(Clearwisdom.net) On December 15, the ninth annual Deck the Halls Christmas Parade was held in the Burlinghall subdivision of southwest Houston. When Falun Gong practitioners first participated in this parade in 2005, Ms. Ember Mandell, community leader of Burlinghall, was impressed by the group's serenity and beauty. Since then, she has invited the group every year to participate in the parade.

Practitioners in Tang Dynasty attire demonstrate the Falun Gong exercises on a float

In her invitation to the Houston Falun Dafa Association, Ms. Mandell stressed that the Falun Gong group was very popular with the parade spectators.

The community parade takes place in a residential area. It stepped off at 5:00 pm. on a rainy evening, with a cold wind. However, the bad weather didn't dampen people's holiday spirit, and many spectators wrapped themselves in blankets to enjoy the parade.

The Falun Gong group was lead by a large banner reading, "Falun Dafa, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance," followed by a group of practitioners demonstrating the exercises, young practitioners carrying banners, and a float on which four "Celestial Maidens" in Tang Dynasty attire demonstrated the Falun Gong exercises.

Moved by the practitioners' graceful exercise demonstration and their compassionate and serene demeanor, many spectators exclaimed, "Beautiful!"

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/12/16/168507.html