Yesterday (05-26-2008) was Memorial Day and the annual lantern floating ceremony took place at Ala Moana Beach Park in Honolulu. This year it was the 10th anniversary of this lantern floating celebration. It has become a tradition for Oahu’s residents to pay respect to the ones who did the “ultimate sacrifice” in wars they fought for the United States. The lanterns are set afloat into the ocean and they float along the shore until the ceremony is over. Each lantern represents a killed hero. Last night there were over 1600 lanterns floating on the ocean at Ala Moana Park. It is a beautiful sight.

I took some pictures you can see if you scroll down. As you can see, the park was very crowded and people were standing even in the ocean to take good photos. This is my third attendance at the ceremony, and I remember the last years the crowd wasn’t that large. This ceremony becomes more and more popular and every year more people attend it. Last night there were more than 30.000 people in the park.

People waiting for the start of the Lantern Floating Ceremony

Here they come - many of the lanterns will be set afloat from these canoes. Other lanterns will be set afloat by individual people standing on the shore.

Canoe ride before the lanterns are set in the ocean

The stage - in addition to the lantern ceremony, there was music and other performances

Here you can see the lanterns are already in the water

People photograph the shining lights in the ocean and at the same time pay respect to the killed heroes