotilla faced many dangers at sea and often went out without returning, so during the ceremony people made paper figures or figures of rice dough pasted with five-coloured paper, made boats from banana trunks, placed the effigies on them to stand in for the Hoang Sa fleet, offered them at the communal house and then set them adrift, hoping the substitute fleet would take on all risks in place of the real soldiers, and also to give the soldiers confidence and resolve to complete their royal mission[1].
According to the Department of Cultural Heritage, later, when the Hoang Sa flotilla no longer existed, the family clans that had men in it organised ceremonies following the old rites at their own clan halls in remembrance, and this became a custom in the life of generations of Lý Sơn people[1].
What rituals does the Khao Le The Linh Hoang Sa ceremony include?
The ceremony has two main parts: preparation and offerings at the communal house and its yard, and the casting of the offering boats to sea, followed by the festival. The order below follows the description of the Department of Cultural Heritage and news reports[1][2][3][4].
Table of ritual sequence
| Order | Ritual | Description per source |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Preparation | Making five model boats, offerings, spirit tablets of the Hoang Sa Cai doi (captains) and soldiers, and tablets of the deities ruling the seas[1] |
| 2 | Offering to the gods on the eve | The communal house ritual board holds an offering to the gods on the eve and a prayer for the safe passage of the spirits of Hoang Sa soldiers[1] |
| 3 | Khao le offering in the communal house yard | Performed by the clans with a ritual master; the village elder and dignitaries act as assistants; three altars hold offerings such as pork, chicken, salt, dry cakes, and tablets of the Cai doi and soldiers; in front of the altars are five model fishing boats[1] |
| 4 | Mudra ritual to ward off evil | The ritual master performs mudra rites to ward off evil and consecrate the spirits of the Hoang Sa soldiers[1] |
| 5 | Reading of the oration | The ritual master reads the oration[1] |
| 6 | Casting the offering boats to sea | The offering boats are taken out to sea and set adrift, praying for the spirits of the old soldiers to be released and for a peaceful life[1] |
| 7 | Festival | Lantern festival, classical opera, lion dance, procession and the traditional Tứ Linh boat race[1] |
Saigon Giai Phong newspaper describes the rituals at the 2026 ceremony as including the cung nghinh rite, the yet rite, a procession of the deities and the spirit tablets of Hoang Sa soldiers, the traditional offering, the casting of effigies, and the boat race[4]. The same source says a conch horn urged preparations to carry the effigies of the soldiers down to the boats, and that right after the ritual came the Tứ Linh boat race with teams bearing the symbols of Long, Lan, Quy and Phung competing at sea[4].
According to the Department of Cultural Heritage, in recent years the ceremony has been held quite solemnly by the locality, with the broad participation of islanders and many other localities in Quảng Ngãi province[1].
How is the legend of the Hoang Sa soldiers told?
Legend has it that each soldier in the Hoang Sa flotilla, before setting out on duty, had to prepare a pair of mats, seven bamboo splints and seven rattan cords, so that if he died at sea his body could be bundled and cast into the water[1][3]. This is a detail told in folk tradition and in articles about the ceremony, not a record of the court's historical documents.
From the reality of losses among many generations sent on duty, Lý Sơn developed a substitution rite for the living, praying that those who went would return safely to their homeland[1]. Islanders also built graves of the "spirit-summoning" type; there remain the graves of Cai doi Phạm Quang Ảnh, Phạm Hữu Nhật and several "ma liep" (spirit-summoning graves) of Hoang Sa flotilla men who perished at sea[1].
According to the Department of Cultural Heritage, Lý Sơn people also jointly worship Cai doi Võ Văn Khiết, Phạm Quang Ảnh, Chinh Thuy quan Suat doi Phạm Hữu Nhật and the heroic soldiers of the old Hoang Sa flotilla at Âm Linh Tự relic, An Vĩnh village communal house and several other shrines[1].
The Government Portal names some Cai doi recorded in historical documents: Cai doi Võ Văn Khiết (1786), Cai doi Võ Văn Phú (1803), Chinh thuy quan suat doi Phạm Văn Nguyên (1835)[2]. The same source says these were men sent to Hoang Sa, and jointly in charge of Truong Sa, by the Tây Sơn dynasty, King Gia Long and King Minh Mạng, not only to search for marine products and resources, survey sea routes and patrol the islands, but also to plant markers and erect sovereignty steles on the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos[2].
When was the ceremony recognised as heritage?
In April 2013, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism decided to include the Khao Le The Linh Hoang Sa ceremony in the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, under the category of social customs and beliefs, by Decision 1524/QD-BVHTTDL dated 24 April 2013[1][3].
The ceremony to receive the recognition certificate took place on 28 April 2013 at the national relic An Vĩnh village communal house, Lý Sơn island district, Quảng Ngãi province, organised by Quảng Ngãi province together with the family clans of Lý Sơn[2]. The Government Portal also says that on this occasion Lý Sơn island district received the national intangible cultural heritage certificate for the Khao Le The Linh ceremony and the national relic certificate for An Vĩnh village communal house[2].
How is the ceremony tied to maritime and island sovereignty?
According to the Department of Cultural Heritage, the Khao Le The Linh Hoang Sa ceremony reflects the history of Vietnam's protection of its territorial sovereignty in the Biển Đông, especially sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos, held by the Hoang Sa - Truong Sa flotilla and the Hoang Sa - Truong Sa navy[1].
The history of protecting sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos was written with the sweat, blood and lives of many generations of able-bodied men on Lý Sơn, according to the Department of Cultural Heritage and the Lý Sơn special zone information page[1][3]. Hoang Sa and Truong Sa are two archipelagos under Vietnam's sovereignty, established through historical process and the documents and maps left by Vietnamese dynasties and the Vietnamese state.
The Lý Sơn special zone information page says the Hoang Sa flotilla was later strengthened into the Hoang Sa Navy, jointly managing the "Bắc Hải flotilla" tasked with exploiting the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa waters, and that over many centuries of operation tens of thousands of Hoang Sa Navy soldiers took part[3].
How has the ceremony been held in recent years?
The Lý Sơn special zone information page reports that a working delegation of the Vietnam National Tourism Administration met with Quảng Ngãi province and Lý Sơn district on organising the Khao Le The Linh Hoang Sa ceremony at national scale with a series of events from 24 to 28 April 2024, including the opening ceremony and the traditional Tứ Linh boat race, an arts programme, a Miss Vietnam Sea contest, a three-region folk song contest, a women's beach volleyball tournament, a Lý Sơn - An Bình open-water swim, a Lý Sơn island route marathon, and a thematic exhibition related to Hoang Sa and Truong Sa[3].
According to Saigon Giai Phong newspaper, the 2026 ceremony took place on 2 May, the 16th of the third lunar month, at the national relic An Vĩnh village communal house, Lý Sơn special zone, Quảng Ngãi province[4]. Mr Trần Cường, Head of the Ritual Board of An Vĩnh village communal house, told the newspaper that the ceremony is held to remember and honour the heroic soldiers of former times who, by order of the court, went to Truong Sa and Hoang Sa to erect steles and plant sovereignty markers on the sea and islands[4].
Figures for the age of the ceremony ("over 400 years", "several hundred years") are given by the press as conventional expressions, without a specific date in the source, so they should be seen only as a traditional way of describing the age of the rite.
