Stream of prayers

Lantern Floating ceremony draws 40,000 spectators to Ala Moana Beach Park

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Lanterns cast a golden glow on the sea off Ala Moana Beach Park, carrying prayers for the dead and wishes for peace in the world.

CLICK HERE to watch a slideshow of the Latern Floating ceremony

Sponsors of yesterday's Lantern Floating Hawaii ceremony estimated the crowd reached 40,000, the largest attendance since the program began nine years ago. Hawaii residents and visitors arrived early in the day to stake out space along the shore for a good view of the lantern launching and the free entertainment broadcast on giant screens. Spectators inscribed their petitions and prayers on pieces of paper that were attached to the 1,600 lanterns. The sunset ceremony, rooted in a Japanese Buddhist tradition of honoring the dead, has been embraced by people of other beliefs and cultures and become a Memorial Day tradition on Oahu.

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Lanterns glowing on a still sea carried the memories and prayers of watching island residents and visitors in a traditional Memorial Day finale last night.

10th Annual Lantern Floating Hawaii Key numbers at the ceremony: » 40,000: People attending » 1,000: Volunteers » 1,600: Lanterns floated » $10,000: Proceeds donated to city Parks and Recreation Department in 2007 » 2,500: Local Shinnyo-En Hawaii members » 850,000: Worldwide Shinnyo-En members » 1999: Year Toro Nagashi lantern floating ceremony began at Keehi Lagoon Source: Shinnyo-En Hawaii

The Lantern Floating Hawaii ceremony at Ala Moana Beach Park, sponsored by Shinnyo-En Hawaii and its community service arm Na Lei Aloha Foundation, drew an estimated 40,000 people, including more than 3,000 who came from Japan for the event.

While individuals inscribed personal wishes on paper and foam lanterns, the Rev. Shinso Ito, leader of the Japanese-based Buddhist sect, offered prayers for the greater good of the globe, for world peace and for spiritual tranquility of thousands who have died in major disasters.

Kevin Kekoa of Hawaii Kai said, "We said our words" on the lantern for his father, retired Air Force Col. Curtis Kekoa, 87, who died in the past year. "He's the only one I know who served in three wars."

Like many local groups, they came early, setting up their awning at 10 a.m. for a good view of the beach and the stage. His wife, Janice, said, "I'm Japanese, so we take the family to bon dances, follow what my Buddhist grandparents did."

"It's an emotional and spiritual kind of thing. Hawaii has great spirituality," said Anne Schiltz, of Waikiki, who carried a lantern with a prayer inscribed for her son, Army Sgt. Derek Cutting. "He is being deployed to Iraq for the second time. I wish him to be safe." Pasted on its side was a poetic memory Cutting had written for "Granny O," his great-grandmother Violet O'Hearn.

"This is something I wanted to do. I lost my mom this year," said Pat Anderson, of Raleigh, N.C. She and her husband, Andy, former Oahu residents, gave up waiting in the long line to inscribe prayer requests on paper. "What's important is to be here in spirit," she said.

Three-year-old Tiara Soga pasted stickers on her family's lantern, a memorial for her grandfather Gary Moore, and to a pet cat and fish recently deceased. Her mother, Connie Soga of Waikiki, pasted newspaper photos of recent victims of domestic violence.

"I didn't know them. It's just to show them that someone cares," she said.

Staging has become more spectacular in each of the 10 years since the lantern floating was begun at Keehi Lagoon. It is a professional production by Japanese and local crews prepared as much for the live broadcast to Shinnyo-En temples in Japan and other countries as it is for the local crowd who got a close-up view on two high-definition Jumbotron screens. This year a theater-size stage was designed to simulate a temple with cloth-wrapped scaffolding appearing to be pillars.

On stage with Ito were Gov. Linda Lingle, Lt. Gov. James Aiona and Mayor Mufi Hannemann, who was designated honorary chairman. Honpa Hongwanji Bishop Thomas Okano, head of the largest Buddhist denomination in Hawaii, and the Rev. Timothy Sexton, provost of St. Andrew's Cathedral, were among the special guests.

"People of all religions and cultures are excited to participate," said the Rev. Given Tokunaga, local leader. "This year the prayers will be for peace, that someday we can have a world of peace."

Six large wooden lanterns were launched ceremonially, along with about 800 bearing petitions from Shinnyo-En members, carried to sea on outrigger canoes. Volunteers lighted the candles in another 800 lanterns brought to the shore by individuals.

Jamie Napuunoa-Beppu of Kalihi got to the beach park at 5:30 a.m. to ensure parking and a good view for her group of family and friends. "My grandmother Tatsuko Miyasato is Buddhist, and we will follow her tradition as long as we can while she's with us."

In the group was Lorene Ikeda, who brought her children, ages 7 and 10, to send off prayers for their father. "They were too young to understand when he died four years ago. Now it will mean something to remember him."

Lighting a candle for a memorial is "something you find in my faith, too," said Edith Paredes of Waipahu, a Catholic, whose family of 12 started arriving at 10 a.m. to secure space with a view. "We send our prayers and our everlasting love. The candle smoke goes up like a prayer" for her daughter Angelica, who died last year, and several family members.

Shinnyo-En member Jane Choy of Waipahu said she prays for her late husband and mother, that "they can be in peace in the spiritual world. We have been praying for world peace, for the people who have died in all the natural disasters in the world, for their spirits."

Seven Catholic nuns in the white habits and black veils of the Dominican religions order, sat on a grassy patch watching the stage show unfold on a Jumbotron screen.

"We came to see it as a cultural experience," said Sister Mary Laurencia, of Waipahu. "It's a combination of spirituality and culture."