Practitioners holding up a banner reading, "Falun Dafa: Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" in the parade

(Clearwidsom.net) The day after the Thanksgiving Parade in Houston, a Falun Gong practitioner got a call from a woman who is in charge of the parade for the Burlinghall community. She enthusiastically said, "We saw your float and group in the Thanksgiving Parade. It was so peaceful and so nice! Our community is an old community, and we are going to have a community parade in December. This is our seventh year. On behalf of the community, I would like to invite the Falun Gong group to take part in our parade, to show our diversified culture. Your group is the first invited, so please do come." This is the first time that Falun Gong practitioners traveled to the community of Burlinghall.

A colorful parade

On December 17, 2005, the parade began at 5:00 p.m. The theme was, "Deck the Halls of Burlinghall." Since the parade route went through the community, the residents all came out with chairs and watched the parade outside with their families. The festive atmosphere, and the ornaments and Christmas lights of the decorated homes all made the holiday parade merrier.

There were nearly twenty parade entries. The Falun Gong group's participation enriched the parade, and made it more colorful. Also in the parade were neighborhood businesses, a car dealer, as well as school marching bands and Texas style cars decorated with leather and Texas longhorns, and some other wacky cars. The floats were all so colorful. But to the Burlinghall community, the most impressive and the favorite group was the Falun Gong team.

The message of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" is brought to the community

The practitioners' float led with a banner reading, "Falun Dafa--Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" in English, followed by a waist drum group, a traditional Chinese drum group, a dance group in traditional costume and banners, and practitioners demonstrating the exercises on the float. Spectators enjoyed the music of "Falun Dafa is Great," as well as the great momentum of the drums, the beautiful dance and the peaceful, purifying exercises. All along the parade route, "Falun Dafa--Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" pleasantly surprised people.

Residents greeting the practitioners in the parade

A middle-aged man followed the float closely. He didn't want to take his eyes away from the practitioners demonstrating the exercises. He followed the practitioners in doing the "Heshi" gesture and murmured, "So great." Almost all the families took pictures, and some even videotaped the procession. They didn't want to miss anything. Everyone smiled happily, and most of the people received a copy of the newspaper, "Falun Dafa Today." A middle aged man told his neighbor, "Chinese traditional culture is one of the best cultures in the world."

A middle-aged man from India came up to ask the practitioners, "What is Falun Gong?" While showing him the Chinese characters on his jacket, a practitioner told him with a smile, "Practicing Falun Gong is to follow 'Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.' We also do the exercises and meditation." The gentleman said, "I've seen a picture with a Buddha sitting in meditation. I can tell that you're in the Buddha school."

After the parade, a community leader stated with passion, "Falun Gong is so peaceful, and so good."

This is just one of many instances of Dafa practitioners participating in community parades and bringing "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" to the community and to everybody's life. Falun Gong is well received in more than seventy countries and regions throughout the world, but only the Chinese Communist regime is persecuting it.