(Clearwisdom.net) On November 25, 2006, the Toronto Divine Land Marching Band, consisting of more than 150 Falun Gong practitioners, participated in three Christmas parades in Markham, Barrie and Brantford. The band won second place in the category of "Best Marching Band" in Markham.
The Divine Land Marching Band |
In Brantford |
Children enjoy the band performance |
People are attracted to the band |
According to the organizer of the parade in Markham, the Christmas Parade in Markham is one of the biggest in the York area. More than 2,000 people in 150 groups took part in the parade this year.
The parade started at 10:00 a.m. and lasted two hours. The Divine Land Marching Band is the only group whose members are mostly Chinese. The band won second place in the category of "Best Marching Band" in Markham. The organizer said that the Divine Land Marching Band was excellent.
Many Chinese people watched the parade. They were very happy to see a Chinese marching band in the parade, and many of them waved to the band. A reporter interviewed a Chinese man who had just come from China. He said that the band was very impressive.
Tracy, the band spokesperson said, "This is the first award we have won in a mainstream Western parade. Other groups were amazed when we told them that the band was set up only seven months ago."
Tracy continued, "As cultivators, we are not attached to the award and gains. But the award shows that we are in a good cultivation state."
Mr. Jiang, the coordinator of the band, said, "We did pretty well in the parades in Barrie and Brantford. The performance was better than I expected. Many people saw us. In Brantford, Rogers TV, a local TV station, showed the whole parade live, and they photographed of our Falun Dafa banner.
The Toronto Divine Land Marching Band will attend the Christmas parade in Mississauga on November 26. Since April 2006 when the band was set up, it has already attended more than twenty large community activities, and is warmly welcomed by the Canadian people.