HA TINH – Seeing dead whales, people brought them to Duc Ngu Ong temple in Cam Xuyen district for burial, named after the cross on their head or tossing a yin and yang coin.
Duc Ngu Ong Temple has an area of over 2,000 m2, located on the beach in Xuan Bac village, Cam Nhuong commune, Cam Xuyen district, with a history of about 600 years, from the time of birth of this land.
Inside the campus, there are three whale shrines, named after: Nam Hai Nhan Ngu Ton Than, Duc Co Ong, Duc Ca Ba, Duc Cau and Duc Co. On the left is the cemetery with hundreds of fish graves. The work has been ranked as a historical-cultural relic of Ha Tinh province in 2007.
Mr. Nguyen Huu Phuong, 63, head of the management board of the temple, said that Nam Hai Nhan Ngu Ton Than worshiped here is a large whale. Legend has it that once, King Le Thanh Tong and his entourage sailed on a dragon boat on the sea, suddenly a storm arose, causing everyone to struggle, whales immediately appeared to push the boat to safety. The king who escaped from the accident named the fish a great king, set up a shrine to worship, and bestowed ordination. There is a spiritual place, every time fishermen go out to sea, they often go to the shrine to pray for luck and peace. Whale burial customs also appeared from here.
Born and raised in the land of Cam Nhuong, as a young man and middle-aged man, Phuong many times went to the temple to burn incense and pray every time he went out to sea, observing the elderly in the commune carrying out burial procedures and setting up graves when fish have an accident. When he was given the opportunity to take over the relic, he expressed that it was an honor. At meetings, he always passed on his experience and reminded 14 members of the ceremonial committee to preserve and promote the tradition. Every year, about 3-5 whales weighing 20-50 kg die ashore, at most 10 whales a year, all of them are thoughtfully buried at the temple.
According to the regulations, fishermen see dead whales, they will call, take photos and send them to the head of the ceremony to prepare, then go ashore to coordinate with the burial procedures. If the dead fish is not discovered by anyone, everything will be assigned to the temple management board.
Mr. Phuong said, receiving a dead fish, the ceremonial board will burn incense and pray, ask for land for the fish to be buried in the temple area. People then use clean water to wash the fish, spray perfume and pour wine on the body for burial. If the fish has a cross on its head, it means that the whale is old, and is named Duc Ca Ong or Notre Dame. For those that don’t have a cross on their head, they have to toss a coin. If three times two cents show a positive side, then placed on it is Duc Cau, which is interpreted as a male fish. On the contrary, the two sides of the coin have the same negative side, the name Duc Co – female fish.
After completing the burial procedure, the fish was taken to the open ground next to the temple for burial. The hole to place the fish carcass is about 3-4 m deep, the width or length is not fixed, depending on the size of the animal. When the fish is placed in the hole, the people attending the ceremony will take turns picking up a small handful of soil and putting it in the hole. A funeral takes place about 3 hours, the cost is about 400,000 VND, including money to buy offerings, incense, flowers… Fishermen who find dead fish and put it in first, will give up this amount. In other cases, the temple management board will deduct the merit money to do.
Next to the temple is a whale cemetery about 300 m2 wide, above there is a large blue stele, casting a gray whale statue, around there are more than 100 graves. Newly dead whales will be buried outside the cemetery and will be offered incense and fruit offerings at the time of 3 days, 50 days, 100 days, the first anniversary. After two years, when the “funeral end” is over, the first fisherman or the temple management team will coordinate to carry out a ceremony to unload the fish’s grave, re-burial the skeleton and bury it in the cemetery. The tomb is built of cement, 40 cm wide, nearly 1 m long, in front of which is a stele and incense burner.
Mr. Nguyen Huu Phuong shared, whales are like friends, always silently helping fishermen. Every time he saw a fish in trouble, he and everyone else carried a great sadness. Regardless of night or day, or believe the fish is gone, local people and fishermen fishing in the waters of Cam Xuyen district all drive boats to support the burial, stay for many hours at the shrine area to express their gratitude. glasses.
“Two years ago, at 0:00, a 40 kg whale died about 400 meters from the sea area of Cam Nhuong commune. I received the news and immediately drove to the ceremony, but when I got there, I saw dozens of people standing there. support. Everyone worked hard and didn’t mind, even though it was raining and cold, people were shivering”, said the 63-year-old man.
When praying at the shrine, pilgrims always call the whale “sir”. According to Mr. Phan Van Tan, 78 years old, living in Cam Xuyen district, although it has not been recorded recently that whales help fishermen, decades ago, there was a fisherman named Thu – often called Mr. , from Cam Nhuong commune, one time out to sea, the boat encountered big waves. This man told the crew members “this kind of thing can’t live”. However, a few seconds later a large whale appeared, supported the side of the boat and brought Mr. Thu and the workers to a small island to stay safe.
The Head of the management board of Duc Ngu Ong temple said that the above burial and worship is not superstition, but it is the faith of the fishermen in the fishing village towards whales – friends who always accompany them at sea. However, Mr. Phuong also worries, because, in the past, whales were rarely killed, but recently the number is more. In the last 3 years, they have buried 32 children. The reason “may be due to the marine environment being affected by electrical shocks and ships pounding rakes, causing fish to be affected”.
Experiencing many changes of time, Duc Ngu Ong Temple was degraded, four years ago it was restored by the government in collaboration with the people. Mr. Phuong hopes that in the near future he will raise money to make a large fish statue stele, in addition to replacing old graves so that the place of worship will be more spacious.
Mr. Nguyen Van Hung, Chairman of Cam Nhuong Commune People’s Committee, said that the custom of burying whales at Duc Ngu Ong Temple is an intangible cultural activity of local people, it is associated with the Nhuong You Bridge Festival and the rowing festival. Drying takes place on the 8th day of the fourth lunar month every year. Currently, Nhuong You Bridge Festival has been recognized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as a national intangible cultural heritage, on May 27.
“Every year, the government always mobilizes socialization and deducts funds to embellish the shrine, sometimes about a billion dong,” Mr. Hung said.
Whales, also known as whales, scientific name Cetacea , include about 90 species, most of which live in the great oceans. Whales are classified as mammals, but because they live in water, they are still called fish.
In Vietnam, the waters of Ha Tinh, Nghe An, Da Nang… have recorded whales washing ashore. Fishermen often pick up fish to bury and worship.