Culture · Taipei
A free night of lanterns on the Keelung River
Shinnyo-en’s international lantern rite is at Meiti Riverside Park on 31 October 2026. Lanterns are free from 2pm. The parade leaves the Taiwan temple at 3pm.
BRANDNEWS.TODAY, Feature · 15 October 2026 · 6 min
TAIPEI, 15 October 2026 — Shinnyo-en will hold the 2026 Shinnyo International Lantern Floating Festival on Saturday 31 October at Meiti Riverside Park, at the natural swimming bay on the Keelung River. The day is free. The line that runs through it is happiness, courage, and the future.
The rite is more than 80 years old. It began as a way to remember people who had died, to thank them, and to ask for peace for a family and for the town around them. Shinnyo-en says it first floated lanterns in Japan in 1936, and has taught in Taiwan since 1985. The same night now happens in cities in more than one country. The group says the point is no longer one religion. It is a place to say thank you, to miss someone, and to wish a person well.
From 2pm the park gives out lanterns at no charge, first come, until they are gone. You write a thanks, a name, or a wish on the lantern and set it on the water. The lights are LED, in material the organizers call friendlier to the river. They say every lantern is taken back and used again.
At 3pm a parade leaves the Shinnyo-en Taiwan temple and walks to the park. The program named in the reports is nanguan, the old southern music of Taiwan, with hip-hop, circus, and other performances. A market at the park sells food and small goods, and there are stalls for crafts. The lanterns on the water are the part the reports call the one people wait for, after dark.
Free shuttle buses run that day from Jiannan Road MRT and Yuanshan MRT. The organizers ask people to take the train. The site is lanternfloating.tw. The phone is (02) 8712-8732.
The pictures came from Shinnyo-en: lights on the water, someone writing on a lantern, a parent and child holding one. They are from earlier nights. The 31 October festival is still ahead.
Commercial Times published Chen Yu-chia on 15 October. Economic Daily News published Jin Lai-lai the same afternoon. Yahoo, China Times, Yam News, Scoop, LIFE, Sun Media, OwlNews, The Hub News, Cool Life, AMM, Leho, Taiwan Line, Life News, ENN, PChome, Yes Media, i-News, Marketers, Money Weekly, and Pin News all carried the announcement.