Yumi Nakamatsu, who recently moved to Hawai'i from Japan, placed prayers on a lantern for her grandparents and for her husband's father, who died four years ago.

"All my friends who lost their parents get together every year for this event," Nakamatsu said. "Since I can't visit their graves in Japan, I at least can do something like this for my grandparents."

The Lantern Floating Ceremony, organized by the Shinnyo-en Temple, precedes the obon festival or "Feast of the Dead" — celebrated in the Islands from June to August with dances and other events at Buddhist temples statewide.

A seventh century tradition in Japan, the obon festival marks the return of the spirits of the deceased to this world for three days. Food and prayers are offered on their behalf. The festival typically ends with a lantern ceremony to guide the spirits back to their world.

The Rev. Given Tokunaga of Shinnyo-En Hawaii, a Buddhist order with a temple in Mo'ili'ili, said the event draws participants from all over the world and is not just a Buddhist ceremony, but a way for people of all faiths to remember their ancestors.

"This event is not a Hawaiian event, not a Japanese event, not even an American event," Tokunaga said. "It is a human thing. We are all thinking of our ancestors today. If not for their good deeds, their good morals, their good values and their good thoughts they left for us, we wouldn't be here."

Before the ceremony, there was taiko drumming and orchestral music while adherents to the faith made a small donation to purchase papers bearing their own prayer requests. An hour before the rites began at 6:30, the prayer slips were placed on the lanterns, which were loaded aboard the canoes. Volunteers later would gather the pine lanterns near the reef.

Irishman Paul Walsh and his wife, Megan, wrote messages to remember their ancestors and to take part in the cultural event.

"We came here for the spirits of both of our families," Megan said.

Makiki resident Debra Canada was among the estimated 15,000 people at the event but found a spot to watch the event in private near the end of the beach.

Canada, whose husband, Chuck, died last summer, came to hold a private remembrance near the spot where Chuck loved to surf.

"I put his name on one of the lanterns," she said. "It will probably make me cry. It's a very nice, respectful thing. It's very nice to see all the families out here."