The Shinnyo Lantern Floating Hawaiʻi ceremony is set to wash back over Ala Moana Beach on Memorial Day, Monday, May 25, 2026, marking its 28th year of lighting up the shoreline. Tens of thousands of residents and visitors are expected to close out the long weekend in near silence, watching as paper-and-wood lanterns are lit, launched and slowly carried out to sea. Organizers say the gathering is meant to offer a shared space for remembrance and healing, weaving together Hawaiian and Japanese ceremonial traditions.
Lanterns will be handed out at a Lantern Request Tent on the beach from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the day of the event, with the evening program starting at 6:30 p.m. The lanterns are free and distributed on a first-come, first-served basis while supplies last, and attendees are asked not to bring homemade versions for safety and environmental reasons. Event guidelines and logistics are laid out on the official site, according to Shinnyo Lantern Floating Hawai‘i.
About 6,000 candle-lit lanterns are expected to carry handwritten remembrances and short prayers into the water, framed by this year’s theme that links streams and the sea. The motif, summarized on the ceremony’s Ka Lei Moana page as “Many Waters, One Ocean” and captured in the line “many are the rivers, bounded by one great sea,” shapes the evening’s readings, chants and procession of guiding lanterns, as described by Ka Lei Moana.
How to Take Part
To float an Individual Lantern in person, attendees can pick one up at the Lantern Request Tent and assemble it at tables set up on the sand. There are no advance reservations, and distribution continues until all lanterns are gone. After the ceremony, volunteers fan out into the water to collect the lanterns so they can be cleaned and refurbished for future years, as reported by Hawaii News Now. Those who cannot attend in person can submit online remembrances that will be placed on Collective Remembrance Lanterns and floated by volunteers.
Military and Remote Participation
Organizers will again provide a dedicated lantern request line for active-duty service members, National Guard, reservists, veterans, retired military and their immediate family members, with a valid military ID required to use it, Spectrum News Hawaii reports. For those off-island, the ceremony will be broadcast live on KHON2 and livestreamed on the event’s YouTube channel, and online remembrances will be accepted in advance, according to Forbes. Organizers emphasize patience, respect and a spirit of aloha at the beach, noting that the ceremony is free and meant to be accessible to everyone.
Last year’s ceremony drew thousands to Ala Moana and 6,000 lights on the water; for a look back at that event, see 6,000 lights of remembrance. Volunteers and community groups are expected to again staff the lantern tents and retrieval crews, and organizers say the ritual remains an open invitation to close Memorial Day in quiet reflection by the sea.
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