Ca Ong Festival, which is also called Whale Festival, has been for centuries the most important festival for the fishermen of Da Nang. The festival expresses the fishermen’s thanks to whales, respectfully called Grandfather Fish, and prays for a safe and profitable fishing season and a peaceful life for those who face the many challenges and risks at sea.   In Da Nang, Whale Festival is usually held at coastal locations such as Man Thai, Tho Quang, Thanh Loc Dan, Xuan Ha, and Hoa Hiep.  For the occasion, the Whale Temple, the houses and the boats are all beautifully decorated. The festival lasts for two days at the full moon of the first lunar month.  It has two parts: the ceremony, and the games and performances.  The ceremony is conducted at the whale temple by a board of villagers, comprising moral elders who recently have not had funerals of relatives.  Offerings, which do not contain seafood, are made while an oration is read...

Located in Tuy Loan Village, Hoa Phong Commune, Hoa Vang District, this communal house was built in the late eighteenth century and rebuilt in the year of Mau Ty (1988). Like those in Nai Nam and Bo Ban, Tuy Loan Communal House is used to worship the village gods and the bygone sages.     On the 9th day of the first lunar month every year, people of Dong and Tay Hamlets in Tuy Loan Village, and also visitors, gather together to organise the two-day traditional village festival.  The festival features the King’s honour ceremony (le sac phong) to remind people of their five ancestors, Đặng, Lâm, Nguyễn, Trần, and Lê.  These people obeyed King Le Thanh Ton’s order to travel to the southern region to expand the country, and selected fertile land for a settlement.  They named their village “Tuy Loan”. Tuy Loan Communal House covers an area of 110 square metres and has brick walls with a pantile roof. It is decorated with two dragons...

Muc Dong Festival celebrates the children who look after water buffaloes, and it is held at Phong Le Village, Hoa Chau Commune, Hoa Vang District. According to Mr Ngo Tan Nha, a 90-year-old man from Phong Le Village, Muc Dong was initially celebrated every three years, then every six years, and finally only once every 12 years. It was last held in the 11th year of King Bao Dai’s reign (1936). The celebration of this festival was revived at Phong Le Village after nearly 75 years, in November 2010.     Once upon a time, there was some grassland where Gods were believed to come down from heaven, and therefore nobody dared go there.  One day, some water buffaloes were lost in that grassland, and when some children went to find them, nothing awful happened.  Ever since then, it was thought that the Gods only allowed children who keep buffaloes into the area.  This village was called “Con” village, later “Dong” village, and was where buffalo boys...