Tradition kept alive as villagers hold whale funerals

Clasping their hands together and murmuring prayers, hundreds of villagers gathered to wish for the health of a revered member of their community. It is a ritual so solemn, one might be forgiven for thinking they were worried about a close relative, but the sickly individual is in fact a whale.
Nearby, a group of people strengthen a tent erected Thursday to prevent sunlight from burning the mammal's skin. Others pour saltwater with their cupped hands into a pit that has been dug for it. The 300-kilogram whale was discovered washed up Thursday on the beach of Tam Tien commune in Quang Nam province, according to local Huynh Van Tan, 36.
"We discovered him yesterday," the fisherman said. "He was alive but completely exhausted." In temperatures of 36 degrees, villagers poured seawater over the animal to try to save it, Tan said. In case it doesn't survive, villagers have raised money to buy a coffin for the creature.
The villagers hope the whale would be nursed back to health so it could return to the sea, Tan said. If the rescue attempt fails, however, the villagers' level of care and attention would not fade. The whale would receive a funeral and posthumous care just as the villagers' ancestors do.
Whale funerals are a common sight along Vietnam's shores. The burial rituals reflect a deep connection between man and the sea in small fishing villages and are an important part of local life. On July 4, residents in Hai Chu village in Ninh Thuan province held a funeral for a 7-ton whale found dead 60 nautical miles (110 kilometres) off central Vietnam's coast. In April, villagers in Phu Yen province laid to rest a 3-ton whale.
The funerals are conducted in strict accordance with tradition. After the animal has been buried for three years, fishermen exhume the remains and reinter the bones in a tomb. Just three days earlier, a dead whale was discovered and buried in Tam Tien. To remember him, dozens of people visited his grave Thursday to pay their respects.
"We are praying for the dead whale," Dang Thi Hue, 80, said. Hue said after the usual period villagers would dig up the remains and take them to a tomb in the same way they deal with their dead relatives. Traditionally, Vietnamese people exhume corpses to clean the bones and lay them in a new coffin, known as a new house. The religious tradition is the same in other coastal areas.
Whales are believed to be good luck and often appear in folk stories saving people who meet trouble at sea. For this reason, fishermen never catch whales. Local media have reported several incidents in which fishermen abandoned their voyages upon the discovery of a dead whale, only returning to the sea after the funeral.
Whale funerals are not only an ancient tradition but they can also help protect the environment, said Nguyen Xuan Kinh, director of the National Institute for Culture Studies. "In the context of whales being overexploited, the tradition of Vietnamese fishermen can help raise awareness of the need to protect these animals and the environment," he said. The custom is so deep-rooted, it would not disappear in the near future, he predicted.