Before the Ghost Festival, people will send the beautiful paper boats and water lanterns downstream in a rite called " Released the Water Lanterns". Paper boats were filled with pater crews of underworld divinities. Lotus-flowers lanterns were launched on the waterways with candles fixed on them to light the way for wandering ghosts. Priests hold the Ceremonies on the river to invoke the god's blessings and invite the souls of hte drowned as guests of honor in the next day's feast.

At dusk, the lanterns are placed on the chu putu alters, which prior to the lighting of the lanterns are ritually cleansed by a Buddhist monk specifically charged with this task. The hearth custodian and assembled attendant then gather in front of the alter to receive instruction from the monks on lighting and extinguishing the lanterns. The radiance filling the room once the lanterns are lit represents the universal illumination of the world of the living and the dead.