Chicago: Falun Gong Practitioners Join St. Patrick's Day Parade and Welcome the New Spring (Photos)

(Clearwisdom.net, March 16, 2004) On the afternoon of March 13, nearly 200 groups participated in the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in Chicago, which lasted three hours. The parade featured the color green, which symbolizes peace. While for Chicago, where the long winter is just ending, the parade undoubtedly represents the coming of another spring. On March 13, even the well-known Chicago River turned green, which symbolizes peace and spring. For the first time, Falun Gong practitioners in Mid-USA applied and participated in this St. Patrick's Day Parade. This is the largest parade Chicago practitioners have participated in since they were granted to join the last year's Thanksgiving Parade as the first Chinese group to do so. They were warmly received.

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Liu, who coordinated this activity, said that when he first applied for the permission to join this parade, he showed a parade committee member photos of all previous Illinois parades in which Falun Gong practitioners participated, including last year's Thanksgiving Parade. Upon seeing the photos the committee member's eyes lit up and she said, "So pretty! Such a beautiful procession! I guarantee that your application will be granted!"

On March 13, Falun Gong practitioners from Michigan, Indiana, Missouri and Illinois formed a procession that included a green float, a Lotus fairy dance team, and a waist drum group. Practitioners who held their hand-made wooden signs imprinted with words, "Falun Dafa" and "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance" led the procession. Before the parade set off, many people from other groups' processions and some spectators came to take pictures with practitioners. Practitioners also introduced Falun Dafa to them and told them about the persecution in China. A tourist curiously asked what organization that practitioners represented. When he learned that they were Falun Gong practitioners and heard more introduction from practitioners, he said, "Oh, I heard about you! Keep it up!"

Demonstrating Falun Gong exercise on the float	Falun Gong procession
Lotus fairies	Shaanbei waist drum group

When our procession passed by the platform, the master of ceremonies excitedly introduced, "This is Falun Dafa's procession! They are so beautiful! So wonderful! Thank you for your participation!" According to Mr. Xu, a contact person from the Mid-USA Falun Dafa Association, the purpose of participating in this parade was to allow more people see the beauty of Falun Gong and the compassionate nature of Falun Gong practitioners. The Jiang regime's lies that slander Falun Gong will collapse on its own. Our waist drum and lotus fairy dance performances were also gifts to welcome the new spring.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/3/16/70121.html

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