Cau Ngu Festival in Sa Huynh

Quang Ngai - Cau Ngu Festival Cau Ngu Festival is a traditional folk festival of fishermen (also known as "Fishing Opening Ceremony", or "Fishing Opening Ceremony") held at the beginning of the new year with the meaning of praying for a good harvest and peace throughout the year floating on the sea. This is a ritual sometimes only for individuals, families, and sometimes for the whole community. A typical example of the fish praying ceremony of coastal residents of Quang Ngai is the Sa Huynh fish praying ceremony held on the 3rd day of the Lunar New Year every year. The ritual of the Sa Huynh fishing festival includes the following rituals: Sacrifice to the creek opening spirit, profession opening ceremony, and performances. Foxing ceremony: It is a ritual in which all the village's sacrificial committees and representatives of boat owners make offerings at Ong's mausoleum, Ba's temple (Thien Y, Thuy Long), Tho Than temple, Nghia Tu and ancestors to open the channel to the sea. The fox offering ceremony is simply fruit tea and takes place in the afternoon of the 2nd day of Tet or early morning of the 3rd day of Tet. Commencement Ceremony: In the early morning of the 3rd day of the Lunar New Year, all the boats in the fishing villages, especially the Van Thach Bi, gathered at the estuary, lit lanterns with bright flowers, and set up a table to prepare offerings on the boat, all kinds of fishing gear... After representatives of the government and the fishing association opened and summarized the year's seafood fishing career as well as plans to implement in the new year, the boss of the thousands sounded a drum to signal the commencement ceremony to begin. The first boat to go out to sea is the boat that was voted by thousands (no troubles in the past year, family harmony, reputable boat owner...), and then hundreds of boats set sail in succession. Arriving a few nautical miles from shore, the boats performed the ritual of worshiping the gods and caught the first magic net. After picking up the net, the boats returned to shore. Performances: When all the boats have returned to shore, performances such as boat racing, basket shaking competition, volleyball competition... begin to take place. Some years, on the occasion of the fish praying ceremony, the Sa Huynh people also organize opera singing for several days. In the past few years, during the Sa Huynh fishing festival, local people also organized dancing, singing, and singing Sac Bua. The fishing festival of residents of the Central Coast fishing villages in general and Sa Huynh residents in particular, in addition to praying for favorable weather, a bountiful sea season, and a full tank of fish and squid, bringing a more and more prosperous life, also represents the moral principle "When drinking water, remember the source", commemorating the merits of the ancestors who founded the village and built a profession./.