(Clearwisdom.net) Bendigo, located in central Victoria, Australia, hosts a grand Easter Festival each year. The 134-year-old Bendigo Easter Festival is the longest running festival in Australia. On March 12, 2004, nearly one hundred Falun Gong practitioners came to participate in the big parade with nearly 200 thousand spectators .
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
At noon, the Bendigo Easter Festival began with a big parade along the main streets of the town. The Falun Dafa procession was especially attractive, being composed of eight groups: children's group, banner group, lotus flowers and colorful clouds, exercise demonstration group, fan dance group, Tang Dynasty costume group, colorful ribbon dance group, and poster boards of Dafa's worldwide spread. The peaceful Dafa music "Pu Du" and melodious song "Falun Dafa is Great" resounded wherever Falun Gong practitioners went. Wherever they passed, the spectators enthusiastically applauded. The oldest participant from the Falun Gong procession is over 70 years old, the youngest less than seven months old.
It's the third time that Falun Gong practitioners have participated in the Bendigo Easter Festival. At Easter last year, the Falun Gong procession won two awards, "Best Community" and "Best Depiction of the Theme."
After the parade, a Turkish Dafa practitioner said that she would go back to her country in two weeks, and she would continue doing Fa-promoting activities to allow more Turkish people to learn about Dafa.