The history of the annual Lantern Floating festival at Ala Moana Beach Park will be depicted in photos at Honolulu Hale starting today.

The exhibit will be on display in the courtyard of Honolulu Hale through May 22.

This is the 10th year of the Lantern Floating festival. It will be held May 26, from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., and some 1,500 lanterns will be set off from canoes and then retrieved.

The festival has its origins in Japan, where the lanterns are used to show respect to ancestors and to help ferry their spirits to salvation.

For more information on the festival, go to www.lanternfloatinghawaii.com. To learn about the photo exhibit, call 942-1848.