Paper long abstract:

Every 4 years thousands of pilgrims converge to the fishermen villages on the Central Vietnamese coastal shores to worship the whale skeletons in small temples. The whale festival brings thousands of people set off on a pilgrimage to participate in the celebration. This cult is an old belief coming from Champa, a Kingdom existed on central Vietnam. In the past, Vietnamese emperors used to give many royal decrees to the whales beached on the coastal shores. Nowadays, this cult is supported by people's committees as one of the many ways to control fishing villages.

Beyond all beliefs and religious practices, the financial impacts of this cult are becoming higher after Renovation, 1986. Coming from Mekong Delta rice plantations searching for rain or from Southern cities expecting for luck, they join the fishermen in the 3 days non-stop prayers.

Travel agencies are now promoting this kind of cultural tourism as a part of Vietnamese folklore. The whale cult tourism generates a fruitful development for fishing villages but the original cult is now distorted with those coming from a structured and profane existence to search for sacred atmosphere of the pilgrimage site. The whale cult perfectly illustrated the notion of cultural intermixture that characterizes this area located on main line of communication. Can this sort of tourism be considered as a reflection of society spiritual needs?