Each clan's lantern house is pushed into the sea at Wanghai Lane

The rotation started as a truce. In 1853, the third year of the Xianfeng reign, Keelung's Zhangzhou and Quanzhou settlers fought with heavy losses (the Ministry of the Interior also lists 1851). Elders from both sides brokered peace, buried the dead together as the "Elder Lords" and agreed that the surname clans would take turns hosting the festival, competing with performance troupes rather than fists. The rotation began in 1855, and on 29 January 2008 the Council for Cultural Affairs, now the Ministry of Culture, designated the festival a national Important Folk Custom.

The lantern release is one rite in a month of them. Matched against the Central Weather Administration almanac for 2027: the shrine gate at the Laodagong Temple opens on the afternoon of the 1st of the month. The main altar in Zhongzheng Park is lit on 13 August, the Dipper lanterns are carried in procession the next day, the lanterns go out on the 14th and the universal salvation follows on 16 August. On 1 September, the 1st of the eighth month, the gate closes and the host's incense burner is handed over at Qing'an Temple.

Once pushed off the shore, the lead lanterns drift out on the current, lighting a path for the spirits in the water and calling them ashore for the next day's universal salvation.