Whale worship custom of coastal residents of Thanh Hoa

(Baothanhhoa.vn) - The life of fishermen is closely linked to the sea. In the life of a fisherman, "the boat is the bed, the sea is the home", but the sea is not always calm and windy. Each trip out to sea is a time when fishermen have to face many difficulties and hardships, betting with their own lives. For that reason, fishermen and coastal communities highly value beliefs and spirituality, considering it as one of the spiritual "supports". Among the rich and diverse colors of spiritual culture in our country's sea in general, and Thanh Hoa in particular, the custom of worshiping Whale has many unique and interesting features.

Whale Temple is located in Diem Pho Relic Complex (Van Loc Commune).

In the minds of fishermen, the whale is not only a powerful sea creature but also an incarnation of a god, always watching over, protecting, and blessing their every sea voyage to be smooth, with good luck, full of fish and shrimp, and overcoming all dangers and uncertainties. Therefore, the custom of worshipping the whale has a particularly important role and meaning in the cultural and religious life of coastal people.

Coming to Diem Pho sea area, you can feel the diversity of spiritual culture here. The relic cluster here includes Lien Hoa pagoda worshiping Buddha, the temple worshiping the Four Holy Ladies, the temple worshiping King Thong Thuy - Ne Son, and the whale temple. In addition, there is a small temple here worshiping the souls of 344 people of Ngu Loc commune who died on a sea voyage in 1931.

The Whale Temple was built a long time ago, originally having a front hall, a middle hall, and a back hall consisting of 10 rooms. However, after being moved many times due to sea erosion, the temple no longer retains its original scale and architecture. Currently, the temple has three rooms; above the wall close to the roof hangs a large gilded red-lacquered plaque with three Chinese characters: "Vân cổ hương" (eternal fragrance)...

In particular, in the temple there is a large box, placed right in front of the altar, the height is equal to the altar, 2m long, about 0.70m wide, the front and both sides are made of glass, inside the box contains the whale's jade bones. On the surface of the box, one end is placed the whale's hat embroidered with gold brocade, the other end is placed a small dragon boat also in bright yellow. Next to the hat is placed a wooden sign painted with red and gold, the content written on the sign is two Chinese characters: "Royal dynasty"...

The whale skeleton at the temple is still quite intact, including the head and 21 vertebrae, the largest vertebra has a diameter of up to 0.45m, in addition to many quite large ribs.

Regarding the whale's jade bones, Diem Pho village still has many legends and miracles. Accordingly, on the morning of December 1739, villagers discovered a whale washed ashore in their village. The villagers saw this as a lucky omen, so each person went home to find 100 mats to cover the whale's body and then held a burial ceremony. Three years later, the villagers held a ceremony to exhume the whale's bones, washed them with fragrant wine, dried them and called them "thuong ngoc cot" and built a temple to worship them.

In the coastal area of ​​Van Loc, in addition to the Whale Temple located in the Diem Pho Relic Complex, there is also a temple to worship the sacred Nam Hai, demonstrating the movement, enduring vitality, role and significance of the whale worship custom in the life of coastal residents. It is known that decades ago, not far to the North of the Whale Temple in Diem Pho village, at the mangrove beach, Hung Thanh village, Van Loc commune, a whale drifted ashore. Immediately after that, the villagers gathered to hold a ceremony, bury it, and more than a year later, they brought the whale skeleton to shore and performed rituals to bring the skeleton to worship at Phu Ganh in the village. By 2015, the people of Hung Thanh and Yen Loc villages joined hands to build a temple to worship Nam Hai.

The whale skeleton is about 12m long, the skeleton is nearly 2m wide, 40 vertebrae, 2 gill bones and 24 ribs, fan-shaped bones, bow-shaped bones, are placed neatly and solemnly in the temple space. Before being put on display in the glass cabinet, each fish bone, from big to small, is cleaned with alcohol and then dried in the sun to prevent mold.

In fact, at the estuaries, where the rivers meet the sea in Thanh Hoa, there are many places to build temples, shrines, and shrines to worship Whales such as Hau temple, Bach Cau village, Nga Son commune; Nam Hai temple in Sam Son ward, temple in Don Dien village, Quang Binh commune, Hon Bo - Lach Truong spiritual tourism cultural park, Hoang Tien commune...

The book “Folklore of the Sea and Islands of Thanh Hoa” by author Hoang Ba Tuong wrote: “Throughout the Nguyen Dynasty, the court bestowed royal decrees on the Nam Hai Cu Toc Ngoc Lan god. Unfortunately, over time and storms, the temples and shrines worshiping Nam Hai, along with the royal decrees, have mostly been lost or misplaced. The remaining few are so few that it is difficult to fully visualize the Nguyen Dynasty’s respect for the Nam Hai god. However, with the temples, relics, and antiquities still existing in the sites of worship of the god and more importantly through the intangible cultural heritages such as legends, worship customs, festivals... preserved in the folk consciousness, the whale worshiping belief - Nam Hai Cu Toc Ngoc Lan god - has always been a bright and bold color in the spiritual life of the sea residents towards the whale - the benevolent god of the ocean”.

Today, the whale worshiping temples and shrines are still bustling places for festivals and spiritual and cultural meetings for the people in the region. The children of the sea solemnly stand before the altar, offering incense to express their wishes and desires for health, luck, and peace. The spiritual and cultural colors here beautify and enrich the cultural flow of Thanh land...

Article and photos: Dang Khoa

The article uses many materials in the book "Folklore of the sea and islands of Thanh land" (2022, Thanh Hoa Publishing House) by Hoang Ba Tuong.

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/tuc-tho-ca-ong-cua-cu-dan-vung-bien-xu-thanh-256809.htm