The Lord of the South Sea 2.0: Whale Festivals, Territoriality, and the Politics of Heritage in Twenty-First-Century Vietnam

Fishing communities in central and southern Vietnam venerate whales and dolphins as incarnations of Ông Nam Hải (Lord of the South Sea), also known as Cá Ông (Lord Fish). They enshrine the bones of stranded cetaceans at temples, give them ritual offerings, and hold annual festivals (lễ hội Cầu ngư) in their honour. In the early nineteenth century, the incorporation of this protective sea deity into the state pantheon was part of a strategy for justifying Nguyễn rule over southern Vietnam. During the colonial and revolutionary periods, whale temples and festivals lost state patronage, but they survived in many coastal villages and towns. This paper shows that in recent years, these practices have regained state patronage and acquired new ideological and economic significance under the "intangible cultural heritage" label. It will present ethnographic material from two port cities, Đà Nẵng and Phan Thiết, where this development is clearly visible.